I am a book artist, writer, and printmaker. I am interested in language, encoding of language and how it relates to culture, what we do not mention, and what we hide in how we speak. Taboos and underlying expectations especially with regards to women and motherhood are of special interesting to me, and I am exploring what makes us see “the other” in a person.
I work with these topics through books written in secret or asemic script, and also by hiding artwork within enclosures that have to be destroyed to find out what’s inside – or maybe to leave intact and never to find out. My books may have hidden compartments where a perceptive reader can find additional, secret information about what is going on in a story. I have hidden whole pieces in libraries and set them free in rivers to be found and uncovered by a stranger.
Structurally I have been working with scrolls a lot in recent years, and in particular with encased scrolls. Paper mache is employed to give the scroll’s case a sculptural quality.
Images of birds, feathers and fish are used symbolically in work that deals with the maternal and pregnancy. Birds stand as symbols for freedom and hope, as well as captivity. Fish hint at the watery element and the unborn babies as well as babies in incubators; they also hint at fear and darker elements of psychology, for the unknown, and the dangers that lurk in deep and dark places.