Notable works
Out of Danfo, 2021
35 mm colour negative scan, 60 x 84 cm print
Some of my recent significant pieces are the images I made when documenting my time in Lagos, Nigeria. I had put down the paintbrush for a very long time and replaced it with a 35mm Nikon FM-10, with which I begun to experiment using colour film and different film speeds. I painted with the camera using composition and colour techniques as well as focusing on shapes to create narratives about normal people living normal lives.
The photograph on the left is a result of this, where shapes had started to lose their sharpness and instead the colours and light/dark become the focal point. It was with this work that I realised no matter what the medium became, I would always use my eye as a painter to depict a narrative in my images. This photograph became a starting point for fleshing out my project on Nigeria and my relationship with this place that I have heritage from, as a Brit by residence but also by culture. When photographing, I thought, ‘I have the earth in common with these people.’
The strength in this work comes from it being one of the puzzle pieces to my ‘manifesto’ as an artist. I love the vagueness and vividness of these pictures, I love how the image alludes to my documentation of the busy road, but also has concealed elements from the lack of light and sharpness.
Mother and baby Unit, 2022
Tufted textile, 80 x 50 cm
A recent piece that has shifted the contents of my practice, has been my current interest in using textiles to paint. I began with experiments in weaving, combined with responding to my ideas using sensory and tactile resources. In an era where a photograph holds arguably a smaller weight on narrative in our social-media-infused minds, I thought about how I could engage viewers of my work in a sensory experience. I set about painting through tufting, a craft that took much-valued skill and patience, forcing the appreciation of mundane tactile objects.
Finding new meanings in smaller objects, when searching for purpose as an artist, was a catalyst to my focus on using textiles. The practice of unlearning preconceived notions about my practice being precise and detailed was largely significant when learning this new skill.
After this process, I wondered if I could reimagine my paintings in a new light. I was now engaging more physical elements, and dealing with another dimension of visual analysis in the image; deciding what colours were important is one thing, but also incorporating how they will sit on viewing them in the tufted space. In addition, how a textile piece will assign itself to interpretation in comparison to paintings.
I have since realised that using this elevated my painting work more. I continued to be less precious with my work. I took an image that I had taken in Lagos, reduced it to its important components, and then I reintroduced these components by tufting them - an intentionally reductive process. This created a more profound composition for me, pushing past my need to feel seen and heard with my work - as viewers cannot immediately tell that this piece is about a mother and her baby. This was the first work that I did for myself.
Those Who Fight, 2022
Painting on canvas board, 75 x 110 cm
Creating an image of a mother and baby and repeating that image, was something I found emotionally taxing. I thought about loss, grief, protection, innocence. I was interested in leading with how this work had made me feel - which guided me towards exploring these emotions. The Fight Series was a development of paintings over the course of a few weeks, and happened accidentally as a result of my reflections after creating the first work, Those Who Fight. This painting is the first of a series of acrylics on canvas board that discusses the relationships between fear, confidence, violence and self-protection. I drew from my own experiences and wanted to continue the discourse around my work’s focus on using black figures.
This series was the first successful series of paintings I’d made, all suggesting the different relationships in fighting, the intimacy of it, as a representation of vulnerability and strength. I felt that this body of work is also charged with the reminiscence of previous discussions I’d had about race in my work. Using a visual allusion to boxing training and Muay Thai is, again, drawing on personal experience, but I created these paintings about the duality of combat; symbols of defenders and aggressors.
The Cheerleader / Special Education, 2023
Painting on calico, 75 x 110 cm
I tend to move back and forth between creating new pieces and extracting new meanings from older pieces. The Cheerleader, a standalone painting I created shortly after the boxing series, is a faceless figure with bright colours surrounding her.
I thought about the powerful use of faceless figures when I had created the mother and baby and some of the fighters, and then also reverted to experimenting with my own relationship to my work by discarding it - or presenting it face down on the floor with the viewers unaware of what is on the other side. I used this to demonstrate my relationship with my paintings and to reimagine the idea of precious art for myself. This presentation had also come from previously having my work turned down to face the floor, and reclaiming the sense of censorship I had received by doing such as an artist made me look at these experiences in a different light. It was this presentation of my work that made me realise the importance of making the most of every single resource I’ve created in terms of my pieces, and how I can reinvent works to suggest different meanings.
Untitled (WIP)
Tufted piece, 80 x 50 cm
As of lately, I’ve been focusing solely on colour and shape, which has become a recent challenge. The objective in my more abstract work for me is, how can I say the most with only a little? It feels like a full circle moment as I realise that I continue to use the same vocabulary of painting that I’ve used in all my work.
Continuing tufting, I have started a piece that explores the joy of womanhood and female friendship. My constant concern used to be that viewers would not and could not understand what I’m exploring in each of my works, but as I continue to enjoy my practice more, my work as a whole is something that I understand will make my messages clearer. I have created a tufted piece that strays further away from overt statements, and I want to see how far I can get with this.
This tufted piece is unfinished.
I have discovered that my practice is not linear and I am always exploring the emotional relationship withInatural human behaviour. I think this is because I am always thinking and dealing with the importance or obstacle of emotion. I don’t know how far my subconscious explorations go from my interest in depicting fleeting moments that celebrate colour and shape.