My experiment in response to the photographs I took in Belur, India. This study is a deep dive into texture - completed with black block ink that has been scratched over and white acrylic paint on cardboard. I am fascinated by the depths to which textural details can take the viewer and enhance their visual journey. Therefore, I deeply honed in on encapsulating the nuance of this.
February 2020.
I find great solace in nature; spaces where my true happiness and contentment lies. This painting was created in response to my experience of coming to terms with my dark reality with mental illness at face value. The introspection made me realise that I naturally live in a state of dissonance and duality, which demands greater things the more I heed to my feelings. This created an aversion to the places I feel safest in; what I would once call home was now an abyss with no escape. However, it is impossible for me to shy away from the meaningful relationship that only withstood the trials and tribulations of my mind. This realisation of living in duality allowed me to accept that the double-edged sword can be beautiful in itself, and that I can live with both states of mind even if they don't work in harmony.
Portrait of an elderly woman.
Oil on canvas. June 2020.
St Paul's Cathedral triptych. Finding significant shapes and forms in negative spaces.
Acrylic on paper. December 2019.
A series of mark-making experiements in my sketchbook. An inquiry into releasing mental blocks and embracing creative 'imperfections'.
June 2020.
We are living in a phantasmagoria of social, political and cultural dissonance; perceptions warped, manipulated and collective truths skewed.
Fiercely repressed by external power forces, we are continually left in a state of estrangement from ourselves and our environment. The political apocalypse has disorienting effects on our ways of seeing, thinking and being. With the plethora of scathing messages, functioning in this dystopia has become all the more tiresome and overstimulating; unprecedented psychological dimensions are required to be worked through in disorienting ways. Existing in a state of doublethink is all we can do in spaces that are only setting precedent for a darker future.
March 2022. Oil on canvas.
An exploration into fluid shapes and forms, inspired by the moments when a calm surface of water is disturbed. Inspired by the stark oscillating mental state that I experience living with a mental illness.
July 2022. Oil on canvas.
The way sunflowers all yearn for the embrace of sunlight, reaching lovingly towards the warmth really intrigues me. The idea came through a really vivid vision that I had whilst I was on a walk. I saw this image of myself surrounded by a crowd of sunflowers, caressing her, and being comforted by the tenderness of a midsummer's day. I wanted to portray a sense of hope, as opposed to the distress that humanity faced over lockdown, and the pain in my mind. Inspired by a longstanding teacher figure to me, Vincent Van Gogh, whose techniques and processes I have a deep appreciation for.
July 2020. Oil on canvas.
A second rendition of a self portrait with sunflowers, except from a place where my mental state was better and much improved. I still aimed on capturing a state of melancholy, but this time with a tinge of growth and maturity in the way I applied brushstrokes. I used Kahlo as a reference and attempted to visually resonate with her photographed self-portrait.
A visual response to a therapeutic place I created mentally to escape to when the overwhelm strikes.
Oil on canvas. February 2021.
This landscape is dedicated to one of my best friends, Anna. Grief is the one puzzle that cannot be solved - it is the price that we pay for love. But it’s an honour to hold so much grief, because it is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. But it reminds you of the beautiful ability we have to care so deeply, so profoundly. I used the tool I know and love best to create a dreamscape that I can escape to when the grief gets too much.
Oil on canvas. November 2021.
A diptych of paintings from my sketchbook, digitally manipulated and layered. Here, I synthesised a painting of sunflowers with an abstract palette that I created. My intention was to see if any patterns emerged through the cracks between the layers. Mark-making, analysis of form and subject matter, and continuity lie in the forefront of this piece.
Featured in Aparna Mitra’s online exhibition ‘Cracks and Flat Spaces’.
August 2022.
