This experimental work is about my personal displacement within the environment in which I find myself. Having grown up in South Africa, Italy and various other parts of Europe, and now being in the United Kingdom, I have developed a skewed sense of belonging.
I have been studying the landscape at Hengistbury Head and my relationship to it. It is an area that, in some ways, is reminiscent of South Africa and where I spend a reasonable amount of time. It is a space of exposed natural beauty and it instills a sense of calm.
The following photographs are a documentary of my exploration.The sculpture featured in the photographs is key. It acts as a metaphor for what I am trying to achieve in both the materials from which it is constructed and it’s position within the landscape.
Firstly, the materials of the sculpture are important to the piece; a mixture of charred and drift wood that I found sporadically scattered on the beach at Hengistbury Head. These pieces of wood are not indigenous to the area; they have been left behind by people or have been washed up by the tide. Although these materials are not natural to the location, they still find themselves there, just as I find myself positioned within my environment.
This brings me to the second part, the position within the landscape. I wanted to represent my presence by placing the sculpture, a representation of me, within the landscape from which the materials were found, contrasting the unnatural form of the sculpture using natural materials from their now natural environment.
This work has by no means reached a conclusion. It has been completely exploratory and experimental. I have used sculpture and photography, mediums that I have never before explored, and although this has caused many frustrations; this work has pushed me out of my comfort zone, something that I wanted to do from the outset.
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