Nature > Architecture
Coming to the end of my residency I naturally came to question my time spent here. Being my own worst/best critic I couldn't help but reflect on what I hadn't done, what I could have improved further, and how I could have organised my time more productively.
But this was only me with my degree show head on.
I had such an incredible three weeks here. This was not a place to act as a slave to the studio, but a place free from any commitments, deadlines, targets or "final pieces". It was a place of freedom, exploration, experimentation, playfulness, excitement, peacefulness and time to just think. I had told lots of my family and friends how it was almost like a detox from my Masters! It gave me breathing space and a chance to re-examine my practice.
As previously mentioned, I know my bad habits, and one of those is my persistent need to work like a hermit in my studio till I satisfy my inner perfectionist. But here, so far from routine and reality, my working method had only become more pronounced; demonstrating how my ideas circulate and fluctuate into new and exciting works. I had to familiarise myself with the comfort of controlled architectural drawings, to then be able to playfully work with acrylics, perspex and wood. I then had to set up and align sculptural works to photograph to achieve unexpected interesting outcomes. My working process still and always have been a discovery of the juxtapositions and harmonies between CONTROL and INTUITION.
So here I come full circle, nature has overthrown my desires of structural components of architecture. From intervening within architectural spaces at degree show to intervening with Ayrshire's most beautiful woodlands. I have no doubt that my future ideas will precede to previous ideas but this residency has opened up yet another medium of great interest(and potential!) which is Photography.
