Statement
‘Navigation of a Fractured Landscape’ is an acrylic painting blending buildings and their surroundings, with overlaid road map lines in coloured biro pens. The layering of images confuses the perspective, making architectural relationships unclear. The recreated road map of Reading adds familiarity yet heightens confusion. Inspiration for this piece came from artists George Shaw and Rainer Fetting. Shaw’s realistic paintings of suburban British landscapes highlight how architecture shapes us, by including traces of humans through litter, graffiti, and architecture, as seen in ‘Valentines Day, 1966’.[1] Fetting’s expressive paintings of architecture and cityscapes, which also lack human figures, such as ‘View from New Yorker Hotel, 2005’, influenced my use of colour.[2] My intention was to evoke a sense of recognition from the familiar image, while maintaining ambiguity about the place and buildings. This was successful as the viewers reported feeling as though they should recognise the area painted, however couldn’t quite identify what they were seeing.
Following this piece, I explored the effectiveness of a simpler composition and how this portrays ideas around Sonder; the profound realisation that everyone leads a complex life full of thoughts, emotions, and experiences.[3]‘House I’ is an acrylic painting on A4 canvas paper, featuring a house illustration with expressive brushstrokes to mimic brick textures. The absence of a background isolates the building, emphasizing its architecture and character.
Artist Jane Adams, whose work reflects how architecture connects to personal histories, influenced my approach. Adams is interested in how our geography anchors personal histories, and how snapshots of a particular place can evoke profound memories and emotions.[4] Similarly, ‘House Collection’ presents a collection of 12 acrylic paintings on paper, based on photos provided by friends and family. The consistent removed backgrounds reinforces the isolated, personal narratives within each house. Following this, I moved to acrylic paper for a more stable base of my paintings.
Gillian Wearing’s Sign of the Times influenced the use of contributions from others for my work ‘House Collection’. Wearing’s project, which features photographs of strangers with handwritten signs, inspired my decision to gather diverse personal histories[5]. This collection of human experiences aimed to evoke a sense of sonder among the audience. My work ‘Neighbourhood Series’ explores Sonder and community through illustrations of homes, which invite viewers to reflect on the diverse lives tied to these spaces. Contributors to this project will see their own home painted alongside others, which may deepen the emotions experienced.
The theme of diversity is emphasised in ‘Illustrations of a Neighbourhood’, a collection incorporating homes from my personal life and others worldwide. This broader collection reflects ideas of class and cultural differences and ‘sonder’ further. With 90 individual illustrations, this piece requires the viewer to spend time engaging with the piece to view each painting properly. The number of illustrations invites contemplation on the multitude of lives being led across different spaces. The paintings gain strength when viewed together, emphasizing community and human interconnection despite differences.
Lisa Milroy’s ‘Recent Shoes, 2014’ and her Everyday Objects series also inspired this project.[6] Her work features repetitive variations of a similar object, a technique which is mirrored in ‘Illustrations of a Neighbourhood’. Presenting different versions of houses highlights the subtle distinctions in culture, class, and wealth.
The presentation of my final piece follows the concept of ‘degrees of separation’ from myself and was structured using social network analysis (SNA). SNA is an academic method of studying relationships and structures within a network.[7] Here, the network consists of houses and their respective histories. My objective was to understand community structures, as well as to present my own connections to these buildings. I categorized the paintings based on proximity to my personal experience. The central illustrations depict places I have lived myself, followed by homes of friends and family, then second-degree connections, and finally homes from across the world to which I have no personal relationship. This organisation reflects themes of community structures and personal connections, representing relationships between individuals through architectural spaces.
Bibliography
“Scenes from the Passion: Valentine’s Day”. Art UK. Last modified December 1, 2024. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/scenes-from-the-passion-valentines-day-29230
“View from New Yorker Hotel by Rainer Fetting on artnet”. Artnet. Last modified December 1, 2024. https://www.artnet.com/artists/rainer-fetting/view-from-new-yorker-hotel-a-0TsNuu2YecyDqkH_48hIqg2
“SONDER Definition & Meaning”. Dictionary.com. Last modified January 4, 2025.https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sonder
“Jane Adams – Artwork”. Art Web. Last modified December 3, 2024. https://www.artweb.com/artists/2240_janeadams
“Sign of the Times – Gillian Wearing”. Tate. Last modified May 7, 2025. Signs of the Times – Tate Etc | Tate
“Lisa Milroy – Still Life”. Lisa Milroy. Last modified April 30, 2025. https://www.lisamilroy.net/c/1000047/still-life
“Social Network Analysis – How to guide”. GOV.UK. Last modified April 28, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a819b0640f0b62305b8fdb6/socnet_howto.pdf
[1] Art UK, 2024
[2] Artnet, 2024
[3]Dictionary.com, 2024
[4] Art Web, 2024
[5] Tate, 2025
[6] Lisa Milroy, 2025
[7] GOV.UK, 2025