Act On

Act On won First Prize in the Associacio Internacional Duana de les Arts jury-selected Hommage à Trois exhibition. This work is now touring Europe as part of the group show (see Exhibitions for dates and locations) and has been incorporated into the National Library of Catalonia, Barcelona.

Act On uses Anne Bronte’s poem Lines Composed In A Wood On A Windy Day as a starting point to explore my own yearnings for nature and physical freedom in a time of contagion and pandemic lockdown.

I live on the edge of the Pennine moors which Anne Bronte inhabited and I have felt their presence throughout my life. Act On (a pun on both Anne Bronte's ‘pen name’ and also the process of constructing this print) consists of a triptych of 3 miniature drypoint landscapes (Sea/Moor/Wood) printed onto Snowdon 300 gsm paper that is blind embossed and imbued with materials found in places associated with Anne Bronte's life (Haworth, Scarborough). Additionally, the carborundum used in the drypoint was mixed with soils from those locations.

Due to lockdown travel restrictions, these materials were sent to me by local residents following a social media appeal. By going out to gather these materials, the physical creation of the work became an act of resistance by people against the virus and its impact on our lives. It is a recollection of the landscapes both Anne and I know well and Act On is physically, and quite literally, imprinted with their spirit and memory.