RE:CLAIM
“She was a summer storm. She came before, in the night.
When they ask, be sure to tell them, her bark is as bad as her bite.”
Re:Claim is a multidisciplinary body of work that explores the relationship between landscape, memory and the transformative forces of nature. Developed in 2020, the project emerged while restoring my family's farm following storm damage during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Through this process, the landscape revealed overlooked family histories alongside a series of found objects that became the basis of the project.
The project centres on materials recovered from the farm, including split stones, burnt roofing and discarded steel. Marked by environmental forces rather than artistic intervention, these objects became evidence of nature's ability to transform even the strongest manufactured materials. Their physical histories informed a series of sculptural works that continued this process through making.
Responding to these discoveries, I began working directly with reclaimed industrial materials, manipulating steel and found objects in ways that echoed the forces that had already acted upon them. Rather than restoring or preserving these materials, I sought to extend their histories through contemporary making, allowing traces of their previous lives to remain visible within each work.
Working across sculpture, found objects and video, Re:Claim considers reclamation as both a material and cultural process. Alongside an exploration of the resilience of the natural world, the project draws connections between the enduring strength of nature and the often-overlooked resilience of women, inspired by the lives of the two women whose history became inseparable from the landscape. Through these intertwined narratives, Re:Claim reflects on landscape not simply as a place, but as a living archive of memory, transformation and endurance.
STONES
Stones found on the farm.
BURN
Metal scrap burned from fire on farm.
BOWL
Bowl made from resin and shwarf.
PROJECT SUMMARY