Artist Statement

As an artist, I use illustration to document my life experiences. Usually, I look at the good, the bad and the ‘gotta laugh or you’ll cry’ moments of being a parent. More recently, I’ve moved over to digital illustration rather than traditional, hand-drawn images. I’m also keen to experiment and try new things, for example, I’ve developed a passion for working with resin. Watching how the colours react and transform with each other through combining resin with coloured ink or paint is a meditative process for me.

As a creative facilitator, I like to learn and grow with my participants. I often bring in a new medium or technique to experiment with as well as working with each other to co-author projects and sessions which are of particular interest to them. Offering Unconditional Positive Regard and promoting wellbeing is of the uttermost importance in each session. The focus is on the experience and the process of making rather than the outcome.

For this exhibition, I aimed to bring focus to Pontypridd’s Indoor Market, in particular, the furniture stall. Pontypridd, and the Market especially, are important to me as they hold a number of my favourite childhood memories. Therefore, I asked the community via social media to offer stories about their favourite pieces of furniture. Imagining the public sitting down in their favourite chair to read, I decided to produce digital newspaper that the public can download, encouraging the reader to think nostalgically about their favourite piece of furniture. I invite the public to consider the life of an item of furniture and think “if this item could talk, what would it say?”. The newspaper includes both a written transcript of the stories shared with me, digital illustrations and the option to scan a QR code to hear the content read aloud in either English or Welsh. Being a Welsh speaker myself, I know how important the language is to the community of Pontypridd, and I am passionate about offering both. Through making this newspaper, I also hope to encourage others to shop locally and help small businesses to grow and thrive. You too can get involved with the project by printing out and completing the final page with an illustration of your own favourite piece of furniture and sharing them with me on social media using the hashtag #ifonlyitcouldtalk2020.