"Raw timber oozes water and is heavy with scent. I enjoy the corporality of this, the early stages of a wood carving feel like butchery. I choose a simple route from material to sculpture, working almost entirely by hand.

I prefer bare wood to heavy treatments. This shows the working qualities- fibrous textures contrasted with burnished chisel cuts. I allow the wood to split and show if it has any rot or infestation. Wood, having lived, is rich with scars and signs of it's experiences.

The dialogue between material and process seems to be about time passing and loss. The material has a fragility. Wood is a poor substance, honest perhaps, prone to damage and decay. The carving process is one of erosion and requires infinite amounts of patience. I use these things to depict the figure because they can gently refer to personal timelines and our own frailty.

Forms can denote actions. As regards sight and respiration the bellows structure does this, drawing parallels between looking and breathing. These functions hold a personal significance- through sight and breath I feel connected to the world. I am also acutely aware of the tenuous nature of that connection. Whilst the physical qualities of my carvings allude to a sense of degeneration, the paper bellows signify physiological processes which I find compelling.

Inspired by the Hellenistic sculpture Laocoon and his sons, I have begun combining these two elements. The language of this appeals to my sense of drama, and it’s a language of contrasts. Abstract forms sit alongside representational; the fixed against the dynamic; organic with structured. The bellows can twist and contort with energy and chaos while the figurative elements speak with restraint."