Over the weekend I watched the Auckland Art Fair PROJECTS 2020 Virtual Round Table. The Artists were asked to talk about Space & Place, which got me thinking about how these concepts relate to my own art practice…

Space, for me, is ethereal, a void or vessel for creation. Magic.

Place is tangible, it comes from a relationship or connection – from interaction, there is an alchemy that is transformative.

When working, I am holding a ‘space’ for my work to evolve. As my work matures to completion, it moves out into the world to hold another ’space’.

From there an opportunity arises for personal interaction, for a relationship to develop between art and viewer, opportunity for a connection to form.

Spaces become places when we connect emotionally with them. There is a grounding that occurs.

A completed work has the mystery of holding both ’space’, to get lost in and to explore, and ’place’, to remember and reconnect.

Interesting that ‘connection’ creates transformation. It makes sense to me, connection is the unifying theme of my work. As humans we crave connection, it helps us feel less vulnerable.

How ironic that in writing this, I feel incredibly vulnerable – hopefully someone will connect with these words.