20th december 2022
Dear Ayline,
Thank you for your reply. It is interesting what you mentioned in searching for belonging in the world and in body. I often wonder how many unseen obstacles are in our way. I had a real sense of belonging when I was young.
When I was a child I lived in a place where the landscape was flat and our village was surrounded by fields that went on for miles and miles. My father was a gardener for a large National Trust property and he would maintain formal and informal gardens. These gardens were like a playground to me and my brothers and sister. We grew up in the village, in the gardens and in the surrounding fields. My favourite memories were from exploring the land and making dens in hidden wild places. As a child I was happy in nature and I felt free in nature. During my school years I found refuge in art. I would explore my relationship with nature through art. I studied Fine Art and loved working large scale, oil on canvas gave me disciplines in understanding time, tones and layers. However, I wanted to feel like I was in the canvas. I wanted to be surrounded by the colour’s and forms. In 2002 I started experimenting in ‘coming out’ from the canvas and by 2003 I decided I could paint in the air using the flower as my paint and copper wire as my binder.
Many experiments brought me to this place. I grew up with flowers. Flowers dried in our attic, my parents would grow them to sell locally. My grandmother would make pictures with dried flowers and these hung on our walls. I was familiar with the flower being utilised as an art material and I knew it had a value beyond fresh. When I made my first installation with flowers I knew this was my art. I felt free to paint in the air and the many tones, colours, forms and smells captured those places that made me feel happy as a child.
The fragility of my art material is what makes me respect it. Through flowers I have had the opportunity to explore our human relationship with this earth. I have been able to study the human impact on life, I’ve studied flowers, seeds, shells, fossils and many invasive and native plants. Our small time on this earth has already left a huge imprint, I am sensitive to our vulnerability and our vulnerable planet. I started my art practice using flowers that were going to be discarded. Florists would give me their waste and I would preserve it. By looking at the value of the flower I have been able to talk about valuing our relationship to this earth and the way we use its resources. When a viewer walks into an installation it is most important for me to allow the viewer a space to connect to nature. It is this connection that I believe has the power to enable change. The way we live today is not sustainable and in order to slow down our consumption through consumerism, we need time to connect and value our earth.
As a woman I am sensitive to our natural rhythms, I want to study our connections and relationships further. I believe in community and working together to nurture. I often use local community groups to help with making installations. In the past these have been extremely rewarding projects and offer a sense of ownership to the local viewers. I’ve always felt that in order to look after this earth we also need to look after each other.
I hope that we can empower women to feel freedom in creativity through our exhibition and open up a dialogue of about our relationship with the environment. What are your thoughts on our collaboration?
Rebecca