My subject matter for this body of work focuses on ideas of nature and culture iterated through paintings as objects, drawing, photography, video and sound.  The intention for this project was to acknowledge my gut health and the process of eating as a stimulus for the studio. Conceiving of microbial matter that makes up my body and environment proves to be uncanny, despite it being biologically a part of my skin. My approach to this work reflects the intuitive act of eating, which alternates between desire and disgust. Inspired by Jane Bennett’s Vital Materialism (2010), which encompasses the idea of the "alien quality of our own flesh" being partially made up of nonhuman species, my work is informed by the unfamiliarity of my body’s ecology that provokes a sense of both ambiguity and intimacy. Imagining my body as a part of all living matter is a fragmented process. Visualising the entanglement between human and nonhuman species, I reconsider our relationship to ‘nature’ through my practice.

"The girl responded to her new state of being matching the energies of ‘city’ with nature… She analysed its building materials… all came from the same source of herself… The glittering streets reminded her of the tiny droplets shining on the moss-covered stones in the lava field back where she came from… all that sparkled… all that glowed… it was also nature's work…" (Bjork)

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Pretty Abject, 2021  

oil on canvas 

1100 x 910 mm

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Untitled, 2021  

photograph

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Squishy, 2021  

photograph  

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Untitled, 2021  

digital collage

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Spray Clay, 2021  

paper, beetroot, string, clay

20 x 300 mm

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Gut Feeling, 2021  

video installation  

dimensions variable

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