skin is a new body of work looking at the experiences of of touch and desire after sexual assault. These works involve using oil paint and abrasive tools on car wrap.

Car wraps are made as a temporary and alternative exterior. Created to last only a few years, the wrap is like a kind of transitionary skin. The wraps are applied to cars with heat guns, the heat making the vinyl flexible and removing imperfections. Within skin, the paintings’ compositions are a result of the folds and creases created by using the wrap unheated, producing air bubbles as the glue makes contact with the wall.

The choice to use abrasive tools in these works was made to explore the experience of caustic touch experienced by those with post-traumatic-stress-disorder. Painting tools often lean towards a soft touch - a slide, a slick, a caress of the surface. Here, I used tools crafted to deface, de-rust and dull.

In addition to being used in rodent control and potentially lethal if ingested, steel wool is intended to scrape, rub and grind; shank brushes finely abrade, descale and polish; wire brushes smooth, deburr and de-rust, as well as clean the teeth of large animals such as crocodiles.

The paintings adopt a quietened palette. This is done to focus attention on the surfaces of the works and to consider the presence of each material - their context, their weight, and their touch.