My partner recently introduced me to the work of Emily Barletta; her use of thread and yarn was a particular inspiration to the experimental piece below. Works such as 'Untitled (Growth #2)' are, to me, remniscent of lace, and suggest a fragile delicacy - an essence which I hope to have captured and incorporated in the works below. Developing from my previous work, I began to look into ideas of the 'maternal female', and their relation to body image; having struggled with eating disorders from my early teens, I found the connections between female identity and disordered eating incredibly interesting. Could my own problems, as suggested by a therapist, have stemmed from fear of an adult female body, resulting from a lack of understanding of the biological changes occurring in puberty? Was it an unconscious 'rebellion at maternal domestic femininity' and a rejection of 'hips, stomach and breasts', and ultimately female body functions, suggested in the works of Susan Bordo? Analogies to changing our bodies with changing the 'cut of [our] clothes', and the suggested malleability of the human body are areas I am keen to explore in future works.

Untitled, (2011) thread and plastic

Untitled, (2011) thread and PVA glue

Untitled, (2011) thread and PVA glue