My work is an exploration of loss through scars, both physical and emotional. How we are changed by events in our lives, the stories we have to tell and the memories we carry with us through life.

 

Feelings of loss are universal and everyday, loss of loved ones, the breakdown of relationships, loss of jobs and homes, lives changed by tragedy, war, poverty and illness. Events out of our control which change the people that we are and were, leaving their trace upon us, their scar.

 

Some scars are well hidden, others can be seen, some want to show them, others hide them away. They can be symbols of survival, or reminders of painful and traumatic events. Something too painful to recount, yet an ever present reminder. 

 

This project began with the exploration of the female stomach and the many changes these go through over time. Pregnancy, weight gain and loss, operations, all leaving their trace upon the body. How do we feel about these changes? Women's stomachs in particular are subject to great changes over the years, many women feel self conscious and a certain kind of loss of an old self after pregnancies, others love what they have come to represent, the gift of motherhood for example. Others would envy those scars for the chance of being a parent. People who have experienced large weight losses can be left with excess skin, a trace of their old self.

 

From here I opened it up to explore all scars and physical marks. As I made moulds from volunteers I recorded the conversations we had. The stories of how people acquired their scars range from serious operations and accidents to childhood falls and small wounds. Each story no less important or the scar to whom it belongs. They are reminders. For one a reminder of her parents who are no longer here who bought her the blue bike she fell from numerous times to another a reminder of a terrifying moment at war.

 

I feel honoured and grateful to those who have shared so openly. There is something in the process for the scar bearer. A chance to tell there their story, talk about something hidden and in some cases a story never told.

 

In some ways they are being elevated by the simple act of replicating a small damaged part of their body.  Making it into something new to be viewed as something beautiful or maybe even just interesting. I am highlighting the imperfections albeit quietly and hopefully respectfully.

 

Artists to mention who have influenced me for their use of materials and subject matter are Beverly Aisling Smith, Susan Hiller, Eva Hesse and Marc Quinn.

 

Using plaster to create fragile fragmented pieces from the bodies of volunteers I have recorded their stories and the physical scar to create this body of work. These forms explore our ever changing relationships with ourselves, our bodies, our memories and our past.