Analysis and Research

​

Research, is the most vital element in my artistic practice; it is what shapes my work and informs my perspective; grounding my art in rigorous inquiry allows me to capture the intricacies of our shared human experiences. My research explores the complexities of contemporary life—marked by rapid technological changes, socio-political tensions, and evolving cultural narratives—through an interdisciplinary lens, synthesizing insights from both the Humanities (art, philosophy & history) and the Social Sciences (politics, anthropology, sociology & environmentalism).

​

As perceptions of reality shift, I feel a responsibility to reflect these changes through my art. Each research endeavour serves not only to inform the themes in my work but also to challenge my assumptions. This pursuit leads me to confront complex issues—ranging from the dynamics of power to the nature of “things” and their “thingliness”. By examining diverse perspectives, I expand my understandings of identity and community, which, in turn, enrich my artistic output. My commitment to intertwining research with artistic exploration creates a foundation for work that is not only intellectually compelling but also deeply resonant in our contemporary context. In this way, my practice becomes a vehicle for exploration and engagement, inviting reflection on the world we inhabit through a participatory lens. ​

​

With my theoretical work, I critically examine and challenge established frameworks of perception, engaging with the intricate and often ambiguous realms of consciousness. This exploration offers perspectives that encourage new ways of seeing, feeling, and conceptualizing alternative imaginaries. This endeavour prompts frequent re-evaluations of epistemological boundaries, which ultimately enhances my understanding of human experience.

​

Utilizing techniques and materials that embrace craft, vernacular iconography, reclaimed utilitarian objects and symbolic references, the physical work I produce—drawing, expanded painting, sculpture, and photography—serve as a deeply personal exploration of the diverse subject matters, technologies, imageries, narratives, and multifaceted experiences of spatiality—particularly the dynamic interplay between the construction and deconstruction of the physical environments—that delineate and inform human interaction. This focus extends to the exploration of how such spatial experiences shape our understanding of language and communication. While utilizing language and form in a manner that anticipates their articulation, I simultaneously refrain from actualizing them as fixed or stable constructs. As a result, both language and form remain in a state of latency. This phenomenon, characterized by a murmuring that resists the definitive quality of spoken or written word, highlights the inherent tension between the potential for expression and the limitations of established structures of representation.

 

​

A Work-life Aesthetic

​

Mine is a bricolage practice, a visual heuristic.  

 

In my exploration, I traverse the overt and subtle traces of history, searching for links between notions, definitions, and enduring traditions. This journey, which can be both clear-cut and surprising, invites reflection on the dual nature of contemporary understandings—where the past delineates a clear path, yet also reveals unexpected intersections. In this dialogue between epochs, I explore both common and contested ideas of the past’s indelible impact on our shared present.

​

Operating within the realms of the infra-ordinary and the impalpable, I engage with the medium as a platform for speculative inquiry, fostering unexpected dialogues with my materials, allowing their histories and meanings to inform the outcome of the work. In this way, each work becomes a site, an amalgam of stories embedded with personal and collective significance. In challenging conventional notions of value and artistic integrity, I invite viewers to reflect on the narratives embedded within these select materials, to reconsider the broader implications they hold for our contemporary society. This practice reflects my artistic philosophy, mirroring my journey to finding beauty and meaning in the overlooked aspects of life.

​

A central theme within this corpus of work is the differentiation among art, heritage, and classifications of debris. The focal point of this exploration lies in the imperative to critically reassess elements that are often relegated to the margins of discourse. Additionally, this inquiry advances substantial questions regarding standards of preservation and the processes involved in determining what is deemed dispensable. Such a critical framework fosters a nuanced comprehension of the intricate relationships between value, memory, and the act of creation itself. Ultimately, this work contributes to the broader dialogue of cultural significance and the politics of representation—encouraging the emergence of new discourses surrounding heritage-making, revealing more complex and pluralistic perspectives on the criteria for preservation, and the relinquishment that future generations may face. 

​​​

Oscillating between gestural expression and strategy of chance, the work explores themes of intimacy, control, and the freedom of relinquishing total control. Drawing from a blend of mythologies, personal symbolism, and individual narratives, as well as collective beliefs, rituals, social fears, and desires, this work reflects a process that embodies an accumulation of associations intrinsic to the human experience. This pairing is homage to slow gestations within a multiplicity of influences that, while foreshadowing an afterlife within ruin, consider existential experiences such as the cosmological origin of the world and the associated cycles of life, death, growth, and decomposition.​

​

I frequently utilize my personal biography as a foundational framework for exploration, reflecting on my experiences with displacement, disorientation, and transgenerational trauma. These experiences, while deeply personal, resonate with universal themes of rootlessness, alienation, and loss. Central to my inquiry are questions of identity: Who am I? Where do I come from? What constitutes the notion of home, and what exists beyond these parameters? Ultimately, throughout the work I contend that there exists no definitive resolution or escape from the factors that shape our identities. I explore new interpretations and narratives that aim to articulate and understand these complex phenomena. The precariousness of the work belies the physical and emotional pressure they hold, begging:  Can this stand?  Is this too heavy?  Will this endure?​

​

Endeavouring to undermine simplistic interpretations of pictorial content, my approach to making is above all concerned with forging resonantly ambiguous imagistic metaphors. This ambiguity extends to the manner in which the work engages the viewer in disparate ways. My intention to evoke and complicate the audience's desires, simultaneously prompts them to apply their own imaginative capacities in the interpretive process. Through this exploration of the medium's inherent multiplicity, I aim to underscore that the subject matter (subjectivity) is often more nuanced than its visual representation (objectivity). Meaning emerges from the complex interplay of resonances and tensions that arise from the interconnection of references and formal relationships within the work.

​​

In conclusion, my work encapsulates a commitment to challenging societal norms and redefining the relationship between art and life. As such, my oeuvre features a broad spectrum of relationships, new and occasionally opposing concepts, attitudes, temporal layers, and diverse protagonists who articulate, confront, and provide counterarguments to the prevailing power dynamics and the rigid constructs of social convention. ​In pursuit of a socially engaged and environmentally conscious art-life-practice, I am deviating from the rules, reinventing codes, and challenging procedures. Working against the grain, against linear time, I am slowing down, digging deeper, working through a more rarefied approach that offers opportunities to pause and reflect on the vision and philosophy that underpins my output. Such a pursuit involves questioning bourgeois art, and how to develop a life–art aesthetic that is fuelled by creativity; that instigates space for emancipatory practices, joy, and play.