Past Exhibitions

 22.11.18-29.11.18

Waiting for Hope: an introspective on the cycles of fertility

This exhibition brings together two years of introspective explorations on cycles of fertility and infertility. The materials of everyday objects, wood, pigment and binder, ceramic and glass become metaphors for the human form and its experiences; physically, emotionally and socially.

Using a sequential approach to symbol and materiality, ideas of regenerative and degenerative process are revealed through the physical making process. By connecting concrete material happenings with the emotional content of this exploration, a codified language can be discovered, linking process with meaning.

Multimedia layers and repeated figures suggest depth of, and multiple experiences.  Flows and flocculation’s can speak to the fluidity of the body and emotions.  Raised textures, imprints and cavities suggest growth, erosion or disintegration.  Transparency and reflective qualities may voice emotions and vulnerability. Patterns, shapes and colours are signifiers of coded data, documentations and potentialities. Binary language can become representative of value: Present/Not Present. Full/Empty. Yes/No. Hope/Disappointment. Joy/Sorrow. Fecund/Barren. Fertile/Infertile.

The recurring colour palette is intentionally representative of flesh, isolation, emptiness, grief, blood, pain, sadness, hope, innocence, fullness, patience, purity, value and healing. 

Drawing from my experience, I hope that the viewer can sense an ebb and flow within the works, indicative of the tenuous nature of human reproductive cycles.  The narrow window of fertility is not easily found; the conditions must be right, and slight alterations can inhibit success.  The grief which charges this body of work is real and universal.  Hopes deferred, unrealized dreams, missed opportunities along with physical inabilities or restrictions can connect human experience.  The grief and longing I have experienced may be no less for my counterpart, or for any persons younger or older, who have experienced a deep desire for something that in reality has been elusive. 

Beyond outcomes of viewer response and connection, it is potentially the expression of self that has been the key outcome of this inquiry.  Amongst these works I have found a way to liberate the experience of my body and the emotion of my experience.