As predicted the making of artwork has been exceedingly slow and patchy over the last year, primarily because of my MRes studies but also of course impacted by this ongoing pandemic.
Despite the issues we have all faced, I am still very pleased I embarked upon my research and studying. The thinking behind my work has certainly become more focused and questioning as a result of my studies. I am hoping it is with more critical eyes that I make my art and a better understanding of the philosophical and cultural context that comes into play. I enjoy the reading and the writing and see this more and more as being important components of my practice.
Thank goodness for the arts in all its guises – it has given me a place to retreat to, to console and inspire me during those darkest days, before, during and hopefully after the pandemic and anything else that happens to come drifting along.
The piece shown originates from an older piece of mine. It began as a montage of a photograph of a scene in Mount Maunganui in New Zealand that I took during a walk soon after the passing of my father, combined with the close-up detail of an antique bowl that had belonged to my grandmother. It’s the idea of acknowledging history, both personally and culturally as well as the emotional and physical manifestation of grief, loss and hope – the interconnection of fragments of experience and phenomenology.
