"Different Worlds" Artist Statement

In preparing for Different Worlds, I wrote up a statement for the show. It sums up the show (obviously, I mean, if it didn't, I'd need to do some serious redrafting), but also explains a lot of my work in general.

When I was a child, I never really saw the appeal of shows and stories set in the real world. There were so many worlds that could be, could have been, or could come to be, that it seemed strange to limit yourself to this one. Now that I’m creating my own stories, I can jump between as many worlds as I can think of (well, as long as I can draw them. A world made purely out of smell would be challenging to get on paper). ‘Different Worlds’, my show with Girija Kulkarni, is a chance to share some of those worlds with others. Using a combination of traditional pencil, pen and ink, photography, and digital techniques, my pieces in this show move through alternate pasts, presents and futures. In the past, the art world responds to having intelligent machines living alongside us in the 19th and early 20th Century; In one present, strange creatures and robots confront heroic figures in the middle of our cities, while in another, refugees from other dimensions live, work, and play alongside us; In a possible future, corporate cyborgs seek to forcibly acquire a new employee. I have exhibited in London and Sydney, where I am based. My art practice has influenced and been influenced by my work in Primary and Secondary education, especially my Comic-Book clubs, where I encourage students to find some different worlds themselves, and maybe create their own.