B.A.(Hons) Textiles
Goldsmiths College, University of London, 1985

Post-graduate Diploma in Women's Studies
University of Plymouth, 1995

M.A.(Fine Art)
University of Plymouth, 2000

Since graduating (1985) has initiated and developed art practice, together with teaching, workshops and residencies. Work has been exhibited at regional and national levels in individual and group shows.

Brief statement

As a student at Goldsmiths I more or less disregarded textile practice in favour of photography. The work evolved within a Textiles Department that supported crossing over disciplines in order to realize individual ideas. Currently I work between practices. For me the 'coolness' of photography is offset by the physicality of materials.

I worked with black and white photographs, altered by chemical toners, bleach and other agents, supported by drawing, for several years. These photographs were often subjective, dealing with autobiography, personal experience, using 'found' images and family photos as source material and in final pieces. Some of these images were printed on to sensitized surfaces, for example, glass, various papers and fabrics.

Initially I used colour film for documentation during post-graduate studies to record a number of temporary, 'unstable' drawings, later discarded, using things such as crushed pomegranates. These were made in response to reading Angela Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber' (1979.) As a development of this earlier, exploratory work I made some constructed, re-assembled and partly decomposed textile pieces (a continuing concern.)

For me, this was a turning point in my practice, working outside the 'confines' of the darkroom and re-engaging in studio based work. It continues to shape the direction(s) of current and on going visual work. Myth, magic, ritual are ongoing areas of interest.