'WHITE SLAVE:BONDAGE' Photograph

Authorship, identity and its place within "˜relational art' have been key to my current art practice. The saying goes that "˜its all been done before.' Nicolas Bourriaud's ideas of "˜Relational Aesthetics' (1998) & "˜Postproduction' (2002), sees artists using and re-using other artists work to create something new. Is authorship, the creation of an artwork, attributable to the author or are there other "˜voices' speaking? Regarding relational art, the action and reactions of the viewers amongst one and other make the work "˜happen.' Without this dynamic or communion there is no work, but merely the framework the artist has set up. I want to explore the nature of relational art and the place of the artist within such works. My current art practice uses text to create labels, which are then placed in tee shirts. These labels describe and make comment on aspects of the human condition, e.g. sexuality, politics and health. It is my hope that when viewers read these created labels, they will consider how they label others & themselves. For better or worst we make labels if only in our mind, these can come from a place of bias or prejudice, memory or history may be at the heart of this. Whether labels are accurate, true or fair, perhaps says as much about ourselves, as the people we ascribe them to. Handle with care 2012, a series of nine tee shirts with individual labels, tries to explore these ideas. A relational aesthetic underlies the work.