ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is a tension between our virtual world and our connection to our natural world, our planet. We are moving very fast and are distracted. Our senses can be overloaded and we can become disengaged.
I use the map as a metaphor in my work, it is a way of communicating my ideas, using archival images and distorting them The maps show lived spaces both old and current where I manipulate with cut and burnt marks. I create abstracted motifs from maps and I engage with distortion of the image with dissection and disappearance. These can be factual maps or abstract creations to plot my themes in the artworks. This changing perspective of the map in art falls under the umbrella of “Persuasive Cartography” which I have researched in The PJ Mode Collection, hosted by Cornell University Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collection Ithaca, New York. It is an extensive collection and a rich source of material. I am fascinated by the artistic potential of maps, the imagery of routes, towns, historic places from old and new. I use Ordnance Survey maps and other cartographic elements where I am inspired by the lines and shapes of the map’s vocabulary.
I work with Encaustic paint, a process which involves pigmented molten beeswax. It is an ancient technique from over 2000 years ago. I make paintings, monotype prints, and sculptural installations. I create drawings with burn marks using incense and burning tools onto asian papers. The works are punctured in parts and create lines and lace like dots. The process of mark making by burning is meditative, where repetition of patterns becomes a ritual. Some drawings are collaged into paintings whilst others are in sculptural installations. The materials I choose have great importance and meaning in my practice. It is organic and tactile, it connects my themes, and the continuation of my work.
As Robert Stetson Shaw( American Physicist on Chaos Theory) wrote:
“You don’t see something until you have the right metaphor to let you perceive it”
