My paintings explore the discourses surrounding our existence as mortal beings and centres around the raw physicality of the marks that are left on our minds and bodies throughout our lifetime. The use of latex in my work is particularly important to me because I want there to be a direct translation from the viewer of my work to ideas around the human body, especially that of skin and scars.

When working with latex in liquid form, it can often be unpredictable if used with other mediums. So, before it dries, I never truly know how the piece will turn out; this element of surprise is what excites me the most about the process. The unpredictability of this process is integral to my subject matter because we can never truly know what shape, size, colour or severity of a scar – physical or emotional – life might give us. In Sentinel, Protector and Keeper there are direct comparisons to the subtle creases and bumps we are used to seeing on bodies. I have kept to a light, subtle palette to sensitively impose a sense of acceptance to our natural ‘imperfection’ but often taught insecurities.

I work to incorporate the Abject to provoke a conversation about “what real beauty is”. I do this by mimicking the process of scaring within my work. To begin with, I apply delicate and subtle tones that elicit ideas of ‘pure’, untouched skin that is associated with the flawless skin promoted by society’s ideals of beauty. However, throughout the production of a piece, I damage the unscathed layer by adding, tearing and darkening areas to reveal scars, breaks and age spots that aim to symbolise the physical break of our societies understanding of ‘beauty’. This is apparent in my series of paintings entitled Release, Ransom, Expose, and Break. I have exaggerated the physical process of aging and scaring by adding further unnatural forms of decay not commonly found on our living bodies. Using oils, I have emanated the quality of mould more commonly associated with inanimate objects. This works as an amplified illustration of our own slow decay under society’s synthetic ideals of beauty.
I also disrupt the conventional methods of producing a painting by removing the canvas from some of my resolved pieces completely. I do this by waiting for the latex to dry before peeling it of the canvas. This leaves me with a subtle residue of paint amidst a transparent sheet of latex that now takes the main form and structure of the work. This plays to the concept of the Abject as removing the latex from its structure acts similarly to that of skin being removed from its structure around the body. By removing the canvas, I am able to emphasise the importance of the material latex in my practice in its own right.

Other than the visual associations my work draws to that of the human skin, my work has no other figurative guides for the viewer. This is so the audience cannot identify a gender or age of the subject behind the piece. I like to play with this lack of identity and allow the marks to speak collectively, yet personally for each viewer, as feelings around the bodily process of scaring and aging will emanate with anyone.