Thinking, feeling and sculpting with fire

2020 has been a very particular year. In search of a means to express the difficult and contradictory meanings, feelings and emotions of Covid-19, ‘fire’ emerged for me as a key conceptual and material tool: a tool to use, and a tool to think with.

In use, fire is a powerful although highly risky sculpting tool. It can be used to create texture and form and to explore the space between presence and destruction. The outcomes cannot be entirely predetermined.

Conceptually, fire represents many conflicting and often oppositional meanings: it can represent the generative power of life but also destruction. Fire can also signify energy, change, renewal, illumination, enlightenment and damnation. These meanings and concepts have all played a part in how i’ve felt this year. Fire is my response to Covid-19.

2020 aflame.