Ann Simpson Warwickshire, United Kingdom
I was born and raised in County Durham and began a Fine Art Degree later in life after a professional career in mental health. Concern with vulnerable bodies and minds and that lived experience not surprisingly found its way into my art work and the way this can be expressed in the making process.
As an artist my work depicts the constant connection between body and mind and how the two interplay to form both visual images and evoke emotional states of mind. Not only what is being displayed on the surface but also what lies beneath for both viewer and artist. I work with cloth and thread to make individual sculpted forms that express the way we feel in our internal world and its impact on our everyday lives. The use of video and sound adding further expression and depth to the viewed experience. I explore the relationship between materiality and form introducing ideas that move between art, psychoanalysis and sociological disciplines to communicate sensitive readings of human pain and experience I relationship to making. I have collaborated with singing groups, recording artists, audio/visual artists and fine artists specialising in natural dyeing and textiles. I have made many visits to India to look further into the art of block printing, silk and pashmina weaving, natural dyeing and textile study.
