My work is created using traditional hand cut collage techniques. Images are carefully harvested from vintage books and digital archives. These, together with hand printed or painted papers, pressed foliage and salvaged ephemera are re-compositioned and re-interpreted to form new narratives.
In my travels and daily living I collect anything I can repurpose into my work, the ephemera that assists us in daily living; items functional, barely noticed and often disposable. Repurposed into surreal narratives and sometimes weighted with symbolism, these works are built with a variety of materials.
Assorted papers: chosen simply for their pattern or colours, though I often cut, paint, stain, draw, or sew onto them. Some papers are hand stamped or printed. I often use vintage paper from old books. Stained tea bags too are not immune to collection. Besides, I delight in the prescription of a cup of tea to make everything better.
Diagrams, charts, maps, and manuals: these unique languages of communication are necessary if we are to share a particular understanding. These visual guides and instructions help us make practical sense of ideas, places and things.
Measures and paper money and other universally agreed constructs we use to describe, measure, count and navigate through our world.
Written word: collected during my travels are newspapers, pamphlets and old books in the local languages. Text looses its intended meaning as it shifts into a textural pattern, reflecting the limits of communication - the possibilities and impossibilities of language whether understood or not.
String, thread: tangle, tie, tether and bind; sewing or stitching can sometimes embody the notions of repair or simply embellish.
Photographs and Images: collected from various places including vintage books, old calendars, magazines, online public digital archives, my own travel photos, and family album. These photos of people, in their anonymity, become each of us and therefore play an important role in each narrative.
Pressed leaves and flowers: collected mostly from my own garden to add another layer of texture and depth to the composition.
In my travels and daily living I collect anything I can repurpose into my work, the ephemera that assists us in daily living; items functional, barely noticed and often disposable. Repurposed into surreal narratives and sometimes weighted with symbolism, these works are built with a variety of materials.
Assorted papers: chosen simply for their pattern or colours, though I often cut, paint, stain, draw, or sew onto them. Some papers are hand stamped or printed. I often use vintage paper from old books. Stained tea bags too are not immune to collection. Besides, I delight in the prescription of a cup of tea to make everything better.
Diagrams, charts, maps, and manuals: these unique languages of communication are necessary if we are to share a particular understanding. These visual guides and instructions help us make practical sense of ideas, places and things.
Measures and paper money and other universally agreed constructs we use to describe, measure, count and navigate through our world.
Written word: collected during my travels are newspapers, pamphlets and old books in the local languages. Text looses its intended meaning as it shifts into a textural pattern, reflecting the limits of communication - the possibilities and impossibilities of language whether understood or not.
String, thread: tangle, tie, tether and bind; sewing or stitching can sometimes embody the notions of repair or simply embellish.
Photographs and Images: collected from various places including vintage books, old calendars, magazines, online public digital archives, my own travel photos, and family album. These photos of people, in their anonymity, become each of us and therefore play an important role in each narrative.
Pressed leaves and flowers: collected mostly from my own garden to add another layer of texture and depth to the composition.