JESSICA M C ILWAINE

My work is currently focused on the goddess Venus and representations of the female figure. I have always been interested in mythology and wanted to explore how the image of Venus has changed the way in which women are seen in art, but I also want to create my own interpretations and to give it a flowing, dream-like feel.

Tenacious Threads is an investigation into the archetypal trope of birth, death, and rebirth, as embodied by silk insects. The transcendent symbolism of these creatures serves as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life, as well as the concepts of adaptation and metamorphosis. The threads of life are woven by change in the loom of time; to live is to experience its undulations and intersections, to be strengthened by their tension.

Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy of living as a state of becoming, rather than being, serves as a guiding principle in my practice. The work embraces the fluidity of perpetual change by mirroring the life cycle of silk insects. Drawing parallels between the ritual connection of humans to fabric and that of insects to silk, I create immersive installations combining painting, video, and performance.

Recycled bedsheets are transformed by the intersection of vibrant liquidised pigments, coupled with sculptural form these create bold abstractions. The video element utilises illusion, layering, repetition, rhythm, and sound as a means of poetic storytelling. I explore the materiality of the narrative body through live art and performance to camera.