‘Polysemic’ VCA Artspace
May 2021

‘Knots’ hard ground print with red ink, 22.5 x 15 cm.

From my series of hardground and relief prints ‘Knots’ (22.5 x 15 cm) were created from my desire to explore the interconnectivity of women and symbols spanning across decades. I was interested in exploring the ability of these knot motifs to simultaneously convey the distance as well as the tethering of women across generations. My initial research into Celtic knots and their continuity throughout history lead to me repeatedly drawing a more modern spontaneous iteration of knots. Additionally, when researching I came across a series of etchings by Louise Bourgeois ‘Knots’ (2006) whose striking resemblance to my iteration of Celtic knots was indisputable despite myself having never seen her prints beforehand. This likeness solidified my pursuit of representing the continuity of images in relation to women’s practices. It was to me as if these knots came to embody the continuing legacy of women’s art that had too often been decried as redundant or decorative. Yet through these knots we can bare witness to its longevity and the lineage of women behind it.