installation

Hurricane

Deconstructed book, paper cut and card
Sculpture depicting the RHDR miniature engine Hurricane, fabricated using copies of The Railway Children by E. Nesbit, and created as part of artist’s residency at the 2017 JAM on the Marsh Festival, Romney Marsh, Kent.

Hundingshütte

Deconstructed book, paper cut, card and wire
Sculpture inspired by and constructed using a copy of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre

Dalfoss

Dalfoss Waterfall, Fljótstunga, Iceland
Paper cut (150cm x 22cm)

The Indomitable Cutty Sark

Created as part of Trinity Laban CoLab 2013, King Charles Court, Greenwich
Paper cuts, paper sculpture, collage and manipulated musical scores

Greenwich’s rich maritime history is evident throughout much of my typical working week at Trinity. I often enjoy walking to college in the morning via the river, and I pass the Cutty Sark every time I come to college. The clipper’s structure provides a never-ending source of wonderment for me. The college of course is housed in the Old Royal Naval College, and as a ORNC Chapel scholar, I am reminded of this strong connection to the sea every time I sing there. I felt that it would be an interesting concept to make reference to the history of the building that Trinity is housed in, while combining a musical narrative. Thus, I decided that a paper model based on the Cutty Sark, fabricated from old music would form the centrepiece of the final installation. The manipulated book and much of the ship uses an old score of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore.

The space where the work was installed in is also known as the ‘Dora Labbette’ Room, and is named after the English operatic soprano Dora Labbette (1898—1984). There are several pictures of her in full costume on the walls of this room and I thought it would be interesting to reference this operatic connection in the final work. I already had the Pinafore score, and I thought that in addition to this, I could incorporate some opera with a nautical theme into the piece. As 2013 is the centenary of the composer Benjamin Britten’s birth, I thought it would be highly appropriate to reference his operas. I settled on two: Billy Budd (1951) which is set aboard the battleship H.M.S. ‘Indomitable’, and Peter Grimes (1945), which takes place in a fishing village on the east coast of England.

Hytte

Installation inside child’s Wendy House, Ardo, Aberdeenshire
Paper cuts, collage, sheet music, paper lightbox and manipulated books

Where most people value objects of real monetary worth, ordinary everyday throw-away items such as ticket stubs or receipts hold greater value to me because they evoke memories. I collect these things often when I am on holiday as mementoes of fantastic experiences. In addition to this, I rarely throw out letters/postcards from friends and family. The hand written word leaves an imprint of the writer that an email cannot, and therefore these very tangible reminders of a person are of extreme importance to me. In this work I’ve recreated a montage of memories, incorporating stories I loved as a child, and trips to some fascinating cities (including a period of time spent in Vienna as an exchange student). Along with the collected letters and concert stubs etc, sheet music features prominently as many of my best memories are inextricably tied to music.