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| Excavations |
When I began Beyond Sight, I was interested in how artists communicate experiences that cannot be directly seen. I was thinking about things such as memory, spirituality, atmosphere and emotion, and wondering how these invisible aspects of experience might be translated into a tangible form. Looking back now, I think the project ended up becoming less about the unseen itself and more about the relationship between memory, place and impermanence.
A lot of the project developed through exploration. Although I began with a proposal and a number of artists and ideas that I wanted to investigate, I often found that the making process revealed things that I wasn't consciously aware of when I started. Many of the most important discoveries emerged through experimentation, site visits and reflection.
One of the first strands of the project involved investigating memory through landscape. I became increasingly aware of how strongly I associate memories with particular places, and I wanted to explore whether an artwork could communicate not only what a place looks like, but what it feels like in memory.
Some of the most important early experiments involved painting from memory rather than from direct observation. One painting was based on a memory of lying beneath a tree and watching sunlight sparkle through moving leaves. Another was based on a memory of Highfields Park. While working on these pieces, I found that certain details remained vivid whilst others seemed almost absent. I became aware that memory does not record experience evenly- it selects, emphasises and distorts.
The Highfields Park painting was particularly important because it revealed a limitation in my approach. While creating the work, I felt deeply connected to the memory and believed I had successfully translated something of its atmosphere into the painting. However, feedback from peers suggested that they struggled to understand what they were looking at and became more focused on identifying the subject matter rather than engaging with the feeling behind it. Although this was initially disappointing, it encouraged me to think more critically about the relationship between abstraction and communication.
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| High Tor Fissure |
A significant turning point in the project came through a series of visits to caves and former mine workings in Matlock and Nottingham. Initially, I was drawn to caves because they seemed to embody the idea of a world beyond sight. However, after spending time exploring them, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in how they felt to experience.
One of the more memorable moments was sitting in complete darkness and listening to the sound of water droplets hitting the cave walls and floor. Gradually, the sounds began to define the boundaries of the cave, creating a kind of mental map of the space. It felt as though the cave existed partly outside of me and partly within my own imagination. I became fascinated by the way a place could become intertwined with memory, sensation and inner experience.
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| Quiet Passage |
The caves also produced a range of emotional responses. At times they felt comforting, as though I were being held within the earth. At other times they felt disorientating, isolating and even frightening. These experiences informed a number of drawings and paintings that attempted to communicate the psychological experience of being in a cave. I was also reading through journals that I had written around ten years ago and was surprised to discover that I had used caves as a metaphor for periods of uncertainty and feeling lost. I began to wonder whether my interest in caves had deeper roots than I had realised. This discovery shifted the project considerably. The cave became more than a physical subject; it became a metaphor for memory, introspection and hidden aspects of the self.
Research played an important role throughout the project, including a visit to Nottingham Castle's cave system. Learning that the caves were entirely man-made challenged my assumptions about them and made me think differently about the relationship between geology and human intervention. I was especially interested in the weathered sandstone surfaces, layers of colour within the rock and evidence of erosion over time.
I was also influenced by artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, whose work encouraged me to think about perception and the way ordinary phenomena can be experienced differently when isolated from their usual context. In terms of materials, Anselm Kiefer's use of heavily textured surfaces and unconventional materials inspired many of my own experiments. I became interested in the idea of excavation, both as a physical process and as a metaphor for uncovering memories and hidden histories.
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| Nine Ways |
This led to a period of material experimentation. I explored plaster, natural pigments, layered paint surfaces and wax-based materials. Some experiments were more successful than others. Plaster proved too difficult to use because of its rapid drying time and tendency to crumble, and pigment made from Hemlock Stone revealed challenges when combined with charcoal. Although these tests did not always produce successful outcomes, they helped me understand the materials more deeply and informed later decisions.
One of the most successful developments was a wax paste made from wax, linseed oil and paint. After experimenting with ratios, I was able to create a material that could be applied thinly or thickly. I liked the way these surfaces suggested geological processes such as erosion and sedimentation. The layers covering the surface felt conceptually linked to uncovering memories and hidden experiences.
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| Inner Luminescence |
The memory vessels (Excavations) emerged gradually from my thinking around impermanence. Throughout the project I found myself reflecting on the idea of change, and the fact that everything we value is temporary. Although there is beauty in impermanence, there is also a sense of loss. Memory seems to contain both qualities simultaneously. Memories are fragile and constantly changing, yet some persist for many years and remain vivid. I wanted to create objects that reflected this tension between preservation and inevitability.
After researching jars and objects associated with preservation, I decided to create a series of ceramic memory vessels. Visits to Leicester museum’s collections influenced the simple forms and earthy aesthetic of the work. I wanted them to appear as though they could have been discovered within a cave.
The making process involved a considerable amount of experimentation and problem-solving. I initially tried the coil technique but decided instead to use throwing because it allowed me to create more consistent forms. There were many failed attempts, and some days were more productive than others. I learned a great deal through analysing collapsed pots and identifying why they had failed. Looking back, these difficulties became an important part of the learning process.
After firing, I encountered further problems when the vessels emerged from the kiln much lighter in colour than I had intended. Research led me to manganese carbonate, which allowed me to achieve the darker toned surface that I was looking for. Through this process of testing and refinement, the vessels finally came together.
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect of the vessels was deciding which memories they should contain. I found myself asking what makes a memory important and why certain experiences remain while others fade. I eventually chose memories connected to people who have been significant in my life. Some were joyful and others painful, but all were vivid enough that I could visualise them strongly when placing them into the vessels. The act of sealing them became a kind of ritual. The finished objects felt significant and I like the idea that they contain something valuable, while not fully revealing what it is.
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| Excavations (suspended view) |
I also took some time to consider how I could bring together the various strands of the project into the group exhibition. I want the works to create a sense of journey, as though the viewer is entering a cave and encountering traces of memories hidden within it. The large cave works would give a sense of environment, while the memory vessels act as objects preserved within that space.
Looking back on the project, I think one of the most important discoveries was that memory, perception and place cannot easily be separated from one another. What began as an investigation into experiences beyond sight gradually became an exploration of how landscapes become embedded within us and how our memories shape the way we experience the world.
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| Threshold |
The project has also made me think differently about impermanence. While I initially wanted to preserve memories, I now feel more interested in their continual transformation. The memory vessels are less about containing memories than about acknowledging that they can never truly be contained. Like landscapes, they are continually shaped by time, recollection and change.
Moving forward, I would like to continue exploring memory, place and embodied experience through increasingly immersive forms of installation. I am particularly interested in incorporating sound and other sensory elements into future work. Beyond Sight has given me a stronger understanding of how research, material experimentation and personal experience can inform one another, and it has provided a foundation that I hope to build upon in future projects.