Project: Active Matter

Active Matter
As a child, I had two favourite toys; a microscope and a chemistry set. I was enchanted by the variety and intricate detail of the natural world, such as pollen or crystals. I still have a microscope and also a telescope, and am fascinated that details at the smallest scale can be echoed in the largest structures of the universe. In thinking about these extremes, we try to locate ourselves within this vast range of scale of matter. We are not external observers, we are intimately bound with the matter around us, constantly exchanging atoms with our surroundings.
This project is an expression of this curiosity about how matter behaves, investigating how I influence my material and how it influences me. Simplicity of media is important; I use media derived from carbon, a fundamental material of life, spread through the universe by the life cycles of stars. My preferred medium is graphite which has its own special, subtle appeal; a grey that is 'as rich and as complex as other colours, and, in its own way, unlike any other colour' (Batchelor, 2014 :74).
I use my body both as a tool to draw with and a surface to draw on, in an intimate connection between myself and matter through the sense of touch. This process is collaborative, working in partnership with my medium to explore its inherent, performative potential. The record of creative event is stretched through time by combining still and moving image with works on paper, allowing the viewer to experience the unfolding changes exhibited by the medium. Capturing this action in both physical and digital forms allows multiple perceptions of effects operating from the scale of the human body to the microscopic.

Reference
Batchelor, D. (2014) The Luminous and the Grey. London: Reaktion Books.