The one and the many

The face (visage) is naked and vulnerable, common to all human beings, and absolutely unique at the same time’. - Emmanuel Levinas
Being met in the gaze of the Other can evoke a multitude of feelings at primal, somatic and psychological levels. Central to my art is the ambiguity of perception. Using sculpture, photography and video, I explore the relationships between individuals and communities. Reflections and Glass People are two site specific videos representing personal and social alienation. Livelihoods, traditions and community were lost with the closure of the Glass Bottle Company. The local community was excluded from that decision-making process.
Expanding on the afore-mentioned work, in The One and the Many, I use multiplicities of individually sculpted clay, resin and jesmonite heads on recycled glass bottles to explore the universal themes of inclusion and exclusion. Is it possible to shift from rigid dichotomies of exclusion to a more fluid inclusivity of the stranger in ourselves and others?
These works were informed by Anthony Gormley Field (1993), Kadar Attia J’accuse (2016), Untitled (LC, 012 Wall of Masks) Ruth Asawa.