Artist Statement

My work explores our relationship with our bodies at times of vulnerability and ‘bodily doubt’ (Anne Marie Creamer, 2019*). In an era when health is increasingly recognised as a legitimate area for artistic inquiry, my own explorations centre around the flawed presumption of health as the norm and the personal narratives we construct to enable us to navigate experiences of trauma and illness. These ideas manifest in my practice as a deep concern with the quality and character of the materials I use to create ‘feeling scapes’ of the body: textures that evoke a sense of the body, together with ideas of what it is to be human. 

Exploring areas around painting and sculpture, my approach is one of speculative making. At the core of my practice are sculptures created using a palette of hand-dyed textiles and distemper-impregnated canvas, wax, wire and plaster. These are brought together into 3D forms using ‘free sewing’ where I incorporate strips of textile, string and latex into the stitched line as it is made. This mimics the gestural mark-making that characterises my drawing and painting and connects my two-dimensional and three-dimensional work. Light too is an important component of my sculptures, used to activate the works and intensify their visceral qualities.

The aim of my work is to engender ideas through sensation, to prompt consideration of what it is like to live in a vulnerable body, transient, in a precarious world.

I am an MA Fine Art Painting graduate from Camberwell College of Arts, UAL with a practice based in Peckham, London. Prior to my postgraduate studies I was Head of Design at the Natural History Museum. Before that I oversaw the design of exhibitions at the British Museum where I was also lead designer on many projects two of the most prestigious being the Roxie Walker Galleries of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology (the mummy galleries) and the Enlightenment Gallery. 

I am a member of Six Artists, click on the tab in the menu bar for more information  or go to our website https://sixartists.co.uk/

*Creamer, A-M (2019) The Wounded Storyteller: on speaking vulnerability, acknowledging dependence Symposium on Vulnerability and Resistance Central Saint Martins, UAL, London 26 June 2019