Introduction

The lexicon on the previous page is designed as an incantation that collates the names of a series of entities - materials, plant and animal species, as well as historical and mythic figures and sites - that have informed the development of my recent work. Similarly, the images on the initial page were gathered as I worked, and reflect research that draws together references to organic, mythic, geological, architectural and technological sources.

Many of the material elements within the Lexicon are incorporated into the works shown in the portfolio. Parts of foxglove plants, flax, gorse, buttercups and weylan blossom, for example, are cast into silicone ‘skins’ within sculptures. Shells are incorporated into waxy forms and figures. Sand, salts, rocks and minerals are broken or ground and scattered over surfaces, or mixed into saturated liquids held in pools within sculptures. They are also incorporated into casts taken from sea creatures, bodies, forestry equipment and parts of a Tesla vehicle.

The text on the following pages explores the first five elements of the Lexicon, moving from the Tangimoana estuary in Aotearoa New Zealand, through a series of reflections on basalt sand, obsidian, ulex (commonly known as gorse) and eels. The current intention is to develop text reflecting on the other entities as the project unfolds. Within both the sculptural processes and text, mirrorings, slippages and entanglements are key to a method that allows materials to speak through evocative and associative relationships. Silicone evokes both skin and prosthesis; wax signifies both fleshy and ghostly states; plaster, resin and glass forms teeter between strength and fragility; all these materials hold together elements that become enmeshed in each other. This mingling suggests disturbing, seductive and disorientating effects, so that recognition and identification flicker into view and dissolve, repeatedly.