Sandy Sykes

One of the first finished prints from a series of ten unique hand burnished woodcuts with mixed media started in 2011,‘Passion Spilt’ uses text from the novel ‘Madam Bovary’ written in 1856 by Gustave Flaubert.

A study of the restraints placed on women in former centuries, the words ‘Passion has been spilt everywhere’ are printed from a set of tiny metal letter punches, which my dad had used to label parts of diesel engines when fitting them in coalmines, dark and condensed places. Hidden patterns lived in confined domestic spaces were repeated beyond endurance, claustrophobia leading to explosions of rebellion with the inevitable volcanic and ricochet effect.

On transparent Indian hand made paper reflecting the fragility of life, imagery bleeds through from both front and back of the works. Collaged heads lie uneasily on the multi-layered, slowly moving surface, inviting quiet contemplation.