Stephen Greenblatt defines ‘resonance’ as ‘the power of the displayed object to reach out beyond its formal boundaries to a larger world’. [1] This definition of resonance underlies every aspect of my work. Fluctuating between figuration and abstraction, I compose my own world through the medium of paint with a particular focus on colour.
Beginning with the desire to translate everyday moments which have resonated with me into vibrant and dynamic compositions, I combine key memories, whether they are menial or overwhelming, with motifs from historical pieces of art, film and theoretical findings that have struck me.
It is through this act of uniting seemingly random motifs with my experiences that I create visual narratives, which condense and express my own thoughts and feelings through an alternative semantic vehicle. These key moments and motifs are brought together by resonance and become the grammar to my paintings. Memories are transported into the present through the act of mark-making and, by depicting these images, I communicate little pieces of myself to the viewer in the hope of creating a painting that resonates with them.
My most recent paintings are part of a larger project which focuses on translating scenes from TV and film that have resonated with LGBTQIA+ individuals throughout their lives. During a callout, individuals submitted certain scenes that made an impact on them and the significance of these moments.
This line of investigation has inspired a particular focus on films and scenes that have stayed with me, whilst also inspiring new branches of research, such as looking into narratives of transgender saints, the significance of the Gothic genre in queer culture and suburbia and queerness.
The concept of resonance reveals something about us, and it is this which intrigues me. Although we can not necessarily comprehend why something resonates, it is something that is undeniably part of our own essence and, I believe, this larger world it speaks to is that of ourselves.
[1] Stephen Greenblatt ‘Resonance and Wonder’ in Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, ed.by Ivan Karp and Steven Levine (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991). p.42
