Matterings (2017)

Matterings looks at the potential lives of ornaments. Each drawing explores a different aspect of what might happen if part of a decorative pattern is disconnected from the building or object it was originally intended to embellish. Forms of ornament considered superfluous in Modernist design and modes of practice that were marginalized through a colonial and gendered gaze provide the main content. Beginning with non-figurative shapes, the scenes that emerge deal with the urge to impose our own stories on abstract form. The resulting images are a way of thinking through how fantastical worlds can be constructed from simple foundations. The central mural is made up of a basic ornamental form that has been adapted and repeated to build a new environment. Reproduction and distortion are used to test the limits of the behaviour of a unit of ornament.

Splices and run-ons

Mural, 2017

Made in collaboration with: Alphabet Zoo