Making art out of prosaic stuff;
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My work uses history and mythology to stand witness to often hidden or misrepresented lives, particularly those of women. In recent paintings, I have been inspired by notions of female agency in The Odyssey, and by images of women from black and white footage of the 1920s and 30s. I make paintings, drawings, sculpture, installation, assemblages, and moving image. Process, time, and the relationship between object and subject link the recurring patterns and images in my work: doubling; elusive surfaces; unstable duality; ambiguity; silence; strength and fragility. Hands, mirrors, threads, weaving, and unknown individuals, both past and present, frequently appear.
I often use words and titles as my starting point, but I let my materials lead me, employing oil paint, graphite powder, charcoal, wax, soot, thread, and moving image. I have made 'blind mirror' plaster sculptures; graphite and wax panels; an octagonal graphite-covered chamber for contemplation; a selection of cartographical curiosities and handmade compasses; paintings of isolated buildings and individuals; and an installation of haiku and moving image about a community’s experiences of flooding. During Lockdown, I searched for different ways to connect and to focus on the materiality of my practice. Collaborating distantly with my dance-artist daughter, I drew large, expressive drawings in response to her improvised movements. They inspired me to make a new series of human-sized, dynamic charcoal drawings, based on a gift of flowers. The resulting anthropomorphic floral “moving still lifes”, are to be shown with a colour film projected on to them, creating a hypnotic atmosphere, pushing and probing the elusive surface; playing with drama, intrigue, and spectacle. CV |
