Artist Statement

In my practice I make work that is twofold; primarily my work utilises the joy that comes from communicating honestly and openly with other people in fact it centres around this idea, that of shared sociality. For some years now my works have been either temporary performative/interactive pieces or decorated spaces containing sculptural pieces, in both cases always featuring some kind of framework that allows sociality to occur. Before beginning I consider what it is that kindles conversation and keeps it burning? How can I achieve this through my work? My aim is to attempt to normalise communication between people, have it go beyond the superficial and in some cases hopefully help strengthen not just my own but others’ interpersonal repertoire. I feel this is of extra importance today, as many are starting to have these skills dulled or disappear completely.

In-between these more social projects I make work that looks inward. The other half of my practice derives from, explores and unpacks my own inner thoughts and experiences helping me to reflect upon, understand and renew myself. I feel that in order to keep myself grounded, and able to help nurture sociality in others through conversation, these secondary personal projects ought to continue in tandem.

I am interested in the multi-faceted nature of social intercourse, the numerous ways in which we as human beings can exercise this ability to interact with one another in simple but ultimately crucial ways. What drives my work is being as open, kind and attentive as I can be in the activities I do with participants, body language is deeply important to this. I’ve found this approach is often overlooked these days in numerous social situations. What I want is to leave people with something lasting and meaningful that can be reflected upon, that is my main goal and what gives me the most satisfaction.

My process for making work is typically intuitive, a lot of it is taken from the conversations I have every day with friends, family, or strangers. It is this experience I want to replicate, the normative familiarity of just talking to other people. My fear is that the current generation and those to come will lose the ability to engage other people in conversation, likely due to the rise in technology and social media leaving us comfortable but cold, only talking through machines rather than in person. To combat this I aim to expose people to the joys of genuine, leisurely open conversation, to provide a space for being sociable and keep the art of conversation alive. As a lover of sociality and discussion, my practice encompasses the active and decorative facets of sculpture, design and painting.

I believe it is of great importance to maintain ourselves as social creatures, to just keep talking, sometimes all that is needed is meaningful conversation with one another and the time and patience such an activity requires. I think most would be quite surprised by the numerous benefits of regular and genuine communication. A chance to relax, renew and revive oneself.

Last Updated: 09/03/22