Nomadic, On a Human Scale

Nomadic, to be sustainable on a human scale. A scale where we are able to identify, recognise and be freely mobile, a scale at which we can measure our physical and personal values, where we can carry, hold, touch, see and personally experience. Using the body as a corporal measure, the traveler is manifest as the artist, the maker, the activator, the messenger and the poet, by statement, material and sculpture. Navigating in the ever-changing world has been my artistic approach for the past decade. Learning to survive and thrive as an artist, the ability to connect with artistic and diverse communities, creating new forms of learning and art-making. I rely on the natural and cultural narrative of my environment to guide my work. The ability to respond to global, cultural, environmental, socio-economic and importantly, logistic situations, creating a framework and sense of place to identify personal values and the impact of the artist. As a nomadic artist, I am conscious of my physical and creative impact on the environment I inhabit.

The environment becomes the artist's open studio, as seen in the indigenous art of Morocco centered on storytelling. It is used as a chronicle to communicate knowledge of the land, events and beliefs of the Berber people. The use of symbols is an alternative way of writing down stories of cultural significance. It educates the people on how to use the land and survive within it, respecting the environment whilst acknowledging the human impact. This process is evident in my approach seen in all of my artistic endeavours. Thriving in the desert of Morocco with the nomadic Berbers, performing with mud bricks made from the clay taken from the Draa river surrounding the atlas mountains, or marching on lumps of charcoal onto a piece of paper, purchased from a local petrol station. To recreate the ‘Black Square’ painting by the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in a disused Naval base in Russia. Then responding to the heat of Northern Spain with a single parasol or performing with two umbrellas as a human sculpture in Ghent, Belgium, as homage to surrealism and the Belgium artist Rene Magritte. Choosing objects that are easily carried as hand luggage onto a coach or plane.

The artistic movements where every day becomes meaningful is seen in the tradition of Performance art, Ready-made art, Outsider Art, Arte Povera, Land art, Street Art, Fluxus and Mona-Ha. Through these considerations, my artistic disciplines have evolved from sculpture, installation, printmaking, and contemporary drawings, and now towards the main focus of site- specific performance art, as performance art embodies the values of a nomadic artist presenting themselves to be resourceful. Whilst altering our perception of realities through material, bodily and environmental narrative, without permanent effect on the environment or resources.