Artist Statement

Leading a creative life, in every aspect possible, has always been a passion of mine. Whether it be with photography, drawing, or painting I enjoy exploring themes of identity, belonging, intimate spaces and the uncanny through various mediums.

Nature is a key inspiration, and is reflected particularly in my oil paintings and drawings. Walking is part of my artistic practice and involves collecting wild plants, bones, and dried-out seedpods. This activity feeds my fascination with flora, and the natural biodiversity of Provence. Being in nature allows for contemplation in a world where, for many of us, we no longer see our thoughts formed fully due to constant distraction. I feel this quiet time is important for one’s mental health.

Using impasto technique, I paint energetically. Painting mostly in the winter and spring months when the Mistral wind blows most frequently, I like to paint surrounded by nature, low to the ground, smelling the wild herbs and having them scratch against my ankles. Social media revealed that a craving for nature was never more strong than during the Covid pandemic lockdowns. That is when I started oil painting again, after moving to Provence ten years ago.

With my analogue photography, I focus on composed portraits of people and quiet, intimate spaces. Relationships and how they can come to define ourselves as well as the spaces we live in, interest me greatly. The performance of the self portrait and the gaze is another theme I explore often with self-release cables. In addition to identity, other themes in my work are death, food wastage and the uncanny which can be seen in the “After Michael” and “Spaghetti” series.

An anglophone from Montréal, a Canadian-born Brit living in Britain, and a Canadian/Brit living in France, I’ve always felt somewhat of an outsider and uneasy in my own skin. My work wrestles with belonging, and a claiming of space made more complicated by my position as an ambassador of Provence within the realm of my online presence as “Curious Provence.”