“… I began then to think of time as having a shape, something you could see, like a series of liquid transparencies, one laid on top of another.”
– Margaret Atwood – Cat’s Eye.
My work is a mixture of personal memories and research. I’m interested in fairy tales, the power of storytelling and how it’s portrayed through childhood memories. In my work, memories are almost surreal and are depicted through expressions of feeling. I want to capture the essence of childhood memories and enable others to relive their experience through my own.
My approach to work is intuitive and expressive. I draw from many sources of inspiration, but my biggest influence has been Christian Boltanski and his installation piece ‘Spirits’. In my installation, I have attempted to create the feeling of walking through memories whilst achieving a sense of liquidity by projecting a video through imagery and by doing so making the memory appear distant and transparent. The medium of ceramics has provided a different feeling to the narrative of the installation, it applies a sense of solidity to it. It is tactile and can be part of a permanent memory.
The aim of the installation is to provoke a powerful feeling of nostalgia towards when we were innocent children with a mixture of surreal and realistic imagery. I would like to invite the visitor to stroll through the memory and rediscover their own forgotten times and experiences.
Mae fy ngwaith yn gymysgedd o atgofion personol a gwaith ymchwil. Mae gennyf ddiddordeb mewn chwedlau, pŵer adrodd straeon a’r ffordd y caiff hyn ei bortreadu drwy atgofion plentyndod. Yn fy ngwaith, mae atgofion yn swrrealaidd bron a chânt eu cyfleu drwy fynegi teimladau. Rwyf am ddal hanfod atgofion plentyndod a galluogi eraill i ail-fyw eu profiad drwy fy mhrofiad i.
Mae fy null gweithio yn reddfol ac yn fynegiannol. Caf fy ysbrydoli gan sawl ffynhonnell, ond y dylanwad mwyaf arnaf yw Christian Boltanski a’i osodiad ‘Spirits’. Yn fy ngosodiad, rwyf wedi ceisio creu’r teimlad o gerdded drwy atgofion a chyflawni ymdeimlad o hylifedd drwy daflunio fideo drwy ddelweddau a gwneud i’r atgof ymddangos yn bell a thryloyw. Mae cyfrwng cerameg wedi rhoi ymdeimlad gwahanol i naratif y gosodiad. Mae’n rhoi ymdeimlad o soledrwydd iddo. Mae’n gyffyrddadwy a gall fod yn rhan o atgof parhaol.
Nod y gosodiad yw ennyn ymdeimlad pwerus o hiraeth am adeg pan oeddem yn blant diniwed gyda chymysgedd o ddelweddau swrrealaidd a realistig. Hoffwn wahodd yr ymwelydd i grwydro drwy’r atgof ac ailddarganfod ei amseroedd a’i brofiadau coll ei hun.