In 2023 I developed an installation titled Julian’s Cloak for the exhibition celebrating the 650th anniversary of the visions of Julian of Norwich, an anchoress who was the first woman to write a book in English which has survived. An enclosed space, in the form of medieval cloak, was decorated on the inside with pen and gall-ink biblical drawings and sayings inspired by church graffiti. Through headphones visitors could listen to newly composed songs inspired by Julian’s words, written and performed by Sian Croose, and experience solitude and enclosure.
Other recent pieces were four 2m long paintings of key women from the time of Jesus, for an exhibition in a medieval church in North Norfolk.
These works continue an ongoing interest in the lived experience of being a woman, and a celebration of the feminine (as opposed to masculine) presence within western spiritual traditions and practice . Although the content is figurative I have for some time been more interested in the essence of a subject and its emotional and visual connections than in reproducing a strict likeness.
Also on display here is part of a body of work I created under the title 'Grandmothers, Godmothers, Matriarchs and Angels' which challenges the invisibility of older women and presents them centre stage. These mixed-media works attempt to capture the beauty of lived-in faces and how the pain and joys of long and complex life journeys are etched into their features. They are not portraits of specific people but are depictions of constructed archetypes. These pieces incorporated collaged old maps, texts or musical scores as well as charcoal, ink and wax to evoke a sense of memory.
