Artist Statement
British artist and illustrator based in the south of England.
I draw how I feel, the thoughts that haunt me, the emotions that are overwhelming. Mental health is very much at the forefront of my work. My art is an autobiographical journey, a way to communicate the mood changes that are associated with bipolar and borderline personality disorder. By making my inner mind visible to the world to show the daily struggles, I hope to find community through sharing.
As I bounce between two aspects of my inner mind, my mark making changes within my pieces.
Nature and the organic feature strongly, with an array of trees, becoming the centre of many of my pieces, only using those which I have experienced, or find a connection with. I use them to help symbolise messages within my work, and feelings that I have processed.
The angular more constructed marks come from the immediate thoughts that enter my mind, or a way to silence my inner critic. For these I use, used postcards and biro; mediums that are often discarded, it’s a way to discard the thoughts from my mind. I work on these in tandem, alternating between the two.
While researching my diagnoses of bipolar and BPD I was directed to the artist Vincent Van Gogh. I was inspired by his strength, even when struggling with mental health issues. I found that this helped me to accept my diagnoses and banish stigma.
Salvador Dali has been a big influence, his use of the subconscious, and the irrational ideas that can stem from the human mind. I utilise these ideas, using the feelings that I have processed and understand to construct art, or the subconscious to externalise my inner mind.
Marco Mazzoni, a contemporary artist also uses nature to communicate feelings that we experience. You can immediately identify those through the selection of animals and composition. Something that inspires how I use compositions within my art.