making the invisible visible
My art practice stems from a need to create beauty from that which has been discarded. Striving to lessen plastic pollution and overconsumption drives my creativity. Zero waste is the ultimate goal for my practice. I collect single-use plastic food packaging in my home, or clean up trash on my walks and transform it in the studio.
Reclaiming and repurposing materials that often end up choking our environment or overflowing landfills has been my art practice for years. I use meditative hand stitching, alongside my industrial sewing machine, to stitch and collage layers of translucent single use plastics which would otherwise contribute to litter pollution.
Humans are instinctively drawn to beauty, thus I must entice viewers to look at something which they would otherwise avoid or not notice.
Creating public art installations is an important part of my practice.
I believe part of my job is to inspire people to take ownership of this planet and hopefully, to do what they can to help in our global fight to manage the climate crisis. Each installation endeavors to make the trash littering our forests, waterways and beaches visible, contributing to an awareness that drives change.
When transforming found materials, I also carefully consider what I will use to hold the art together.
I strive to use unwanted thread when possible, and limit the use of glue and wire.
The consideration extends to the substrate as well, I have been slowly phasing out stretched canvas and cradled boards and transitioning to used plastic mailers, old shopping bags and of course vintage linens have always been a staple.
