My work involves sculpture/assemblage using Found Objects, installation, printmaking, painting, mixed media and drawing. I am fascinated by the notion of collecting and display, and am particularly interested in Cabinets of Curiosities and Wonder Rooms. This has opened up a whole world of research to me and I am constantly on the lookout for curious objects and artefacts that reflect the kinds of things that were collected in these cabinets from the 1600s onwards. As collectors were known to do in those times, if something comes along to be added to their collection, such as a mythical creature with no way of proving that these things didn’t exist, they would turn a blind eye to the fact that a mermaid (for example) was in fact half fish, half monkey covered in tar to preserve it and proudly present it in their cabinets. If I can’t find a real mermaid, then I will make one. My mermaid is tiny and is preserved in a glass jar. It is said to have been discovered at the bottom of the deepest ocean in the world, in the Marianna Trench.
I am particularly interested in the inherent history in a found object and the transformation of mundane objects becoming precious when placed behind glass.
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