Catch My Drift is an internal exploration in an external form.
Like everyone, I am a complex, multi-dimensional person, influenced by the past and changing in various ways over time. At times this can seem a fragmented, perhaps destructive process, at other times a more integrated, positive one. The body of work is an exploration of this in visual form.
In creating Catch My Drift I drew together my strong interest in surrealism and great attachment to the work of James Gleeson, with the tradition of the self-portrait. This approach was a new and challenging one to me, and deliberately so. My intent, which was fulfilled, was that the challenge of the process would enable me to make some deeper realisations about myself.
Throughout the series I have used three recurring personal symbols. The fish makes reference to my Catholic upbringing. The cog makes reference to time, and thus an inherent process of movement and change. The net signifies the way that I often feel my life has been stopped or paused by circumstances beyond my control, just as a fish can get caught in a net.
This mixed media series also pushed me in another way, being the first time I have worked on such a large scale.
