Clay turns my ideas into concrete form and, as I don’t have a gloomy outlook, this is reflected in the cartoon like sculptures’ and bright Pop Art colours I use. I make animal and human figures, and microscopic forms, sometimes using mixed media to enhance my designs. My sculpture, which finds inspiration in arresting scientific and social themes, is currently finding its place in a new artistic environment that explores and supports science based art.
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Quarantine Boxes
Quarantine
Noun
i. Strict isolation imposed to prevent spread of disease
ii. Detention or isolation enforced
iii. Place, especially a hospital, where people are detained
iv. Period of 40 days.
Isolation and quarantine protect the public by preventing exposed to others who have, or may have, a contagious disease. In Quarantine Boxes disparate items of ephemera and tiny ceramic sculptures of viruses and bacteria are placed inside old wooden boxes as a visual suggestion of the containment of disease – but also of coffins.
The act of containing these items in boxes suggests the act of putting into isolation or quarantine but,ultimately, the focus of this work is the act of remembrance of individuals lost to disease. A photograph accompanies each of the boxes to show another aspect of tragedy. This is an intimate way of memorialising disease and exploring loss, not the loss of the good and the great who provided cures and helped save humanity, but the sacrifices forced upon ordinary people.
Antimicrobial Avengers
We are living at a time of enormous risk. Years of excessive use of antibiotics means that we are becoming antibacterial resistant, and as a society we either need to find new antibiotics or a more radical way to cope with this problem.
Antimicrobial Avengers was a collaboration with Dr Raechelle D’Sa at the University of Liverpool, who is designing hospital equipment with surfaces that emulate microscopic animal skin textures that resist infection. The animal sculptures displayed here show some of the animals with these antimicrobial skin surfaces.
The sculptures have become part of a touring exhibition that aims to engage a wider public audience with the impact of antibacterial resistance on our daily lives. Visitors to the Antimicrobial Avengers touring exhibition can now actually feel what this means.
