Artist Statement
My practice involves the use of photography and processes like mark-making and printmaking to produce digital collages using photoshop. Memories of places that have caused a sense of comfort, joy, and any other positive feelings is the inspiration for my artwork, and I want to bring that experience to viewers by creating a safe space through these images to evoke these same emot
ions. I also have an interest in photographing pathways, staircases, synthetic or natural pathways, footpaths, and country roads. These bring a feeling of wonder and curiosity about what lies beyond, while simultaneously taking one on a journey through the natural environment. Pathways connect us to nature more than it seems than we humans, who rely on pathways inside our body to survive. That connection, between human and nature, is something I want to explore in my work as this relationship is important in so many ways and beneficial to things like mental health. Although the natural world is my primary influence, I also combine it with industrial settings and urban environments, as the differences suggest the built environment, and the cumulative effect of human presence. While industrial settings are the opposite of quiet, I try to find pockets of calm within this busy environment, such as community gardens for example. The relationship of industrial and natural environments merge in these spaces, collectively suggesting that the importance of nature matters in such loud, fast-paced environments to allow us to take time to disconnect from that part of life. After the past few years of printmaking and using collage, I moved on to Photoshop. The process of layering and experimenting with opacity and colour with ink and paper, lead me to put that interest into digital images. My process for assembling a digital print involves a complexity of multiple images in different opacities of various places along with the addition of other passages of paint and marks for aesthetic choices and colour to complete a piece. Often, I won't know how images will look together and I tend to make decisions on where to place colours or texture once I have set down multiple layers, letting the images guide me for that part of my intuitive process to extend what I already have there.
