My practice explores materiality, perception, and the natural world through painting and mixed media. Working with oil paint alongside materials such as cellophane, wood, and jesmonite, I investigate not only how landscapes and natural forms appear, but how they are physically and sensorially experienced. I am interested in how material, memory, and bodily perception interact to shape our understanding of place.

The philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty is central to my practice, particularly his understanding of perception as an embodied and active process. My engagement with landscape extends beyond observation; painting becomes a method of inquiry through which I encounter and discover a subject. I often feel that I only fully comprehend a place through the act of making, where perception unfolds through movement, touch, and material response.

Material engagement is fundamental to this process. Jesmonite offers a contradictory surface: initially malleable and responsive, yet once set it becomes rigid and resistant. When painted upon, it both transforms and disrupts the image, forcing paint to bend to its contours while revealing its own material qualities. Similarly, cellophane introduces unpredictability through its translucent and reflective properties, distorting the image and surrounding light. These materials actively shape the work, emphasising the instability and contingency of perception.

My work is rooted in an ongoing investigation of humanity’s relationship with nature, particularly the tension between permanence and change. Landscapes may appear timeless, yet they are continually altered by light, erosion, and human intervention. 

Underlying my practice is an awareness of the cultural and conceptual structures that shape how we see the world. Perception is never neutral; it is conditioned by language, history, and inherited systems of meaning. For me, art offers a momentary suspension of these frameworks, allowing for a form of freedom that mirrors nature’s own unconditioned existence. My practice continues to develop painting not as representation, but as a tactile record of encounter with the world.