Undercover

My first approach was dictated by a fascination of how the layers of concealment were transformed.

The transformation conveyed something very powerful and at the same time strangely familiar. The tension between that which was hidden and its cover became evident. Central to the experience was a realisation of the layer’s presence as an entity, a phenomenon with powerful altering consequences.

Growing up with a mother who was a dressmaker, I was early on aware of the properties of layers in relation to clothing. Not only do we use clothes to cover our bodies to protect them from the weather but also, to embellish, to hide, to disguise. For example we use them to attempt to define ourselves or to deceive others about our social position and /or class.

Other inferences emerged, stemming from my personal experiences with religion as a distorting layer, and its power to alter perception, to misconstrue experiences, and to deceive.

In the words of art critic David Bourdon in reference to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrappings: “revelation through concealment”.

The boats vanished and the layers became the very essence of my artistic research.