Unravel 2014-2016
These drawings are based on specific knots and are accompanied by quotes from The Ashley Book of Knots*. This provides both a description of the knot as well as a way of projecting a symbolic meaning onto the work. The artworks can operate as metaphors for personal relationships or emotional states, for example, strangle knot, true lovers knot, false lovers knot, and to untangle a snarl. It is also a personal narrative, one that is in the process of unraveling. The work Crossroads refers to the place we find ourselves in life, needing to make momentous decisions that can impact on the direction our lives take. This body of work continues my interest in ideas of belonging, loss, displacement, migration, travel and home.
*Ashley Book of Knots is an encyclopedia of knots written and illustrated by the American artist Clifford W. Ashley, first published in 1944.
Blind Spots I: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
Blind Spots II: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
Crossroads I: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 26 x 39cm (diptych)
Crossroads II: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 26 x 39cm (diptych)
False Lovers Knot: 2014, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
To Untangle a Snarl: 2015, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
True Lovers Knot: 2015, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
Twists and Turns: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 26 x 114cm
Snarl: 2014, ink on paper, 76 x 396cm
Strangle Knot: 2016, charcoal, conte and gouache on paper, 49 x 76cm
Photography: Mike Buick