I make art that explores the uncompromising cycle of life, the fragility of existence and the passing of time.
My studio is situated in a rural landscape where I regularly forage for materials to inspire and use in my work.
I have always been fascinated with animal bones and skulls, dead butterflies and insects, feathers, birds nests and dried seed heads, all of which I collect and display in my studio as my own ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. These were also known as Wunderkammer and were first established in sixteenth century Europe. They comprised collections of objects that were displayed to give the viewer a sense of a world full of mystery and wonder, blurring the lines between myth and reality and allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusions. Something I aspire to.
My work often uses symbols associated with the traditional art genres of memento mori, vanitas and still life which are all associated with the transience of life and earthly pleasures and the ever present threat of death.
I use the cyanotype process to make most of my artwork as I love the fact that cyanotypes are created in partnership with nature allowing chance and the weather to collaborate in the process.
I aim to create work that is a poignant reminder of our own mortality and vulnerability as well as invoking a sense of awe and wonder.
Artists I admire include Cornelia Parker, Gabriel Orozco and Ori Gerscht. I love reading the books of Haruki Murakami. And the naturalist Chris Packham is also an inspiration.
CV
Education
2006 M.A. (Distinction) Fine Art, Birmingham City University
2005 B.A. (First Class Hons.) Fine Art, Birmingham City University
Awards and Residencies
2025 Collaboration with Emergence Magazine
2025 Commissioned artist for Surreal Solihull
2023 Collaboration with Anthropologie (International Clothes and Lifestyle Retailer)
2021 Prize Winner Oxford Open Arts
2017-18 Arts Council Funded Project ‘Portrait of an Alternative Anatomy’
2016 Shortlisted for Ruskin Drawing Prize
2015 Shortlisted for Shoosmith Art Prize
2014 Shortlisted for Shoosmith Art Prize
2014 Residency at Croome Court, Worcester
2010 Residency at mac-lab, Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham
2009 Arts Council Funded Residency at The Rea Garden, Birmingham
2008-9 Artist at Birmingham City University with AA2A (Artist Access to Art Colleges)
2008 Shortlisted for Jerwood Drawing Prize
2006 NOMADS Travel Bursary Award, Vivid, Birmingham
2006 Rhubarb Festival Bursary Award (Photography), Rhubarb-Rhubarb, Birmingham
2005 Louisa Anne Ryland Scholarship Travel Bursary, Birmingham City University
2003 The Whitworth Wallace Marine Painting Prize Gold Medal, Birmingham City University
Exhibitions
(edited highlights)
2025 ‘Ironbridge Prize Print Exhibition’, Ironbridge
2024 ‘Cusp’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery (Solo)
2023 ‘Wall Stories’, Artery Gallery, Worcester
2022 ‘Shadows in the Sun’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery (Solo)
2020/21 ‘Under the Sun’, Fulham Palace, London (Solo)
2020 ‘Shadows of the Sun’, Coach House Gallery, Winterbourne Gardens, Birmingham (Solo)
2020 ‘Fifty Bees 4’, Black Swan Arts, Frome
2018 ‘Awe and Wonder’, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery, (Solo)
2018 ‘Fragile’, Number 8 Gallery, Pershore. (Solo)
2017 The Big Sleuth, Birmingham
2016 ‘Fore*shad*ow’, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2016 ‘The John Ruskin Prize 2015 Recording Britain Now: Society’, Walsall and London
2015 Shoosmith’s Art Prize Exhibition, Milton Keynes
2015 ‘The Big Hoot’, Birmingham
2014 to present ‘A Sign of the Times’ Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
2014 Shoosmith’s Art Prize Exhibition, Milton Keynes
2013 ‘A Sign of the Times’, Midland Art Centre, Birmingham
2013 ‘Sha*dow’, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2013 ‘Cabinet of Curiosities, Room of Wonder’ Borough Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent
2012 ‘i have glimpsed the future’, Aedas Presents, Birmingham (Solo)
2011 ‘i am not myself’, VINYL, Birmingham (Solo)
2010 ‘A site of no special interest’, Solihull
2010 ‘RE:animate’, oriel davies, Wales and Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2010 The Big M (ISIS Arts and AND Festival), Preston, Newcastle Upon Tyne
2009 ‘Endless Descent’, Birmingham
2009 ‘CREAM’, Tokyo
2009 London Group Open, Menier Gallery, London
2009 Abandon Normal Devices, FACT, Liverpool
2009‘Unnatural Selection’, Birmingham
2009 ‘Tickle Attack’, Lodz, Poland and Dudelange, Luxembourg
2008 Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition, London
2008 ‘Backlight 08′, Florence, Vienna and Finland
2008 ‘MoveMe’, Rainbird Gallery and selected tube stations, London
2008 ‘Going Underground’, Berlin
2007 London Group Open, Menier Gallery, London
2007 ‘Akureyrar Vaka 2007′, galleriBOX, Akureyi, Iceland
2007 ‘The Perfect Real’, C.C.A., Glasgow and King St Arts Centre, Belfast
2006 ’60 Second Surreal’, Hayward Gallery, London
2006 ‘pushpull’, MA Show, U.C.E., Birmingham
2005 BA (Hons) Fine Art Show, U.C.E., Birmingham
2005 ‘Illusion’, City Space, Birmingham
2003 ‘Religion, Art and War’, Salon des Arts, London