A bit more about me and my work.
I’m two months into my MA at Chelsea and all too aware of how quickly this one year is going. Before this I had been on their PGDiploma course which started in Jan 2011, so that has given me a bit of a head start (its quite common for people to do the two courses together effectively making it a two year MA).
Being at Chelsea has been a challenging experience, it feels like I’ve begun to take my practice a part and start again! I finished my degree at Newcastle in 2007 and between then and Jan 2010 I produced a lot of work, but it was an instinctive process. At Chelsea I have become much more aware of my own practice. I’ve also become braver in throwing caution to the wind and testing new things. The thematic content of my work hasn’t changed, I am still fascinated by the darker side of the human psyche; but how it manifests is more varied.
I’ve just done a submission for the ‘Whitechapel Open’ Competition and whilst actually getting in is a very long shot, re-writing my artists statement for the submission was helpful anyway. People sometimes ask me why I don’t submit the same statement over and over again. The reason I don’t do that is because, I’m not standing still as an artist, I always think I can explain myself better and more clearly – but it doesn’t make for an efficient way to do submissions! Nevertheless, I think this last is the most accurate yet, so here it is:
I am fascinated by why some people fall by the wayside and others do not. I am particularly drawn to stories about outsiders who are cut off from society and how individual tragedies relate to politics and dysfunctional support structures in society. I find the tragic stories and imagery that I encounter through mass media, seared on my imagination, so I attempt to explore them by making work. Through painting, ceramics and installation, I reflect on violence and vulnerability.
In 2009 I contacted men on death row in America asking them to participate in a series of portraits. As part of this process I asked them to write a letter (to accompany the painting) and send a photograph for me to use. I asked them to write about anything and the responses were all quite different; they are all interesting, and many of them I find moving and poignant. My work challenges the practice of execution in a civilised country in a simple and direct way by showing the complex, sad yet compelling humanity of the inmates. My motivation was not to question the guilt or innocence of the prisoners. I simply wanted to present these lives as they are. One man called James Hitchcock, has lived in solitary confinement on death row for 34 years. Three of the thirteen men that were involved in the series have since been executed.
Recently my work has taken a different track, whilst exploring the same themes I have altered the approach. I wanted to take on a more classically decorative visual language, to provide a greater juxtaposing with the content of my work. For me this reflects the way in which violent acts are eruptions in the fabric of society. These eruptions are so visceral and distressing that they can blind us to the systemic underlying problems that are all too often the ultimate causes of such behaviour.
Executions in America are often witnessed by two opposing parties, those there on behalf of the person being executed and those there on the behalf of the original murder victim. They may be only metres apart but the subjective experiences of the phenomenon of violence are completely different, to one justice, to another loss. This shows a deeper unresolved tension in the human psyche; depending on its context violence can be the most complete rejection of our social norms or their ultimate enforcer.
Upcoming exhibition: The National Open Art Competition 2011
I have got a collaborative piece of work that I made with Izzy McEyov in this show, which runs from 10th – 29th December, in Chichester. This sculpture is made from woven letters and takes the form of an American prison suit.
Dust Magazine have kindly published my work in their blog this month. Thanks very much to Francesca Maraccio for inviting me into the fold of their brillliant magazine.
