Artist Statement

As a painter I extract figures from photographs from the pre-digital age as a starting point. 
These can be found family photographs or home movies. Watching these personal films I instinctively stop them on frames that resonate. The images I am most often drawn to related to peoples roles in society, the hierarchies and dynamics of power. 

I paint with a strong idea of colour to begin. I use both oil and acrylic paint, alongside charcoal and pencil drawings. My background as a printmaker informs my use of layers and structure, yet I allow the process to move and evolve the work as it is constructed. Loose and textured painterly marks exist alongside more precise detail. A strong grounding in portrait and figure drawing gives freedom to describe or suggest.

Looking back into our recent past is an act of remembering and nostalgic mis-remembering, with photographs and film becoming the vehicle which constructs stories about ourselves. Figures are often rewritten or falling from clear view, and I use digital processes to reconstruct the scenes and suggest colour themes.  Our history instructs, seduces and tethers us, and I look to use paint to examine these emotive memories which reflect current themes and tensions in contemporary life.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Creative experimental responses to the featured artwork. This can be poetry, short fiction or non fiction. Word count limit of 4000 words. No reviews please, we are looking for a creative conversation, not a value judgement. 

The exhibiting artist will collaborate with the editor to choose their favourite interpretations to join their work in the gallery for each season. IWWH aim to publish in print form annually. We aim to pay all winning contributors that make it into our annual print journal.

IWWH particularly wants to hear from those traditionally underrepresented in the arts. From personal experience we know of some of the barriers holding people back from joining the conversation. We want to help push those barriers aside, so that our dialogue can be as representative and inclusive as possible.

Take your time with the artwork, sit with it, let your mind wander, follow it. Write down what comes, sit with it some more. Who knows where your mind will take you?

Please do not submit anything written with AI tools. Your submission is easiest to view in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), and should contain your real name, the title of the story, and your email address in the header, double-spaced, in 12-pt simple font, on A4 or US Letter paper size. Please only attach one story at a time.