I am a Scottish based artist and I like to work across borders. I’m interested in exploring what is to have
a sense of place and how we, the human race, can fit creatively into the natural world. All my recent work reflects this core concern. My work is frequently site specific and installation based. It is often temporary, employing an element of performance, which gives the development process importance. I use drawing as part of this process and it remains central to my practice.
A central theme within the work emanates from the belief that we have lost touch with where we come from, and where our place is in the natural order. My work addresses postmodern popular culture and the state of the world today as reflective of an arrogance, a sense of disorder, and a lack of common purpose.
I explore the relationship between our urban life and that of nature. The gap that exists between a consumerist society and a way of life that involves working with the land is ever widening. How can we remain in touch with our roots and find a meaningful way forward without the feel and smell of the earth and everything that comes from it? How can we avoid the exploitation, wars, famine and destruction that can follow this dislocation?
By playing with the juxtaposition of urban/rural, natural/man-made, I seek to raise questions and also to explore the aesthetics, the stimulation and the pleasures that come with the harmonising of these disparate elements. My work suggests that an immediate engagement with these issues is essential if we are to survive as a species. By changing contexts I hope to offer the viewer the possibility of the joy and the insight that comes from ‘looking again’.
Arising from my concerns about the environment, I am also interested in engaging with other related global issues such as containment and dispersal, migration and movement of peoples and borders, diversity and sustainability. As an artist I seek to engage as wide an audience as possible in these debates by making accessible, multi layered work. Working in the landscape, both rural and urban, has given me a particular interest in working outside traditional art venues and involving people who may not normally go to an art gallery. I have developed a practice that often involves collaborating with other disciplines such as architects, musicians, agriculturalists and film makers and find involving other sectors of the community productive and creative.
Generally, I believe the job of the artist is to raise the stakes in the debate, not to provide answers. Artists should be taking a dynamic and assertive role in this way. I also believe that we as a society should value and nurture creativity in order to provide the bedrock for the future and to enable innovative solutions to the dilemmas we face.
