I was extremely pleased to be shortlisted for the Chaiya Art Award and to see my desert landscape ‘All that is Seen and Unseen’ exhibited in the Oxo Gallery. Here you can read more about the work, how I made it and see images of the exhibition.

All that is ‘Seen and Unseen' is part of my Atacama desert series and although it's the driest place on earth, intriguingly it has large expanses of water, which are fed from underground channels. It's this phenomenon that gives the work it's title.

I'd created the design for this piece some time ago but I abandoned the piece I started because I was unhappy with how it was developing but the desire to progress this design never went away. The call for entries for the Chaiya Art Award was the impetus I needed to progress it and I was thrilled when it was shortlisted from 700 entries and selected for the exhibition in the Oxo Gallery London.

The exhibition was delayed for over a year and opened whilst Covid restrictions were still in place but it was so worth waiting for and having my work in the accompanying book was the icing on the cake. It was lovely to see all the work 'in the flesh'. My heartfelt thanks go to the organisers who stuck with us, despite having to reschedule the exhibition a number of times.

How ‘All That Is Seen and Unseen’ was created

The main fabric was created by lots of layers of dye in a variety of colours. Some of the layers were screen printed using the shapes inspired by salt crystals and others were created by brushing on liquid dye. Sometimes I would screen print using chemicals to reduce the intensity of the colour and also create additional visual texture and interest.  The process is such that even I couldn't recreate the exact same piece of cloth.  

The finished fabric was then cut into small pieces, bonded onto a backing cloth and then cut into horizontal strips to represent the earth's strata.  Each small piece was also hand stitched to make sure it was secure.

The sky fabric was hand dyed and the texture on the water was created with machine embroidery. Finally, all the elements were cut, pieced and stitched together and framed. It measures 45 x 48 cm.

Online exhibition

People unable to visit the exhibition in person could visit the online exhibition, which broadly replicated the exhibition in the physical gallery. This was particularly nice as a number of friends who had planned to come to see the exhibition in 2020 were no longer able to come to London. Alongside the virtual exhibition, there is a vote for the 'people's choice' and I was very pleased to have come 4th in the vote. I've made a short (12 sec) video of the exhibition from walking in the door to where my piece was hung - an digital version of the physical exhibition!

Click to see more of the work in my Atacama series. Why not subscribe to my newsletter to keep in touch and hear my arty news?