TAKE with a perforated edge Installation

Artist Statement In recent years my practice has moved from swift, high impact art to subtle works that challenge their audience. Influenced by politics, history, science, affective-technology, anthropology/sociology, manipulating ‘context’, and experience of an alerted mind, I develop works through print, video, text, experiential installation, sound, and endurance performance. I challenge comfort with risk-taking, and bold moves. By discarding the quest for a personal style and artistic character I have exploded my practice in the past three years. In the aim of abandoning a visual identity in my work through collective viewing one emerged all the same: an unexpected annoyance that, even so, provides motivation that there is something I have to say and achieve. Originally challenging my creation and perception of still life scenes, through in-depth self-analysis, self-portraiture emerged as the centre of my practice. Through edits and manipulating context I investigate turning the personal/alien into the universal/relatable. Having past lived experience of psychosis a ruthless self-review had to be approached objectively and my work adapted with new mediums to progress: developing with every success and useful failure. Living the reception and response to psychosis by others lead to a fascination of sociology, history and politics. I have never been dangerous, I am classed as “highly functioning”, I am intelligent with highly regarded institution Distinction degrees, I have travelled through my work, won awards, and I am positive and sociable – yet people meet me and say “I would never have guessed you were…..”. Activism moved into my work in a quiet form that reflects the communities it references. Moving from the unavoidable prejudiced narcissism of self-portraiture to the notion of the unheard community lead me to revisit collaboration, but raised the issue of a potential bias if kept to a solely psychotic perception. Rooting out bias through research methods and a varied team of collaborators I can offer a truthful perspective. Removing agenda and offering pure unaffected experience allows a viewer to take the perspective to do with what they will. It is an oxymoron of bringing social activism into a work while abandoning judgement or leading opinions – this allows for enabling empathy to challenge imposed dogma.