I’m drawn to exploring the truths behind the human condition through grotesque, carnivalesque and abject art usually with a sense of humour and absurdity. Enjoying the beauty in the imperfect, which grew into a fascination of the deformed, mangled, and contorted bodies. My inability to express my thoughts and feelings through words is why my art is so vital to me, being able articulate oneself and give physical form to abstract concepts. Francis Goya, Doris Salcedo, and Alison Sommers are artists whose works have inspired my own. Exploring the changes and progressions within our lives, using my own form as the basis for my artwork. I am working with fragments that can be deconstructed and reused for a new artwork conveying an entirely different idea. These ideas or themes I have played with include vulnerability, shifting between our true selves and our personas, and the external and internal pressures that we face daily as human beings. My installation aims to acknowledge these features of human existence, beginning to break free and be “reborn”. When we are born, we assume ideas of who we are from other people, until we find out ourselves who we are and who we want to be. There can be a lot of fear in this process, but it is a necessary metamorphosis for us to evolve and grow. I’m influenced by the anatomy and autonomy of the human body, from flesh to bone and the entrails in between. As I deform the humanoid figure, bloody viscera, teeth, and bones are often reoccurring elements giving life to sculptural amalgamations. My work is emotionally charged, directed by the materials used, everchanging in the making and creating a dialogue between myself and my artwork. My methodology imparts fragments of myself into the foundation of the work. Handknitting yarn into linear structures leaves an imprint of my own hands and fingers along with documenting the time it takes to make each one. Using my own body as the basis for my sculptural artworks. Working with fragments: parts and pieces that can be reconfigured to convey a range of ideas about what it means to be human. I am particularly interested in the process of change, and our fear and vulnerability in the face of that.
