There are two bodies of work I will develop during my residency at Anglia Ruskin. The first is series of copper-plate etchings that form part of Cultured Canines, a collaboration between me and Attic Black | Thetis Authentics (Athens) that explores the history and mythologies of different dog breeds. The project consists of twelve classically inspired vases and ten etchings. The ceramic works combine new designs with ancient decorative and manufacturing techniques as reconstructed from Classical Greece. A paper museum accompanies the vases. Inspiration for this project stems from research into eighteenth-century antiquarianism, natural history and art collections, specifically that of Sir William Hamilton, who, in 1775/6, commissioned Pierre-François d’Hancarville to produce a portfolio of etchings of antique vessels for circulation to a wider public as aristocratic ornaments and pattern books.

The second body of work, again, explores the cultures that inform how the histories and lives of animals are perceived, and to appreciate the actual and imagined roles animals play in our lives. In these images, dinosaurs and cowboys fight each other in the Canadian wilderness. Evoking references to extinction, landscape painting and science fiction, the works infuse humour with serious questions regarding the stories we tell about the human/nature relationship during the Anthropocene epoch: how nature is engaged, tested and modified, and how nature is experienced. Experimental screen-printing techniques will be used for creating atmospheric tone and effect that reference landscapes produced by Hudson River School artists.