I have always been drawn to dark subject matter and am intrigued by our human capacity for cruelty. Growing up, fear unconsciously buried itself in my mind due to the constant stream of news and frenzied tabloid articles reporting serial killers and child abductors. Despite being six years old, I had a very strong reaction to these events and became anxious, particularly thinking about the victims.
My work is underpinned by a desire to preserve memory and tell a story. I use well-worn objects, drawings, video and fragments of stories that conceal an untold past. By tenderly placing, distorting and manipulating these objects into new anatomies or functions, I offer a suggestive resolution. Objects belong to the past, once a person’s present; the abruptness of death crystallizes their presence as a memory retained within these objects.
In a sense, I am forensically tracing the spirit and memories that remain in objects, allowing the viewer to meditate on the suggested absence of a person. I work with the idea that I am acting as a detective, however I do not claim to have a strong forensic understanding, wishing only to shadow their methodology. In seeing beyond peculiar individual fragments I hope to recognize a universal reflection of humanity; ‘what is most personal is also most universal’ – Robert Priseman.
