This body of work is inspired by classic fairy tales, stories which have passed through time by word of mouth,
                                                                            shaping our earliest personal memories, while their universal themes form part of a collective memory. The
                                                                          protagonists are archetypal good and evil characters such as kings, queens, demons, wolves and witches. These
                                                                        characters change identity, are cursed and killed, and then re-appear. While at once being supernatural and illogical,
                                                                      paradoxically these stories resonate with reality and truth. The subtext of these stories include motifs of transformation
                                                                     and redemption, echoing  the transformative power of the creative process, and the fluctuating identity of the Self, while
                                                                                    the settings, such as the forest and the river, are powerful metaphors for states of mind.

                                                                        While taking inspiration from these old stories this work also reference 18th c ‘catchpenny engravings’, popular prints
                                                                        made before the invention of photography. These prints feature many animals and birds rendered by anonymous artists
                                                                   who have (surely ?) never actually seen(witnessed) the particular creature and are therefore working entirely from the written
                                                                    word, imagination and hearsay. These engravings form a kind of bestiary of dubious anthropological value, which operates in
                                                                                               the gap between fact and opinion which questions the nature of knowledge and truth.

                                                                       I work in a range of media including painting, installation and animation in a process connected by drawing, and a stream
                                                                                            of conscious approach which utilizes chance and accident (eg. found materials and errors).