Angel’s Nightie was made between March and May 2015, during an artist’s residency in Eastbourne. It had been an idea of mine for about twenty years, to make something that was a hybrid of a chrysalis and a body-bag. For months I worked at trying to find a way to create something that fused a 7 foot chrysalis with a fabric body-bag. But it wasn’t enough just to do that, oh no. To complicate matters further I decided that the carry-handles on the side of the ‘body-bag’ should resemble the sprocket holes of 35mm film. I must have had a good reason for thinking of this at the time, but I cannot remember what it was…something about life: film being pulled across a light source through a film projector?

Having an idea, and then trying to make it, is not something that works for me. It feels arduous. Like grown-up work. Working towards a specific end, a specific desired outcome: always feels wrong. Note to self: listen to your gut instincts.

Having something, an action, a ritual, a process, that comes to mind, without knowing what it means or where it will lead: that feels compelling, like being on a journey of discovery, with lots of research, which I love. This feels like creative play, however labour-intensive and time-consuming it is, and is the way I work best.