Artistic Statement
Observing the post-pandemic landscape, my work is a contemplative endeavour, blending the tactile, historic processes of paper-making & printmaking, engaging the complexities of mortality within the theoretical framework of Jane Bennett’s “vital materialism”; a concept which argues that matter is not inert but lively, possessing its own capacities to act and affect the world alongside humans. Bennett urges us to recognise this agency of nonhuman materials to rethink ethics, politics, and our relationship to the material world.
Drawing on themes within New Materialism (Jane Bennett; María Puig de la Bellacasa), Posthumanism (Karen Barad) and Ecofeminism (Donna Haraway), I investigate the dichotomy between the handmade and the machine. Intricately weaving together elements of movement, slowness, and ritualism, I invite viewers into a contemplative space where introspection can unfold. Utilising the sun-reliant technique of cyanotype, fostering an organic and submissive evolution within my creations, the work underscores the interdependence of all living things, inviting viewers to attune to the rhythms of nature and reclaim a sense of agency within an increasingly mechanised world.
My practice is driven by a fascination with time’s dual nature – at once finite and infinite – which fuels the existential and philosophical inquiries underpinning my work. Through my art, I navigate the paradox of life and death, honouring the inevitability of decay while celebrating the transformative journey toward transcendence and evolution. By attending to the nature of a material temporality, I shape spaces where the boundaries between reality and the subconscious dissolve.
Drawing on themes within New Materialism (Jane Bennett; María Puig de la Bellacasa), Posthumanism (Karen Barad) and Ecofeminism (Donna Haraway), I investigate the dichotomy between the handmade and the machine. Intricately weaving together elements of movement, slowness, and ritualism, I invite viewers into a contemplative space where introspection can unfold. Utilising the sun-reliant technique of cyanotype, fostering an organic and submissive evolution within my creations, the work underscores the interdependence of all living things, inviting viewers to attune to the rhythms of nature and reclaim a sense of agency within an increasingly mechanised world.
My practice is driven by a fascination with time’s dual nature – at once finite and infinite – which fuels the existential and philosophical inquiries underpinning my work. Through my art, I navigate the paradox of life and death, honouring the inevitability of decay while celebrating the transformative journey toward transcendence and evolution. By attending to the nature of a material temporality, I shape spaces where the boundaries between reality and the subconscious dissolve.
References;
Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press, 2007.
Bennett, Jane. Vibrant matter: A political ecology of things. Duke University Press, 2020.
Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.
Puig de la Bellacasa, María. Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.