Description

My work has gradually turned towards 'craft' as a result of my desire to address the rapid decline of skill based practice within 20th century conceptual art. As a female artist it is impossible to overlook the masculine implications of working with metal and this gender play is also important within my work, working alongside more delicate and natural materials such as hair and paint. The role of hair with its personal and organic function married with its symbolic history is seen as counterintuitive when placed alongside a strong material such as metal. The interplay caused provides a foundation of exploration by which the viewer can project their own narrative.

The predominant use of metal in my work has allowed me to explore scale by producing large sculptures informed by memory and history. Metal as a material performs certain roles; holding memories as it scratches, rusts and weathers. My large sculptural pieces provide a foundation on which I can begin to play with the industrial relationship of metal along side more abstract ideas. Steel is fundamentally a material that is integral to commercialism by means of industrialism and is often in essence perceived as a strong masculine material. In contradiction of its industrial use it also is used to create typically feminine products such as jewelry and kitchen-ware, and essential objects such as surgical apparatus. Paradoxically it is also in our blood and the earths core. It is immortal and multi faceted, which with its properties and essential use make it associated to memory, history and human interaction.