The Heart and The Journey is a painting commission for healx.ai It is made up of 11,000 coloured dots that are all unique and individually painted.
They represent the nearly 11,000 rare diseases which are currently known. Each one has a community of people who are affected by, but not defined by, their condition, therefore the dots are as colourful and varied as the communities they represent. The patient community is at the heart of everything that Healx does.
Copper is an essential element in our bodies, the copper pins represent people working to understand and treat rare disease. They could be researchers, funders, therapists, AI developers or any of the vast network of talent. Their work all connects and touches the rare disease community in a meaningful way.
The copper pins are connected with silk thread, on the left we have three threads to represent the three founders. The three threads come together and the horizontal line of threads gets stronger as it travels from left to right. Although not always a straight line it is purposeful and travels with the rare disease community.
The silk thread forms a network of connections between the people involved with Healx. There are switchbacks and threads that do not lead anywhere, especially in the centre section of the canvas, but they all feed back to the horizontal line. Towards the right of the canvas the connections become more ordered and although the network is smaller, it is more focussed around the horizontal line. The threads cast a shadow on the paint surface which changes depending on lighting conditions, reminding us that things change and to tread lightly. Many threads leave the canvas on the right implying that there is much more to do on Healx's journey.
'Duologues' is a series of portraits of conversations between myself and other people. Some I know very well; some I have never met before. The index for me is my handwriting and the index for the other person is the pattern of their fingerprint. Each is unique.The interaction is depicted in the words of the conversation. They were recorded in the moment and transcribed later. They range in subject from holiday plans to one woman's life's work. They have no set starting point and are natural and flowing.They are purposefully unframed and drawn on tracing paper reflecting the fleeting connection between two people.The six drawings here are part of an ongoing series, if you would like to create a Duologue with me please do get in touch.
Duologes was selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024, details of the travelling exhibition can be found here trinitybuoywharfdrawingprize
"I Am Because We Are" is a series of large scale ink drawings on watercolour paper. They use the unpredictability of water pools to break apart the pigments in the ink to show graduations of shade in ways that are inpredictable and impossible to replicate.
In this piece, the water which is used to form the shapes is very important. The materiality of water means that it moves in ways that aren't always predictable. Much like people.
"Early Days" china marker on paper.
"Six Pests of Summer" is a series of embroideries of garden insects. Stitched in silk thread they crawl across doilies and fabric reminding us how close we are to our creepy crawly neighbours.
"Remember When" is a series of gouache paintings from old photographs and memory.
