The body of work created for the Numinous series is strongly inspired by foreign experiences — particularly from visiting Tokyo — and by cultural awareness. My intrigue for contrast and cross-pollination of countries led to my work being a visual dialogue for the feelings experienced when visiting a new country, and specifically one visited alone.
I wanted my work to mimic the Japanese characteristic of being sensitive and careful while maintaining my own style and approach to a surface. My practice is very orientated towards embracing the accidental, allowing lines and forms to happen by chance and unintentionally, and so the outcome of what I begin is unplanned and unpredictable despite there being a theme in mind. The forms in which I draw are often produced while in thought or in response to another element within the piece until there is evidence of layering, reacting and building upon a surface with varying lines and materials with an unfettered mind as I am absorbed in the process.
Japanese beliefs hold a strong importance within the concept; thoughts of wabi-sabi are present as imperfections do not hinder my practice but rather achieve a very real quality, I do not want to distance the viewer from my work and so I show the imperfections that have occurred in the process. My work has a calming quality about it without it being perfect or overly complicated (iki), I appreciate the balance of whitespace and drawn elements (ma); I notice how whitespace not only defines an element but can also be defined by them.
Some scrolls move gently as human presence approaches, some static; my work is illustrates the contradicting emotions between new experience; the mystery, the anxiousness, the fascination and intrigue.
The photographs for this series capture an atmosphere akin to that of a movie; still moments as though paused on a scene. I encapsulate within these photographs the quietness and the stillness of Tokyo which is so rarely discussed; my images may seem eerie, lonely or isolated however my feelings at the time were feelings of comfort and serenity as I found the tranquility of the city that is so often associated with chaos and noise.
As our daily lives are often overwhelmed with sensual stimulations and my work offers sense of peacefulness to engage the viewer to ponder about the simplest stroke of black ink, the selected imagery or traces of lines.