Poignant places and questions lead me into my practice to look beyond the tangible physical properties of place, of being, towards the imagination, the other-worldliness, of spirit. I seek places in nature that stimulate the senses to by-pass the rumblings of the mind; I go to the forest to meet the shadow and the sacred; to experience deeply the dialogue with ‘other’ and record significant findings through drawing, writing, assemblage, and film. The enquiry focus can be a thought, or a feeling. Being charged with imagery and insight from soulful dialogues on walks, I then let this charge the materials and surfaces I work with in the studio. The materials of place actively collaborate in the making of the work with water, chalk, charcoal, bone black pigment made from bones found on walks, gum-arabic, honey, plus other raw pigments. In loosening the grip of how the materials, tools, and ideas are integrated and applied to make the work, there is a looseness and a truth that emerges that becomes recognisable, that echoes and responds to the enquiry. The work seeks to put that out into the world to resonate something in your world, that opens a question or calls to the intangible in you through recognition.
Recent research funded by the Edward James Foundation extended my practice to walking with ideas from the archive and collection on the West Dean woodland estate. The walks in the different woods sought a sensory understanding of place, but as this was shortly after the death of my mum the personal grief and growing awareness of transcendence – of the birth in the death – leaked into the work.
There is a performative element in the acts of walking, acts of noticing, and acts of mark-making, which I bring into the process of making the work. Sometimes I invite others to join me through guided walks that encourage others to engage with their own enquiry. See Walks With….
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