Wall of words

Why do you always make such a mess? Why do you always make everything so difficult? It is your fault though. It is still your fault because you are the child and I am the adult. I am not wrong, you are wrong.

It is all my fault

do you? cos i fucking do and i bet if you say you don’t you’re lying.

Therapise 

The table 

The bike

The hopper

The pogo stick

If seeing a skipping rope made of barbed wire does make you feel uncomfortable, and think "oh fuck imagine if we gave that to a child, that would be horrendous", then i don’t know what else to say.

​

This work was created as a part of my ongoing series, 'not suitable for children' (NSFC), a collection of childrens' toys and objects rendered in some way or another incapable of performing their intended function. Different objects pose different threat levels to the child, some like this one, are down right dangerous. 

The skipping rope

How have you been affected by the coping mechanisms passed down to you?

Why does the cycle of maladaptive coping mechanisms passed down from generation to generation seem so pervasive?

Are we predisposed to enact violence; be it physical, emotional or verbal, against each other? Is it a part of our animal nature? 

How can the audience's discomfort be used as a tool to evoke change, understanding and empathy?

These questions have become the central focus of my studio practice. Fascinated by the relationship between childhood experiences and psychology my work explores the cyclical patterns of intergenerational trauma. It is both a desire to understand the passing down of emotional and behavioural reactions from one generation to the next, and a hope that these cycles can be broken.

This theme is explored through a diverse range of media, with a preference for the sculptural, performative or installative. In each work, often realised with various modes of making, focus is given to process, form and materiality.

‘NFSC’, which includes ‘the act of experiencing fear’ is a collection of metaphors for those behaviours modelled to children and their affects. I’m working to find the balance between intrinsic childlike joy and harmful or destructive process. Often taking a well loved childhood object and rendering it as incapable of performing its intended function.

These works are designed to confront the comfortable and soothe the uncomfortable.

  

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