Artist Statement
As a Visual Artist I make work that helps me to make sense of my surroundings. Moving houses and living in different countries throughout my adult life has given me an opportunity to explore the meaning of home and the symbolism of the objects we choose to surround ourselves with. I see these created spaces as a stage set for our experiences. I wonder how do our domestic interior spaces reflect our lives and aspirations?
I collect imagery which relates to the interior spaces we inhabit and the way these spaces intersect with our daily lives.
I use paper collage to explore this intersection, working intuitively to pull together different images of rooms, objects and furnishings. Sometimes they almost touch and I enjoy the visual tension this creates but mostly they overlap or ‘fit’ together in some way, creating new, imagined, spaces. These collage pieces are a way to generate ideas for paintings - I work mainly with acrylic paint on plywood and canvas, sometimes ‘collaging’ different components to extend the picture frame.
I would like the work to appear comforting and familiar at first, but upon closer examination leave the viewer with questions about these strange, box-like spaces in which our lives play out.