I resisted showing this piece for a considerable time, because it is represents such a departure from the direction I had started to lay out for my practice. This is a very personal work: these are miniature facsimiles of some of my late father’s tools. He was a carpenter, and died several years ago after a short battle with cancer. I made the tools as authentically as possible, using the same materials and construction methods as the full-sized objects. The linen thread used to suspend the tools in the air is significant for a few reasons; it refers to my relationship with my father, to ‘old’ crafts, and to my continuing experiments with drawing.
It felt like a big decision, and it was. I decided that it was a part of my practice after all, and in some ways it is also a pointer towards the changes in my practice. I included it in my last show, where it was seen in public for the first time.
