Arts based research

Boy doing tree activity
Arts based research methods can be very effective at capturing nuances of imagery and experience, particularly with children and other lesser-heard groups. I really enjoy working in interdisciplinary teams, and I have chosen three examples of interdisciplinary research projects: RESPECT 2021 – ongoing, VIP-CLEAR 2021 – ongoing, and Hidden Rivers and Waterways 2016-17.
Read more…

Environmental and site specific work

Nighthouses
As Donna Haraway writes, we have got ourselves and the natural world into ‘Lots of trouble’. Here are three of my responses to the mess we are in. Tidal Village was a temporary site specific installation on the Severn Estuary; the site specific drawings are from The Stinging Nettle Atlas, which explores themes of girlhood, place and freedom; and in Multispecies Drawings I am using natural processes as a creative agent.
Read more…

Narrative and deep mapping

Little chicken map
Narrative or deep mapping is a participatory process that tries to understand a place or situation through different people’s relationships with it. Iain Biggs describes deep mapping as an ‘essaying of place’, in which each person’s voice ‘retains its own distinct inflection within the harmonies and dissonances of the song as a whole’. The two examples here are The Atlas of Human Kindness, which is an ongoing participatory project, and The Stinging Nettle Atlas, which is a monograph about my childhood in East Kent.
Read more…

Current studio work

Glasses
My latest work is a series called an alphabet of unremarkable onjects. We can easily overlook the things that we use every day, and so in these paintings I have placed them centre stage.
Read more…

Outdoor learning

Companion Planting thumbnail
The natural world is not equally accessible to us all, and in my outdoor sessions I aim to provide safe spaces in which people can work alongside each other doing real jobs and learning real skills. I have chosen three examples of outdoor work, Companion Planting, Speedwell Nursery School, and Nature Discovery, all of which were based on a Bristol City Council allotment.
Read more…