WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I live on the border between London and Kent and always have, so my regional identity is pretty split between those two places.

WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND?

I did my foundation diploma at UCA Rochester and continued to do a Fine Art degree at the Canterbury campus. I never really thought of doing anything else, art has always been my ‘thing,’ all the way through from nursery.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MEDIUMS?

I mainly use oil paints and collage. I also always dabbled in digital art, and since being out of university (and not having the studio space for storing pieces) have been making a lot more pieces this way. I do like the digital stuff, but I much prefer making physical work; I find it’s a lot more personal, and I feel a lot more satisfied when I’ve made something I can hold and feel all the textures of. Making art is a very sensual experience, so the digital pieces don’t satisfy that part of it as much. Saying that, however, there’s a lot of possibilities with making things digitally that you can’t do physically, and when I use digital pieces in an exhibition it’s exciting to see them come to life, and then they become a part of something bigger. Preferably though, I like to get my hands dirty. Oil painting is a very soothing experience, I love all the smells and feeling how the paint moves, and I never know exactly how something will end up looking. It’s the same with collage, you can imagine how certain shapes and images will go together, but it’s never quite how you picture it. A lot of it is done by accident, almost like it’s telling you how it wants to be.

WHO/WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR KEY INFLUENCES/INSPIRATIONS ARE?

I know it’s pretty cliché, but Tracey Emin is a huge inspiration for me. She has this ability to pour out so many raw emotions into her art that I rarely see in other artists. Hannah Höch, Francis Bacon, Marianna Simnett, Rachel Maclean, Guerrilla Girls and Titus Kaphar are some names which come to mind when I think about my influences, both in terms of ideology and aesthetic. Titus Kaphar is an excellent artist, I discovered him in third year when I started making my collages based on old nude paintings. I was interested to see him using pretty much the same idea but with colonial art - He is one of the artists I turn to when I worry my art is wandering dangerously close to pastiche.

DO YOU HAVE ANY MUSICAL INFLUENCES THAT INSPIRE YOUR WORK? OR ANY PARTICULAR ARTISTS/SONGS YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO WHILE WORKING?

I’m doing good! I’ve had a couple down days and dealing with PMS during this whole thing has been an interesting experience to say the least. I was away from January, and was meant to come home April 30th but, obviously, had to come home earlier. That was weird as I had to be isolated in my room for 2 weeks so as not to put my family at risk, I had some rough days during that. I’ve been working on something every day, and every now and then I come up with something that I feel proud of enough to show people. I think it’s important to keep your brain active and creative right now, not just for artists but for everyone, it stops you going completely mad.