Artist Statement

My initial approach to my practice is to document my journeys, habits and routines for inspiration and to reflect on my everyday environments and familiar surroundings. I allow my work to be guided by journeys I take and things I collect along the way. I was inspired by the changing of seasons from autumn to winter, the fall and decay of leafs, deteriorating weather conditions and colour tones of environments deterioration became a large part of my practice

Artists Jennifer Coyne Qudeen and Alice Fox have both had a big influence on my practice, both artists work with deterioration and rust on fabrics. Qudeen folds and wraps cloth to increase rust effects on fabric, she is fascinated by the unpredictable patterns which rust creates. She uses liquids such as vinegar, water and tea to speed up the process and also to create different effects. In relation to my practice Qudeen influenced me to apply household substances such as vinegar, carbonated drinks, alcohols, bleach and salt

Alice Fox’s ‘Tide Marks’ series inspired my knitted and weaved pieces. The delicate nature of the yarn being woven together, combined with the harsh nails create an interesting contrast between two very different materials. In Fox’s ‘Tide Line’ she uses clever nail placement to show the progression of the rust. With the nail sewn at the beginning, centre or the end of the piece Fox provides the rust enough space to develop and bleed onto the work.

My work explores the investigation of deterioration through recycled, found and forgotten materials/objects. I experiment with rust and allow it to form and imprint naturally on fabrics. I am interested in the reconstruction of familiar materials and their transition into something new changing their meaning and how they are usually perceived. Making every day not so ordinary, yet still recognisable. 

I am interested in working with cheap materials, anything from scrap, castoffs, old, decayed, aged and faded resources, I find a lot of my materials and inspirations from charity shops. The Arte Povera movement has also inspired my work, a movement from 1960s to 1970s which originated in cities thought-out Italy where they explored art through the use of everyday materials and cheap materials, in a non-traditional and unconventional way. Labelled as poor art, the movement questioned the values and commercialisation art. 

Gabriel Orozco has been a great influence on my practice. Orozco’s work creates new way of looking at the everyday. He experiments with placing ordinary objects in urban environments. Orozco’s practice ranges from sculpture, painting and video art, however it was his drawings which really captured my eye. I like the subtle layering of prints, shows a trace of what once was, the delicacy of the drawings along with the fragility of the subjects also interest and inspire my practice.

  

I am interested in capturing the essence of the aging objects and materials. I have been working on fabric and allowing nails to decay and create unpredictable patterns. Which also creates a new representation of the original piece.

 

I plan to continue with experiments using natural substances on fabric, and aim for a more subtle and refined outcome, I would like to document my journeys more and gather more materials and references. I aim to expand my practice by working bigger and consider the composition of my work more. I will continue using every day and found objects and materials and experiment with more ways of reconstructing them into something new.