Images from studio installation of ‘Small‘; photo collage mounted on A3 Board.
In my current practice, I wanted to present subjective work that engaged with my own unconscious voice rather than art for art’s sake.
My childhood was full of fairy tales and woodland magic thanks to bedtime stories and encouraged imaginative play, but moments of light must find balance with darker times in order to shine and chaos, fear, and transience also have their place in my memories.
Among my late Mother’s effects I found a sheaf of 70s photographs depicting my childhood years and I was struck by the contrast of the seemingly happy-go-lucky situations against the facial expressions and all that I knew to be going on behind the scenes. By dissolving these images through enlargement and colour filters, I considered how memories become distorted and gain more clarity through aging and seeing them through different eyes.
Using meditative mark-making, I layered these enlarged images with text and illustration with the aim of describing how they relate to the woman I am today. Part of this mark-making was made using the elemental energy of fumage to create a visual language for the invisible voice of my inner child through the free movement of the flame.
Although the process itself I found quite meditative, I had not prepared for the emotion of sharing these works with my peers. Although I sought to produce something that was authentic to my spirit and inner voice, it is one thing to produce it for yourself and quite another to expose these raw wounds to the fresh air and scrutiny of the world. A group crit within the studio was enough to make me realise these were not works I would be sharing in a public gallery – more disguise will be needed before I can take that step.
