A Thread of Light 2010

This group of works considered the fine line between the presence and absence of life and the way this changes everything. For life to exist certain conditions have to be in place in the environment, and so value judgements of good/beneficial and bad/detrimental come into play. The indifferent and haphazard forces of nature become imbued with meaning.

Dark uncertainty and imagined catastrophe still occupy the unknown and unseen parts of our world, but as H.G. Wells wrote in “The Time Machine”, his vision of a decadent future where all natural risk has been eliminated, “intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger and trouble … There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change.”

The past may be known and the future in doubt, but the appearance of both can change when viewed through different emotional filters. Uncertainty and challenge belong in our lives as much as the capacity to perceive beauty and experience hope.

Chelsea Flower Show

In the 2014 Chelsea Flower Show, Rim from A Thread of Light was featured in the Hope on the Horizon garden by Matt Keightley.
(Silver Gilt Medal and BBC/RHS People’s Choice Award)