Statement
Embroidered and Textile Works
The Femicide Census for 2020, read in the House of Commons on International Women's Day 2021 was chilling and lead me to explore victim representation in the media. In most cases more is written about the killers, than victims, their images remaining prominent throughout the criminal justice process.
It was important to me to redress this by making embroidered pieces, which respectfully contemplate each woman equally, representing them beautifully, alongside the stark facts of each killing. The use of individual embroidered squares, sewn to form a ‘quilt’, references what has long been viewed as ‘women’s work’.
As a progression from this I began to consider those killed women, and their families, who have not received justice. In doing this delicate handkerchiefs which speak of grief became the foundation on which to create beautiful representations of these women, the killers of whom remained undetected for many years, or who died themselves before brought to justice, or who were unfit to be held to account.
In thinking about these matters, my own and my sisters and friends experiences of misogyny, sexual and physical violence needed to be addressed. I have begun to do this by applying single words or phrases to personally significant textile pieces. This includes a 220 part patchwork which contains embroidered memoir of an autobiographical and biographical nature.
Found Objects
This work explores the multitude of detritus we leave behind. The human adorns their home and surroundings with objects which, seem useful or aesthetically pleasing. Objects are useful until they are superseded or broken, and aesthetic until the next trend dictates their loss of appeal. In exploring the left behind, discarded, or lost objects they become part of a new story. With these materials I create new objects and environments; coloured plastics set in resin, dolls’ house style vignettes, mini installations and curiosity boxes.
Combined with personal treasures, elevating their status to artefacts, appropriating the visual language of archaeological or ethnographic pieces, religious pieces, reliquary or contemporary consumer products. In doing so I investigate the relationships between real and fake, valuable and valueless, whilst considering aspects of human experience; life, love and death, and the pressure we exert on the environment. By contemplating what signifies value, I aim to challenge societal notions of monetary worth and discover genuine substance. This investigation leads me to analyse my own relationship with specific objects, on which I have conferred meaning and value, and that of consumer society on possessions.
Biography
Graduating from Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University in 1996 I continued with my practice alongside raising a family. At that time, I used painting and printmaking to explore and evoke a sense of place. Remaining in Nottinghamshire I joined Harrington Mill Studios at Long Eaton, in 2007 where I had a space until 2016.
In 2010 I undertook an Arts Council funded Post Graduate Certificate in Art Practice through the University of Derby and worked ‘en plein air’ as resident artist at Thoresby Estate, Nottinghamshire. In 2011, alongside fellow artist Jackie Berridge, I travelled to Chicago to participate in a week-long residency at Art on Armitage, creating an 8 x 15ft drawing in the window gallery there. I have subsequently exhibited at Platforms Project, Athens for 8 years from 2014 to 2019 inclusive, and post-lockdown with my own platform JAW in 2021 and 2022.
Over the last years I have been experimenting with different media forms, especially found objects and discarded and natural materials. For some time this became the backbone of my practice, exploring ways three dimensions to engage a dialogue with the environmental issues, such as pressure on resources, climate change and ocean plastic, I work from my garden studio which reduces my carbon footprint somewhat.
More recently I have begun working with textile and stitch media to explore feminist concerns.