“War is not Women’s History”

Virginia Woolf

This new sculptural project continues a series of charcoal “War Drawings” expressly concerned with women and children, begun during the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 22nd February 2022. The sculptures are a considerable technical departure while still examining and transforming the flow of news images from war torn countries. However, 2D images are now transformed through a tactile process of hand modelling and glossy, colourful glazing. The ceramic sculptures continue to explore loss and attachment in times of displacement and conflict to expose tender and human gestures and feelings amidst brutal environments. Still working from media news images showing conflicts in Ukraine and now in Gaza they seek to permanently arrest these moments for a deeper reflection on the intimate bonds between humans and the animal world that often involves complex decision making in times of such disruption and chaos. Is this a new resistance and a form of quiet, political activism – where love and gentleness persists in the face of tyranny and hate?