Beach Cave

Oil on board
50cm x 50cm

Moving interchangeably through drawing, painting , collage and sculpture, I explore the narrative between humanity and the natural environment. I have created a body of work demonstrating how physical making can inform our sense of place. Drawing with found materials on site integrates the engagement between the artist, the artwork and the site. It is this way that sense of place is translated and communicated in my work.

My approach is partly informed by my adaptation to the hearing world as I am profoundly deaf. Sensory touching is important to my creative process for example in shaping and moulding clay on the rock surface. My process involves burying paper in quarries, tearing paper, leaving excavated layers suggesting a journey into memory and earth. I take rubbings, and use found materials on site which are then incorporated into the finished work. These are the key themes and fundamental ideas of my practice. This process can be transposed to other sites giving a sense of place by their material presence and my connections with feelings of identity.

For me, humanity is the starting point of art. Painting, drawing and collage is fundamental to my practice as it enables a conversation between the idea and myself through the medium of doing and making.