ARTIST STATEMENT
Printmaking is the bedrock of my artistic practice, being an efficient way to work out formal problems and iterate before bringing the ideas into fiber or sculptural form. The flattening of information and images creates a removal and space for transformation and play. Signifiers of illness become beautiful installations or prints either through conceptual or physical transformation. My sculptural and fiber work uses found, used, or discarded items as a base - something that mirrors the need to make do with what is available and strives towards efficiency, an ethos of recycling, and a reduction of waste. Being sick brings its own vast sea of garbage due to the safety and sterility of plastic, something that makes me keenly aware of the amount of waste I produce through my use of life-sustaining medication and technologies. These materials are present sometimes literally, but more often as images or patterns that have been formally extracted from their original context. Through visual rhythms scar tissue can become a beautiful texture, numbers a brutalist design, and old clothes can gain new life as flamboyant costumes. Repetition and accumulation in my work comes from finding parallels between my collecting and the way in which medical histories are collected by institutions and individuals. My own collections form a strong research base for my material studies, and I also seek points in the community to collect detritus from others. I am always very open to the location, community, and individuals changing my course in new and exciting ways.
