Zoe Painting

My work engages with the experiences offered by everyday life. These include the sensations stirred by my own immediate physical and emotional environment, whether familial interactions or simply the experience of the changing seasons. For me, when translating a memory, mood or atmosphere onto paper and canvas, strength of colour and subtlety of expression are key. Decorative notes, often inspired by my passion for textiles help frame the modes of psychological and emotional states that I explore. Although my Jamaican heritage and culture inform my artistic practice, my work also represents freedom and escape from the strict religious environment I experienced when growing up. I work primarily on paper and canvas, using acrylic paints. Working with acrylics provides something of the feel and texture of oil paints but also offers the potential for achieving the type of delicacy and lightness achievable via water colours. The quick drying nature of acrylic paints encourages an immediacy and a spontaneity that intensifies the underlying emotional focus of my work. My major on-going project is the 'Who’s That Girl' series. The series is intended as a visual exploration of identity, family and ancestry in times past, present and future. The works in the 'Who’s That Girl' series are intended to examine identity in its multiple guises, but most especially as a social construct and a lived experience. The paintings' interrogation of issues relating to identity focus, in particular, on identity's relationship to appearance.