I make thrown and hand-built small-scale figurative sculptures, larger-scale sculptural installations, and functional sculptural pottery that use humour as a means of exploring notions of culture, identity, assimilation and belonging. I try to push conventional expectations of what art should look like and how it should be experienced. The whimsical nature of my work is central to it, and is directed at two objectives: diversion and introspection. Visual humour allows my work to function as a momentary amusement in an often stressful life, an invitation to pause and engage in a shared joke. At the same time, the humour serves as an empathetic vehicle through which more sensitive issues can be explored.I'd like people to think about how we define ourselves and our communities, about limits we set, about inclusions and exclusions we make and may no longer notice... but I'd like us to have a little introspective chuckle as we do; as Plato said, "serious things cannot be understood without laughable things."
