I am often inspired by the sea; I love that something so chaotic, so rough, dangerous and at times so out of control can also be something beautiful and calming. The sea has become an influential part of my life and practice having moved over to the South West in recent years.
Water has a friendly and unfriendly side; it can bring life but also take life away. My interest in the sea has driven me to question control in relation to humans and nature. The relationship between man and nature is delicate, temperamental and completely out of control. This idea of loss of control previously led me to create work in a more process led way where my work became a result of minor manipulation; tension between materials where the final image could not be predicted. In this way, my practice has become almost like small scientific experiments.
I am exploring how I can manipulate aspects of the work and how ink and water move and interact with each other as a result of this – producing prints which are totally out of my control. In effect, this for me symbolises the relationship between man and nature and how nature responds under the pressures imposed by man.
Man is always impacting nature, in the air he breaths, water he drinks and ground he walks on. In return, nature gives us beauty; tranquility but also mess, destruction and devastation. This forever changing interaction between man and nature can be out of our control and this is the aspect I have been exploring within my work.