My practice focuses on ideas and concepts surrounding the image of women as ‘other’ in relation to a perceived realm of mysticism. Working on canvas and board using acrylic and oils, creating abstracted works on a variety of scales. Inspiration for my work is drawn from my research, the historical figures of the ‘witch’. Two intriguing texts are Caliban and the Witch by feminist theorist Silvia Federici and the Malleus Maleficarum written by Heinrich Kramer published in 1486. This text served as a guidebook for witch hunters, it included hyperbole fictional tales of women through the lens of wicked and sinful beings. Both texts offer deep insights into the fruition of the ‘witch’ figure that remain in society today. My approach to process varies painting to painting, responding intuitively. Sometimes allowing the raw canvas to soak in the paint, while other paintings have been primed allowing many layers of paint to create thick textures. The washes and layers express the elaborately layered histories and tales of the ‘witch’ figure throughout time. My work aims to reshape the image of the ‘witch’ as positive, possessing the viewer’s attention in an enchanting spell like wonder.
