Artist statement
I am fat, I am a woman and I make art about it.
Instigated by my life's personal and resonating experiences my autobiographical interdisciplinary work retain universal themes such as the housing and death work completed in 2010-2012.
Most recently my current ongoing work on the fat female body developed as in August 2012 when I was due to have a gastric bypass. Horrified at the 'normalising' extremes I was about to put my body through I felt a reconciliation with my identity as a fat woman and so I cancelled the procedure. I decided to 'come out' as a fat women and so placed my experiences of being fat within my art's practice and research. My main interests come from the medical and social gaze which scrutinises and seeks to normalise the fat female body.
Using the biomedical and interventions and treatments of obesity as my starting points the skin and the viscera have become my main motifs within my three-dimensional works. Textiles and found objects are the main medium which I use to exploit the corporeal knowingness of their affecting ubiquity. In particular textiles convey a similitude between the materiality of the body and demonstrate similar acts of destructions and creation in both textile processes and body modification.
Qualifications and training
- 2013 MA in Contemporary Art Practice, Plymouth University, Devon
- 2011 BA (hons) 1st class in Fine Art Practices, Plymouth College of Art, Devon, UK
- 2010 PGCE Post Compulsory Education, Cornwall College, Cornwall, UK
- 2007 Graduate Diploma of Religious Studies, Open University, UK
- 2003 FdA Fine Art Practice, Cornwall College, Cornwall, UK
Employment
- 2013 Visiting Lecturer, Plymouth College of Art, Devon
- 2012 Visiting Lecturer, Plymouth College of Art, Devon
- 2009 Lecturer in textiles, Community Education at Cornwall College, Cornwall, UK
- 2005 Teacher and Teaching Assistant, Humphry Davy School, Cornwall, UK
- 2003 Lecturer in art & design, Penwith College, Cornwall, UK
Solo exhibitions
- 2011 'Dwelling', Plymouth University, Devon
- 2011 'Still Life', Steele Gallery, The Poly, Falmouth, Cornwall
- 2009 Cornwall Open Studio, Cornwall, UK
Group exhibitions
- 2012 'any place that invites me in', Artspace 101, University of Plymouth
- 2012 'Bread & Roses', Motorcade/FlashParade, Bristol
- 2011 'HerStory', The Link Gallery, Winchester
- 2009 'Freedom', Forge Mill Needle Museum, Redditch, UK
- 2009 Jersey Textile Showcase, Art in the Frame, Jersey, UK
Degree shows
- 2012 Pg Dip Summer Show, University of Plymouth
- 2011 Summer Show, Plymouth College of Art
- 2011 Summer Showcase (best of degree show), Plymouth College of Art
- 2004 End of Year Show, Cornwall College
Artist talks
- 2013 'Skin Deep: skin as repository' paper at 'Body Modification and the Female Body' conference, University of York, York
- 2012 'Home our Corner of the World' paper at 'Home & the World' conference, Aune Head Arts, Dartington Hall
- 2010 Talk about my work to FdA Fine Art Textiles, Cornwall College, Cornwall, UK
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2013 Faculty of Arts Equality and Diversity Award, University of Plymouth, Devon
- 2009 Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award in Stitched Textiles - Shortlisted, Forge Mill Museum, Redditch, UK
- 2009 'Transformation' Jersey Textile Showcase, Art in the Frame, Jersey, UK
Publications
- 2010 Self-portrait published in 'Self: self-portraits from around the world'
Web links - gallery/work/projects
Personal website
