“...the desire to hide, to be camouflaged, to escape human appearance, to be an animal, an object, not a person, the desire to punish the self, to dissolve the self into the world, to be stripped naked, to petrify the body, to become only matter...”
Susan Sontag, Fragments of an Aesthetic of Melancholy, 1986
My aesthetic is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest, humble and unpretentious and a beauty of things unconventional. An abstract, nonrepresentational ideal of beauty.
My work is an ongoing process, each new idea springing from the previous, introducing a new technique, a new surface, a new colour. The dimensions change from microscopic to 2-D to 3-D. This is to emphasise the abstract qualities prevalent in my work. The freedom to allow materials, photography, words, drawings and surfaces take me in a new direction offers the excitement and energy I want my work to purvey.
Experimentation with surface details through the incorporation of layering, tonal qualities, destruction of materials and traditional embroidery skills offers a varied selection of techniques to further in to finished textile art pieces which flutter between the minimalism of fashion and the abstract element of art.
The contrast of the words delicate and strong are what I use to achieve a harmony. These words express human qualities and the power of the senses, particularly touch to express vulnerabilities and insecurities.
It is about creating a balance out of imbalance: pairing shapes, fabrics, proportions and colours that speak to the harmony of the whole. There is a modern element of seamless, polished and smooth surfaces contrasting with the earthiness and unpredictable imperfection of nature. I use a limited palette of materials and approaches to articulate these elements to fabric.
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