Personal Statement

Art has been a large influence in my search for who I am and who I strive to be. My passion
for art has grown as I have developed and refined my practice, influenced by the generations
of artists that have come before me. Two people that have influenced me most are my mother and
grandmother who are both amateur artists and our home has always been filled with objects and
projects that inspire me to experiment.
My passion for art has developed since childhood and after finishing my GCSE's I decided to
focus my efforts on developing a strong foundation in art and design by studying the UAL
Extended Diploma. This cause has taught me to step outside of my comfort zone, work with
others in new and inventive ways and question the world around me using my art.
As an undergraduate student I hope to explore my practice in more depth and expand my passion
for making and communicating.I have felt a creative freedom within the programme and over the
past two years I have developed a variety of different skills including painting, sculpture,
animation and photography of which I have enjoyed painting the most. Particularly, I enjoy
portraiture and figurative painting creating texture and movement to create narrative in the
work. In my current work I am exploring feminist perspectives in the porn industry. Being
raised by two strong women I feel that investigating and educating people about this issue is
both a privilege and a responsibility.
My interest in women's bodies and the expectations surrounding the concept, include shape/size
and how women/girls see themselves in today's society. Throughout history, there have been
women who were important artists or advocated social change, artist like Hanna Hoch who
advocated for women working in the creative world and tackling issues of gender inequality.
Hoch used collage as a humorous commentary on society. However, while male artists were often
revered worldwide, women tended to be unrecognised. With my art I try to visualise my own
feelings, to represent women through my work.
My future goal is to create work that represents and critiques the lives of young women and
through investigation I have discovered about women and their struggles through the ages, I
have learned a lot about who I am. I have a thirst for more knowledge and want to develop my
academic and practical based skills. I particularly enjoy art critiques that we have with the
other students in my class. I enjoy helping other people to develop their own work and
understand what I am doing in more depth.
I believe the undertaking an undergraduate degree in fine art is the natural projection in my
career as it develops upon many of the skills I have learnt at college. I hope that in the
future I can work in an industry that better represents and supports young women.
When I'm not at college I enjoy reading and watching documentaries. I like to get to London to
visit exhibitions. One show that I have seen recently has been Tim Walker at the Victoria and
Albert. The way that he creates environments that tell a narrative in his photography has
inspired me to think about the way that I communicate to my audience.
I very much look forward to the opportunity to study Fine Art at university as the next step
in my journey.