My exhibition, Before I Land, is borne out of a need to express a state of ‘inbetween’, before feelings or emotions become grounded; before they land.
During this state of flux, my mind is able to perch on ideas or fly easily toward another image or feeling that draws my attention. I am at my most liberated during this stage, allowing me to process my subconscious and create the shapes which naturally evolve. I am mapping space and the feelings within it; finding energy, marks and patterns to define and express what might otherwise appear as negative space. For me, it is a means of establishing safe, secure spaces within the harsh environment of the city.
This process reflects how I feel moving through an urban landscape on a bus; the curved windows, wing mirrors and ceiling hold me between them; I can relax and stare from the window; my mind is released to go wherever it needs to go, enabling a form of processing, safely holding what has yet to land.
I repurpose readymade or manmade spaces, in this case, the void inside plastic food punnets and extend the use of that area by casting it in soft paper pulp before building organic forms within, thus ‘acknowledging’ the safety of that space. The paper sculptures are transformed by gesso and paint using colours and hues observed from windows and on city walks. Paper pulp is soft and receptive to the painted layers which build the vital connection between the hard manmade mould and the sculpted cast.
My drawings are an extension of this process, mapping the negative space of fragile paper with repeated mark making applied by crayon in a semiconscious state, influenced by the repeated symbols found on digital shipping maps.
I utilise materials that have strength while creating an environment where the medium is vulnerable and temporary. By using man made hard artificial moulds to create new soft spaces, I am investing time and adding value to items destined for waste in our disposable society. Inspiration for the internal forms comes from the patterns, grime and colours of everyday urban decay; discarded waste, battered road signs, layered posters, graffiti, seedlings defying tarmac, and the never ending river of moving traffic.
Once I have put pencil to paper or pulp to plastic, a feeling of spatial grounding is established. I have created the core from which I can build content and imagery, to land my thoughts. Ultimately, the presence and feeling of touching by making, is the context and is my landing.