Tree-scapes
The Tree-scapes series are prints created through monotype drawing and film. They begin with a video in the round (I circle while filming) and these still are used to create the monotype drawings. These monotypes are then recomposed from their original sequence and stitched together in a new tree-scape.
Two Minute Memorial (2018) was made during a residency at the National Memorial Arboretum (Lichfield, UK). Inspired by the two-minute silence that takes place daily at the NMA, this work reflects on how time expands as we are present in the moment, and explores an alternative ‘memorial’ of paper, ink and watercolour paint. Dimensions 230cms x 113cms. Profiled in The Printmaking Ideas Book by Frances Stanfield and Lucy McGeown.
Exhibited in Making Peace alongside Jacky Oliver, Lizzie Hughes and Christopher Taylor from 14th November – 3rd March 2019, this work responds to 100 years since the Armistice for World War I.
Blue Scarves (2017) and Des Lunettes (2017) are a contemplation on Cambodia’s recent genocide from 1976-1979 which saw over 2 million people killed. This work was inspired by a visit to a rubber tree planation in the Eastern province of Kampong Cham and has existed there since the 19th century. During the genocide, people wearing glasses (des lunettes) or blue and white checked scarves (a symbol of the Eastern province – considered to be more Vietnamese than Cambodian) were singled out.
The glasses and blue scarf motifs came about after reading an article about Classification and Symbolisation in the Cambodian genocide. The administration of the genocide used a means of classification to state whether a person was killed immediately or sent off to labour in the fields. Anyone wearing glasses was immediately killed as it was seen as a sign of intellect. People from the Eastern province were given blue and white checked scarves to wear called kroma (the kroma is a common part of Khmer culture) because they were deemed to have “Khmer bodies, but Vietnamese heads.”
The paper is a Japanese kozo paper which is beautiful in its tone and slight translucency. Kozo paper is made from mulberry – it is special because it is made from long fibres which makes the paper much stronger than it looks. The drawing are made using monotype – which means the paper is lain face-down onto an inked surface which then picks up the ink through pressure from the other side. This method is characterised by the inky accidental marks. I have also used a watercolour wash. The individual pictures are stitched together on the sewing machine.
Mixed media pieces each made from 28 monotype/ink/stitch/burning artworks. (80cmx65cm)