You can tell as much about a society by what it discards and ignores as by what it values and aspires to be. Our modern life generates masses of debris - consumer goods, packaging, industrial and household waste etc. In addition to this we no longer make do and mend, instead we throw objects away. Anthropologists look at objects from other cultures to learn about that culture.
We rarely stop to consider the world around us - if we did we may discover beauty in unlikely places. My work is based on the ephemeral things we discard / ignore and the traces we leave; marks, stains, found objects and the natural effect of time.
"Artefacts tell us something about the culture from which they come, But they also stand in for other things" Cornelia Parker
PAINTINGS
At first my paintings seem abstract but they are steeped in reality. The images and objects I collect from the street form the basis of the work. Traces of objects can be found in the paintings and the materials used are common house hold products.
An object taken out of its context and presented as a two dimensional form becomes ambiguous and works as a trigger to the imagination. Like a shadow, mark or stain it refers to something that has been, something remembered or something that has passed.
COLLAGES
Collage and assemblage run through all of my work - the composition of my photographs, my approach to painting and my use of found objects. The combination of debris can create new associations, meanings and help reveal the aesthetic beauty of the mundane.
POLAROIDS
Imperfect, unstable and obsolete - Polaroid’s seem ideal for re-evaluation. They are technically limited, need the right weather conditions - so photo opportunity’s are flawed. Unlike most photographs (a medium famed for its ability to be reproduced) a Polaroid is a one off - a photograph that is unique.