Abstraction: 'I am quite sure that rightness or wrongness do not come into the matter at all’

During my MA my work had drawn several comparisons to that of Ben Nicholson, both visually and theoretically.  This stimulated me to carry out a study of Nicholson and an evaluation of his perspective towards painting.  I then applied this knowledge to my own perspective on representation and image making.  Validating previous inquiries, this study also spoke directly to me as if it were a reflection on my own practice.  I was already undertaking practical investigations, analysing images by deconstructing them into their raw forms- drawing out of them the essence that had drawn me into them- finding out my own identity.  ‘One obsession overrode all: the absolute need to rediscover [fashion representation] for [myself]’ (Summerson, 1948:7).  I used collage techniques including cutting and painting and I immersed myself within my images, tracing the form in search of a deeper understanding.  Working by hand I felt a bond between my action, my thought and the image.  I was learning about the image, while also responding to it.  I felt that I was looking at an image from a new perspective.

There is nothing more than this

Further to my work analysing the relationship between the real garment and its representation, I have been looking at reality and existence within fashion representation. Once transformed into an image, a garment takes on other qualities than its own. It is not a real garment that we consume- but an image- the garment is part of the image- but the reality of the image means the garment does not exist. I have been deconstructing images as part of my research, exposing the image- and searching for the point where the garment actually exists in what we see.

‘If you like architecture, you’ll love this...’



My brother has been developing pages for his book, which juxtaposes typographic rules and architectural images.  Working with photographs shot to film from his visit to Austria, he has subtly addressed the concrete relationship between buildings and type.   

Shift and Transform

Shift and Transform is a series of garments that were designed to be images. This concept informed the making of the garments, analyzing the relationship between the real garment and its representation. Focusing on the two dimensional nature of an image, the garments were created with flat panels as part of their structure. The work discusses the process of transforming a garment into an image; the idea that through photography, clothing is transformed into a flat garment by becoming a flat image. With this work I wanted to expose the image and discuss the transformation from the real into the representation . My depiction of clothing is not about a practical application, but about conceptualizing and highlighting this translation. The images look at the point of transformation and at how the two forms of a garment can be merged. Here knowledge is embedded in the garment, aware that it must change to become an image, the physical garment displays qualities associated with its representation and begins to engage with the image clothing that it is to become. The stark white panels of the garments further transcend their existence as clothing and reclaim the paper that existed before the images were printed onto it. The garments appear to cut themselves out of the image; having become an image, become their own representation, the garments begin to question their existence in the image. With my work I wish to discuss the consumption of clothing through images, while also seeking out a greater understanding of what it means to create a representation of a garment.