I am a painter / printmaker and I am interested in marginal spaces, places that are often maligned or thought to be devoid of traditional aesthetic beauty. For the past 5 years I have been exploring Park Hill in Sheffield, the Grade II* listed council estate and one of Britain’s largest examples of Brutalist architecture. The site is currently being regenerated and is in a state of flux- which makes it an interesting place to observe. Part of the estate has been gentrified into shiny, luxury flats whilst half remains boarded up and derelict. I am particularly drawn to the un-refurbished parts where the memories and layers of the past are almost tangible.
My intention was to create observational paintings that spoke of the displacement of the established communities and the temporality of the urban landscape.
Concrete is the unifying link throughout the estate and could be regarded as a potential palimpsest. In the refurbished sites it has been restored to exacting standards, in the old parts it is spalled, weathered and tarnished which gives it a rawness and beauty of its own. With this in mind, for my paintings I have been working with materials that are integral to the estate itself, namely concrete and aerosol spray paints. I have continued to explore the same subject in print, focussing on stone lithography, frequently collaging the lithographs made on to squares of cast concrete as a metaphor for the estate.