Kaye Kent North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

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I have returned to creating my artwork after a number of years working in TV/Film as a Buyer/Set Decorator, through which I have developed a passion for sourcing and collecting unusual, salvaged things which I incorporate into my work. My collages are based on my own photographic images taken on various travels which I then work into mixed media collages using rich textures, colours and details.

My mixed media work has evolved by working up my own photographic images from travels to remote and unusual places, and is somewhat journalistic. An integral part of my work is sourcing unusual and interesting things to tell a story in each individual artwork. Using materials which are wither salvaged, foraged or recycled - cardboard, sticks, tree bark, food packaging, fabric off-cuts, old wallpaper. These are then worked into fairly three-dimensional collages and embellished with added texture and acrylic to bring colour and an organic feel to each collage. These also translate really well back into prints, which adds another layer to the artistic process by returning back to a flat image.

‘Floating Village’ series is based on a trip to such a place in Kompong Phluk, where villagers work and live in stilt houses on the river. The traditional fishing methods of generations across the Mekong Delta are being replaced by larger in-land companies and industrial fishing plants. My work is about capturing a glimpse of an organic, traditional world which my be lost. I am fascinated by the ways different communities living a simple and ecological way of life. Each individual element has been carefully chosen for its shape, pattern and texture which is incorporated with details to narrate unique scenes of daily life.

‘Slave Island’ is a crumbling district of Colombo, Sri Lanka, similarly fast disappearing to make way for new development. These collages are similarly constructed from salvaged and recycled materials to convey the rich textures and layers of the back streets crammed tightly with small balconied dwellings and communities facing expulsion. I have focused more on the use of different textures surfaces and colour, also incorporating details of my original photographic images.