As a Visual Artist, my work is created from the particularity of who I am: a black woman, a feminist, a daughter, a mother, an activist and a British Textile Artist.
My large-scale works often draw out the aesthetic and symbolic potential of the laborious process of felting. The hand-felted re-interpretations of photographic images often explore the politics of representation and the tensions and contradictions of a Black British or Black European identity.
The catalyst for my last body of work was the phenomenon of ‘Zwarte Piet’- the black servant/slave who accompanies Saint Nicolas at Christmas in the Netherlands. The earlier pieces (including a short film, photo montages like ‘Teddy’ and sets of large felted portraits) are direct critiques of this quaint (and offensive) Dutch ritual.
Using self-portraiture to place myself in the centre of the story creating an alter-ego for Piet, The series ‘Big SISTER’ invites the viewer to re evaluate Zwarte Piet, no longer the slave or child-like fool, but a commanding adult female presence with a very different agenda!

In the studio now:
I’m currently researching the Mental Health system and the over representation of certain groups in institutions.