These works combine a series of events and studies to form a disparate interwoven group, investigating my interests in figuration, the human form, spirituality, place, faith and belonging.

The groundwork for these paintings began with a series of works I made in 2007 that depicted people wrapped in very old lace that I had inherited from my mother’s family. After these paintings were exhibited in Ireland, I found myself gradually erasing the figures, aiming to depict the wrapped lace as a container, a vessel, or a protective casing. The core shapes within these paintings can suggest organic, figutive shapes, although these are often distorted and unclear. The term “Diapause” intrigues me in relation to these pieces. Oxford languages states that diapause is “a period of suspended development in an insect, other invertebrate, or mammal embryo, especially during unfavourable environmental conditions”. My first encounter at this time with Poussins’ Seven Sacraments in the National Gallery of Scotland blew my mind and I became captivated by the wrappings of the figures depicted. Their bright, sensitively painted robes holding them, containing them, and glowing through the murky layers of aged varnish and earthy tones. It would be fair to say that I have become visually obsessed with aspects of these paintings.  

In 2011 I was on an artist residency in the Tux Valley, Austria, organised by the artist Christian Stock and while walking in the hills I found I would randomly discover hand-made religious icons dotted amongst the landscape, somehow snapping me back to the works I had experienced of Poussin. My drawings from the Tux valley have continued to became overlays within this work, thoughts and memories are the Interruptions, fragmenting what I see and creating new memories of each place, breaking the Diapause and restarting exploration.