Biography
Brief Introduction
I was born in Oxford in 1971 and studied at Brookes University, from where I graduated in 1993 with a degree in Visual Studies and Art History. I have recently returned to Brookes to study for my MA, this time in Contemporary Art and Music.
As well as practicing as an artist, I also write, and am currently working on a number of projects, the development of which will be recorded in a writing blog. I also write and record music some of which will be made available through this website.
Themes
Places - People - Objects - Memory
For some time now, I have worked with themes of time and memory, and looked how these relate to places, people and objects in our present day environment. How does a place in the present relate to the same place in the past? How do I relate to these places? And how do those who inhabitant the past relate to those of us living today? The same questions can be asked of people and objects: How does an object in the present relate to the same object in the past...? And so on.
In trying to answer these questions, I've started to consider the definition of place - what exactly constitutes place aside from geographic location? Time and memory must be factors in any definition, along with individual perspective.
The Holocaust
Having visited the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 2006, much of my recent work has centred around its place in the present day landscape. By investigating and exploring the physical site and its tragic provenance, I feel I'm better placed to examine the broader themes outlined above: Place (Auschwitz-Birkenau as a place), People (those who lived and died in the camp) and Objects (possessions left by, or stolen from, those who perished there).
Since visiting the sites of the Majdanek concentration camp and the death camp of Bełżec in May 2007, my interest in the Holocaust has extended to include these and other, as yet, unvisited sites. I have become interested in how such places, burdened by their appalling pasts are managed, not only as cemeteries, but as memorials, places of pilgrimage and, for want of a more appropriate phrase, tourist attractions.
World War I
In March 2007 I visited the town of Ieper (Ypres) and the surrounding battlefields, and, as with my investigations into Auschwitz-Birkenau and sites of the Holocaust, I have used my visit to further my understanding of the themes outlined above. I have also started to develop and conflate these themes into that of Memory, researching in particular, memorials (sites of memory) and ways of remembering.
Oxford
Having lived in Oxford all my life, I have in the past concentrated my work in the city, and, as I’ve looked deeper into its past so my work has taken me in a new, yet parallel direction; that of the City itself. Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities has been a huge influence on me in this respect, drawing together my interests in place, time, memory and perspective.
"...the traveller is invited to visit the city and, at the same time, to examine some old postcards that show it as it used to be… the old postcards do not depict Maurilia as it was, but a different city which by chance was called Maurilia like this one."
I have recently begun to use my familiarity with Oxford as a means of researching those places mentioned above, and in particular, our (those of us who are commonly strangers to these places) relationship with such places and their tragic provenances.