Swallow The Rain
Chronic illness is never welcome, like a weed it will spring up despite our best efforts. Some are exotic species that have become out of control – pests that take over the landscape. On close examination however, weeds have a unique beauty and can enrich the soil. I have been freezing in ice, weeds collected on my daily walks, closely examining them in the suspended moment. As a chronically ill person, my world has shrunk, yet my engagement is still present – on a scale that is smaller and yet simultaneously more expansive, despite the weed that is my illness.
Mapping The Heart
This series was made while undertaking an artist’s residency in a small, remote fishing village in the East Fjords of Iceland.
The landscape is breathtaking, but treacherous and frightening. Walking alone in nature gives a feeling of freedom and the Icelandic landscape in all its forms is beautifully unique. Yet, in the back of mind was always the niggling thought that If I were to fall or to injure myself while walking alone, I could die.
There is a certain feeling of unreality when viewing the Icelandic landscape. A feeling of “how can this exist?” By creating small dioramas using photographs shot during field trips and stones and other detritus collected from these sites, I have created small, carefully composed dioramas that I have rephotographed. The resulting images are simulations of the environment and of the experience of the sublime in this landscape.
Within And Without
Since developing chronic illness and pain, I have sought new ways of being and of understanding my altered state. The answers for me are always within the landscape.
During a residency in a remote village on the edge of a fjord in Iceland, the mountains across the fjord were a constant presence in my days and nights. The fog and mist would roll in a never-ending dance of camouflage and revelation. The landscape was amorphous, only revealing itself if you are prepared to wait and observe.
Observing this dance required stillness and patience, allowing me to exist in a space that was both within and without. I was able to understand the shifts and changes in my internal landscape, where mind and body and indivisible and move towards a place of acceptance.