I am particularly interested in the materiality of both spaces/locations (Cromer and Manchester) and what the coast and urban context provide as neighbours at a distance. I would like to explore how the project could enable a careful attentive response to these sites and how my sculptural, relational and critical practice might become part of their dialogue. Coastal Town and Urban environment have become unlikely geographical twins providing an exciting provocation.
I find a resonance in the contrasting bodies of water between these locations—moving from the ocean to the canal. The force of the sea on the Norfolk coast stands in contrast to the curated and mapped manmade canals of Manchester. There is a significant materiality to the recently ‘craned in and dropped’ boulders that form the sea defences in Cromer, and the urbanized contained waterways within the city. The water can’t just be itself and there is an environmental push and pull and materially ecological resistance. I am interested in this concept of movement and tension "between"—places and spaces, individuals and groups, coast and land, urban and domestic, human and non-human—which feels full of potential. ‘Compass’ serving as a navigational prompt, where the development of new practice outcomes could act as material anchor points within the landscape of the experience.
I hope to create items that act as prosthetics, establishing connections that stimulate new thoughts, engagements, and dialogues. Through these practice interactions, I wonder if the concept of a ‘compass’ can evolve into a ‘sextant’ or ‘astrolabe,’ thereby broadening our perspectives in the process.
I find a resonance in the contrasting bodies of water between these locations—moving from the ocean to the canal. The force of the sea on the Norfolk coast stands in contrast to the curated and mapped manmade canals of Manchester. There is a significant materiality to the recently ‘craned in and dropped’ boulders that form the sea defences in Cromer, and the urbanized contained waterways within the city. The water can’t just be itself and there is an environmental push and pull and materially ecological resistance. I am interested in this concept of movement and tension "between"—places and spaces, individuals and groups, coast and land, urban and domestic, human and non-human—which feels full of potential. ‘Compass’ serving as a navigational prompt, where the development of new practice outcomes could act as material anchor points within the landscape of the experience.
I hope to create items that act as prosthetics, establishing connections that stimulate new thoughts, engagements, and dialogues. Through these practice interactions, I wonder if the concept of a ‘compass’ can evolve into a ‘sextant’ or ‘astrolabe,’ thereby broadening our perspectives in the process.
Beginnings - How to Encounter a New Space-
I heard the sea through the walls - it was always in the space with us.
Resilient and relentless breathing in and out.
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There was a material matching - finding material neighbours - what was to hand - what resonated - what yielded, and what remained undisturbed by my interventions. There was a juggling of objects that became conversational and the dialogue between what pulled from outside of the space and what was informed inside became tidal in itself. I remained attached to the pull and tension - at times an elastic cord threaded between two points and then a ribbon across the flat sand - but also metaphorical stretches and twanging of tensions between things as they met.
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I imagined before I started working at the space that I wanted to make a personal sea defence – something that I wore on my body- shielding myself or others from the surrounding environment. I did not want to use the material of the beach – the natural forms or the residue so abundant directly outside of the studio/gallery.
However, I started to realise that in any of my projects and commissions the response – the provocation of the environment/institution or collection is my springboard. The object interpretation is fundamental to the way that my practice unfolds. Always context specific. So, there was no avoidance or negating of its material force.
What was yielding – the materials or me? There was a navigation, a direct tension and an incessant hummmmm of the tide. It was as though it reiterated a statement or manifesto that acted as an undercurrent for all the making and encounters that took place. Resonating and yet not caring if I worked with it or not- a bit like the expert in the museum – ‘it already knows’ and in that fundamental positioning we have to order ourselves around it.
The stones became meat, the tide became elastic, the wind held taught and felt through the stretch of a golden ribbon. A ribbon that usually unrolls across the space of the art museum now pulled against the tide- creating a new edge and an impossible territorial claim. Paint palates became eggs, paper became waves, the weight and tension were clear in each of the object encounters.
The grip that held a felt pen onto a sphere of wood throughout the 2 weeks slowly seeped into the grain, a small insignificant bleed that said very little in comparison to the force of other things around us. A pointless capture perhaps - of a time. It was a truth of a process but in its pathetic leakage it brought material disappointment – that maybe becomes more interesting to talk about than to see.
This equals that.
The retractable pop-up projector stand was bought in Cromer a year ago, waiting to see what it should become- I knew as an object it was significant but what it would be was always uncertain. Its return to Cromer feels interesting to me. The yellow line – not quite the elegance of the ribbon – projects the delineation of something for me – and its hope of a strength and assertion is almost silly, nearly a painting, nearly a manifesto, a carpark, a sail, a horizon perhaps.
Finding my practice settle into a place that I have walked through many times yet never really paused in- has been important. Time spent with my parents here echoes through the way I considered the processes of making and thinking. I felt material hope and a personal insignificance that comes by being by and with the sea. I also felt other waves - of methods, humour, play, and intuitive intentionality that manifested through my speculative material neighbours.
However, I started to realise that in any of my projects and commissions the response – the provocation of the environment/institution or collection is my springboard. The object interpretation is fundamental to the way that my practice unfolds. Always context specific. So, there was no avoidance or negating of its material force.
What was yielding – the materials or me? There was a navigation, a direct tension and an incessant hummmmm of the tide. It was as though it reiterated a statement or manifesto that acted as an undercurrent for all the making and encounters that took place. Resonating and yet not caring if I worked with it or not- a bit like the expert in the museum – ‘it already knows’ and in that fundamental positioning we have to order ourselves around it.
The stones became meat, the tide became elastic, the wind held taught and felt through the stretch of a golden ribbon. A ribbon that usually unrolls across the space of the art museum now pulled against the tide- creating a new edge and an impossible territorial claim. Paint palates became eggs, paper became waves, the weight and tension were clear in each of the object encounters.
The grip that held a felt pen onto a sphere of wood throughout the 2 weeks slowly seeped into the grain, a small insignificant bleed that said very little in comparison to the force of other things around us. A pointless capture perhaps - of a time. It was a truth of a process but in its pathetic leakage it brought material disappointment – that maybe becomes more interesting to talk about than to see.
This equals that.
The retractable pop-up projector stand was bought in Cromer a year ago, waiting to see what it should become- I knew as an object it was significant but what it would be was always uncertain. Its return to Cromer feels interesting to me. The yellow line – not quite the elegance of the ribbon – projects the delineation of something for me – and its hope of a strength and assertion is almost silly, nearly a painting, nearly a manifesto, a carpark, a sail, a horizon perhaps.
Finding my practice settle into a place that I have walked through many times yet never really paused in- has been important. Time spent with my parents here echoes through the way I considered the processes of making and thinking. I felt material hope and a personal insignificance that comes by being by and with the sea. I also felt other waves - of methods, humour, play, and intuitive intentionality that manifested through my speculative material neighbours.
