My practice is shaped by an exploration of the landscape. Walking has always been integral to my practice and forms the initial framework for my research where I engage with the physicality of place, in association with the multiplicity of invisible forms. I have a curiosity about place and how particular places feel, my inquiry reaching beyond the understandable and straightforward aspects of the landscape to embrace and embody that which is unseen; folklore, stories, language, history, archaeology, interweaving the many disparate strands with the complexities of lived experiences. My travels through the landscape are embodied in artist’s books, assemblages, installations and drawings.
At present, paper is at the centre of my practice and I enjoy the process of making and constructing with it. I like to experiment with textures and pattern that relate to a given environment and enjoy mark making; mono and collagraph printing and paper collage to provide an interpretation of my surroundings. Folding paper into books to create three dimensional objects offers an intimate format which helps me to explore both the visible and invisible forces in the landscape. My current practice seeks to examine the things that can be seen and touched in parallel with the unseen; the relationships between people and their environment both in the present and the past.
Recent work has involved an exploration of place through the investigation and translation of the Gaelic language. OS maps of the Highlands and Western Isles, rich with the descriptive Gaelic language, present an entry point which allows a drilling down to the material, cultural and imaginative geography that informs the identity of a location’s profile and sense of place. An overlapping of historic maps has exposed how a single place is perceived in multiple ways supporting and recognising the fact that people and personal experiences are central to a place’s identity. Multiple experiences which have been remembered, believed, encountered, enjoyed, feared and forgotten.
This ongoing work, an open-ended exploration and continuous inquiry into the numerous and diverse narratives of place has sustained my practice and provided a deeper connection between my work and everything else: spatial, temporal, emotional, cultural and imagined.