An underlying thread to my work explores one of the paradoxes of being human – being part of nature and yet sometimes setting ourselves apart from it through the gift and burden of language and ideas. Life and language can  be both complex yet simultaneously incredibly simple.

When I have experienced art that moves me to tears, I have never had any doubt that creativity ‘speaks’ it’s own universal language.

Being human, means we have the incredible gift of creativity and the ability to give birth to ideas. Yet it doesn’t necessarily make us separate to the rest of nature. That separation could be just our perception, a perception that is reinforced by our use of language.

I am interested in how the written and spoken word can change everything, how language can create a positive or negative experience. How language comes with responsibility. “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” – I’ve never really believed that saying. It seems to me that words can be as sharp as a sword or as gentle as an embrace.

I feel that these paradoxes are amplified even further for any visual artist working with text.