ABOUT

My work is deeply rooted in the lived experience of seeking personal liberation and female agency. I quit toxic, male-dominated investment banking to attend art college, defying paternal expectations, and dissolved marital bounds to live true to myself.  

 

Bodily movement was instrumental in unleashing this self discovery, through practising esoteric method 5Rhythms. This notion of setting the mind free through bodily movement, as poignantly described by classical Persian poet Rumi, often features in my work. Since my recent accident, I’m ever more concerned with the physical body. I healed my brain injury with yoga poses; not the prescribed medication. I was told I would never walk barefoot again, but now I am! I want to share this story with others to highlight the power we ALL possess in our bodies. 

 

Spirituality forms part of my ongoing quest and informs my work. I’m drawn to the principles of Zen-Buddism and Taoism, such as Wuwei, Li and water as metaphor. Through daily sitting meditation I feel outwardly connected to a higher cosmic force and inwardly I sense lava-like energy streaming through my body. This awareness manifests itself in my art through fluid motifs, vivid marks juxtaposed against a dark void and a reminiscence of the Taoist elements such as fire.

 

My process originates in this intense search for personal liberation and is grounded in deep gratitude to be able-bodied again and fully alive! Through vigorous movement, deep breath, meditation and deliberately chosen music, I enter an altered state of consciousness. I then improvise and ‘let the brush dance by itself’, as Alan Watts writes in ‘By Way of Zen’. I create solitary in my studio as well as live on stage, often collaborating with musicians or dancers, aided by my synaesthesia. Painting live in front of an audience, entirely improvised, is a fully embodied act of practising freedom. 

 

The physical act of creation is as important to me as the finished work. A gestural mark starts in my toes and flows up through my entire body before my brush hits the canvas. I even paint directly with my body using fingers, fingertips, hands, toes, heels and feet. For me, painting and drawing is a kinaesthetic experience. I’m fascinated by the phenomenology of mark-making.

 

I strongly believe that the human act of creation is irreplaceable by AI and that there is no technological surrogate for the unmediated human presence in live performance.

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