Visual Imaginings

This body of work stems from personal experience with Aphantasia, which affects about 1 to 4 percent of the population, it is not a disorder or medical condition but rather a difference in the way the brain perceives and processes images. There are varying degrees of Aphantasia, some people cannot visualise imagery at all, others imagine blurred, indistinct images. When I close my eyes, I visualise fuzzy indistinct shapes, mostly in black and white, occasionally a pale yellow or orange fuzzy ball of light appears in my mind.

Visual Imaginings is a series of abstract paintings that convey images that I can visualise in my mind and those that I can only recall through photographic references. when I close my eyes, fuzzy indistinct shapes, mostly in black and white, occasionally a pale yellow or orange fuzzy ball of light appears through the darkness.

The artworks Visual Imagining, Sunset Hush and Swim in Colour were created through a process of painting on layers of mulberry paper, applying watercolour and inks allowing the pigments to permeate each layer. Only the top layer is viewed during the artmaking (underlying layers remain hidden until the very end) adding elements of surprise and unimagined outcomes to the creative process.