Unit 2: artist statement
My practice combines photography and ceramics to explore ideas around identity, emotional instability, and how ADHD and anxiety affect the way I process the world. Making has become a form of catharsis (not just in what the work communicates, but in the act of creating it). The physicality of shaping clay, ripping it, pressing into it with my hands or imprinting it with objects, gives me a way to release tension and work through things I find hard to express verbally.
Over time, my process has become more instinctive. I fire photographic decals onto clay forms that are folded, torn or fractured. I often push the material until it distorts or breaks. Earlier pieces were critiqued for being too uniform, which made me realise I was trying to control the outcome too much. I began to lean into a more spontaneous, broken way of working that felt more honest. I started placing grit under images or letting bubbles and burns appear during firing, using these marks as a visual language for emotional fragmentation.
Emma Hart’s writing encouraged me to embrace clarity and directness rather than hiding behind abstraction. Phoebe Cummings’ use of unfired clay made me think differently about impermanence and the fragility of emotion.
This work isn’t about resolution. It’s about allowing space for instability, letting the process carry meaning, and finding moments of relief through making itself.
Unit 3/ Research Festival
