Grace Cupper

Through the collection and sorting of visual language, overheard conversation, inner monologue, emotional responses and recollected memories, my practice intends to articulate every-day experience through the lens of an anxious mind. Gathering others words and conversation alongside my own and transforming them into a public, visual diary creates an open-ended narrative and reflective experience for both myself and the audience. It balances on the precipice between private and public, internal and external, clarity and obscurity. Continuous line and repetitive swirls emulate a stream of both constant internal and external monologue and repetitive thought patterns. The movement of creating these colours, shapes and patterns with paint brush and pen is a reflective and idea generating process.

From the confessional outpouring of Tracey Emin and the obsessive ramblings of Sean Landers, to the meticulous, descriptive writing of Fiona Banner’s Wordscapes, I take interest in the endless ways language can be used to portray one’s connection to their surroundings. Language is integral in every-day experiences, whether through advertising, public signs, social media, music, poetry, spoken or written word. This is my constant, and ever expanding, source of inspiration. The accumulation of these recordings are filtered through and explored in different ways of presentation to create a sense of organised chaos.

Consistently, my work poses a barrier between artist and audience, hinting at personal experience without the full context, using suggestive language without the knowledge of authorship. This removes the distinction between my words and those of others, as well the context – whether from personal and private interactions, conversations overheard in public or stolen from tv, film, music and the news. These tensions reflect the battle I face between the need to create and the contradicting fear of exposure and honesty, often using other people’s words to hide my own. To break through these barriers, I reminded myself that: Nothing happens in the comfort zone.

Grace Cupper: MA Creative Enterprise