Artist Statement

I am interested in my work sitting somewhere precariously between the light and the dark, the lucid and the ambiguous, the beautiful and the ugly. The power held in an image. To take your breath away with its beauty, simultaneously in its discomfort. Anxiety, has been my constant companion for most of my life. For a long time kept hidden. Often a source of embarrassment and confusion. My heightened sensitivity is in part why and how I make the work I do. The work is a catharsis, a way to confront the discomfort, both through the image and the process.

Inhale Exhale is part of a larger body of work exploring how I have endeavoured to  reconcile and understand the very deep emotional response I have to being a mother, in particular that liminal state of adolescence. Your sense of self constantly in flux and irrevocably altered as your child’s sense of self develops.  Embracing an ever-present nagging anxiety and concern, a heightened internal fear of being so close yet distant in the same breath, ‘What if” echoing in your head.

Here. Now. and  Haptic Self sees anxiety captured through the process itself. Mapping my body, led by the curiosity and heightened awareness that drawing encourages, each trace of a mark breathes time and physical insight. Created completely by feel, with eyes closed. Images are revealed as one hand traces and maps the body's contours, whilst the other hand translates this tactile experience onto the surface, creating a haptic self-portrait. These drawings serve as translations of sensory experiences within my own corporeal body, dependent on being fully present to the experience.