'The body of a woman exists in the battlefield of male control'

Reading through various Guardian articles in relation to the Slut Walks, I came across one reporting upon the Newcastle version of the march. Referencing the speech given by organiser Lizi Gray, she claims "woman have the right to dress how they like and not be attacked", announced to a crowd carrying signs baring slogans such as "My Clothes Aren't My Consent." The emphasis upon clothing in relation to the body reminded me of the current Sarah Lucas exhibit at the Sadie Coles Gallery, in which clothing such as tights are used to represent the female body, and, in my opinion, reflect the textural and sensual qualities of skin. Works such as 'Make Love', left, appeared to me like a play upon the controversial furniture of Allen Jones, and yet simultaneously managed also to tie the female body to domestic objects, in a sense merging them into one. Strong management of the space enabled the pieces to interact with each other, and gave pieces like 'Tit Teddy', below right, a sense of narrative - the work seemed almost like a child had misplaced it on the window sill, and it was simply waiting for its owner to return.

While I was not particularly pleased with the outcome of my previous experimental works around language, I found it curious that I had returned to childhood toys, and began to rethink my work utilising dolls in relation to the human form. Though I had hoped that by merging human speech with almost alien objects I could transform an object of comfort into one which confronts and challenges, it actually forced myself to reconsider the Slut Walks, and to question to what extent they accurately represented women's liberation and contemporary feminism; they seemed to suggest that rather than allowing others to see you as an object, you should instead make yourself an object first, a move which I saw as more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than a celebration of a liberated body. In relation to language, I'm particularly inspired by Lucas' use of a title as anchorage, steering us to consider the work in a way perhaps not initially considered. Playful use of language made me think of Louise Bourgeois' 'Fillette'; 'playing on the ironic contrast between the title and the work, Fillette [little girl] represents a penis', a 'disjunction of word and object'. I feel her influence can also be seen in the sculptural work below, which I believe lies somewhere between her pink fabric forms such as 'Arch of Hysteria' and the 'Uro-Genital Systems' of Kiki Smith. While I had originally intended for the figure to consist of breasts and legs, reducing the female form to the body parts frequently referenced as targets by Slut Walk banners and slogans, as the piece developed I felt it seemed to take on the suggestive of ovaries and a uterus - perhaps reflective of issues prevalent in previous waves of the feminist movement, such as abortion, birth control and biological sexual difference. As my previous doll works have been on a far smaller scale, I feel a more life sized figure manages to relate my enthusiasm for childhood objects with their adult counterpart, here seeming disturbingly similar to a sex doll. Considering how to install the piece, my partner suggested hanging it upside down, and through this a phallic form was created, managing to visual express the idea of the woman "being" the phallus through making herself an object of desire, while simultaneously referencing both the male and female form, and presenting the body as 'a site for deployment of power relations'. I feel that through taking my influence from language, and creating objects which act as a play upon form, I can combine my interests in the patriarchal and phallocentric nature apparent in a number of aspects of society with my desire to "play" with appropriated quotes and phrases to create visual manifestations of language.

'The body of a woman exists in the battlefield of male control' (2012) tights, cotton wool, appropriated textiles