Post-it Paintings

2024

After being financially unable to continue therapy I began journaling as a coping method. I started to write intrusive repetitive memories down on post-it notes which organically transitioned into larger scale paintings - creating a space for my internal conversations and thoughts to live external to the body. The breakdown of my relationship with my parents and explorations of the “difficult” and “inconvenient” younger version of myself have become the main focus of my practice alongside themes of control, responsibility, helplessness, and disparagement. Back in my ancestral home of South Yorkshire, but distanced from the community I was raised in, I am able to look at my disconnected, angry, frustrated, and sometimes funny experiences through a new lens of queerness and gender nonconformity.

My use of the visual language of childhood speaks to the content of my work. Utilising acrylic paint, glitter-glue, felt-tips, gel-pens, stickers, and naive mark making I hope to reflect works by my younger self, which is my biggest visual inspiration. Embracing low-class mediums also allows me to celebrate the art we produce in childhood that is frequently thought of as unimportant and discarded; as our younger selves’ experiences often are. The use of unclear camouflaged handwriting and layered texts present memories that seemingly contradict one another but are intrinsically linked pivotal moments that have informed my life as an adult. My work asks the viewer to actively search for clarity within the paintings and decode and disentangle contradictory truths in their own lives.