Boundaries, Memories, Traces

This was a solo exhibition at the George Crossan Gallery, Guernsey in November 2022.

It was a series of studio paintings that explored states of in-betweenness or transformation, reflecting on the idea of ‘liminal spaces’. The term is derived from the Latin word limen meaning ‘threshold’ - any in-between state, mid-point or middle ground. This referred to physical boundaries and thresholds (the point between land and sea, sea and sky), or the borders and transitions of time, space and memory. The paintings were displayed alongside the installation Ghost Ships.

Many of the paintings used colour and mark-making to suggest the flux of tidal areas and the sea. They are about places that could be both sanctuaries or sites of danger. Having had the privilege of growing up on an Island by the sea has made me aware of its power, and of our interconnectedness and vulnerability, along with the frightening speed of climate change and what that will mean to our habitus.

At the time I was making this work, the UK Government’s immigration policies were never far from the news (as they still are). While the paintings convey a sense of the human relationship to the sea and natural world, they are also about the boundaries and barriers that concepts such a ‘community’ or ‘nation’ can create.

When making the work, it was never far from my mind how those seeking asylum or legitimately coming to the UK for work are ‘othered’. The hostile environment policies and lack of transparent immigration processes impact disproportionately on people of colour. Of the 45,755 people who crossed the English Channel in small boats during 2022, nearly half were from five countries - Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Eritrea and Sudan. Two thirds of those who made the crossing would count as refugees if the UK processed their asylum claims. Refugee-Council-Channel-Crossings-briefing-March-2023.pdf (refugeecouncil.org.uk)