In my work I combine textile human sculpture with melancholy drama. Underlying a darkly playful theatricality, the puppet-like figures are a psychodramatic exploration of the dynamics of life and death.

I am fascinated by the concept of the ‘Uncanny,’ and Sigmund Freud’s investigations into of the ‘return of the repressed’; ideas that were turned into a visual form by the Surrealists. Through looking closely at the uncanny devices, of combining irrational disparate items and ideas, I seek to create unsettling new realities. The familiar is changed to become unfamiliar. My process of binding and layering strips of fabric to form the figures is reminder of the mummification of dead bodies and I am drawn to the study of bog bodies and other ancient remains. The work aims to repel and attract simultaneously, in a Bataillean embrace of the death drive – "in a persistence of life and the pull of death" (Bataille).

Made using a process of layering fabrics over a wire skeleton and finishing with gesso and paint, the slowly formed, half-life sized human bodies are a vehicle for revealing uncomfortable emotions or memories. The figures are child-size but their wizened faces hint at a lost innocence and weary experience of life.

The materials are often the starting point for the work. Found items from around the house initiate contemplation, followed by a process of imaginative transmutation. Abandoned domestic objects, materials, and furniture are used to create dramatic claustrophobic scenarios. The installations recall traumatic events, random accidents, wars, and natural disasters. I enjoy the process of merging and weaving together real events with imagined anxieties, dreams and fairy tales.