The First Impressions series is a collection of 9 conceptual works on paper.
One of the foundations of psychology is that people are profoundly shaped by their childhood. For many, the influence is detrimental and explains their later struggles in life. While this idea seems obvious to some, for others it’s confronting and rejected…”I had a hard childhood and it hasn’t affected me” they say. As therapists, we respond with something like this metaphor… You have a piece of paper, perfectly smooth and white…I take it from you and crumple it. I hand it back and you smooth it out. Do you still have a piece of paper? Yes. Is it the same? No. It will never be the same. No matter how much you try to smooth it out, how flat you manage to get it…the folds will always be there…
We have been affected by our childhood, fundamentally and, no matter how much we try to smooth ourselves out, to present ourselves to the world as perfect, the crumples remain embedded inside. For some people the damage is relatively minor, for others, their whole personhood is wrinkled, creased, crumpled and bent. I’m concerned with those people…those people who will never reach their potential because they can’t. The pieces in the First Impressions series represent those people.
Using papers of different sizes, colours and weights, I’ve crumpled them in a variety of ways - a little, a lot, on the edges and in the centre. Some paper wrinkles easily and some is harder to fold just as some children are less resilient than others to the same treatment. Then, I smooth out the paper - revealing the lines where the damage was done. No matter how much I try - the paper is never the same again.
Explaining the First Impressions series
"Brown Skin"
For the brown people.
Brown & black pastel on brown card. Framed under glass with cushion timber frame.
Finished size: 43cm x 62cm
£1100
"All is Grey"
Grey pastel on grey card...like grey days for some people.
Framed under glass, cushion timber frame.
Finished size: 37cm x 50cm
SOLD
Topography of Hurt
Charcoal on sketch paper - ordinary - like most of us.
Framed under glass, bevelled timber.
Finished size: 64cm x 90cm
SOLD
Pink Baby Skin
AUCTIONED FOR CHARITY AT THE OTHER ART FAIR, London, 2021
Framed under acrylic in silver metal frame
Finished size: 81cm x 115cm
SOLD
Beautiful Scars
Some transform their hurt. Beige, skin-coloured pastel on watercolour paper.
Framed under glass in timber
Finished 35cm x 46cm
SOLD
Subtle But There
Light charcoal on plain sketch paper that's common like all of us
Framed under glass in bevelled timber
Finished size: 64cm x 90cm
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