Drawing is the basis and foundation of my practice. Observational drawing and drawing from memory both establish where I situate myself and where or what my eye is being pulled towards. My background in Graphic Design prompts me to consider the textual and visual elements of my subject, giving most attention to the visual spaces that we fabricate and locate ourselves within.
Zachary Gray
A shift in my practice is occurring where I am now constructing my work around these previously mentioned spaces; incorporating 3D modelling and sculpting, collage, street photography, plein air mark making and writing exercises to navigate and steer my findings. Many of these methods converge in prop and costume making, where I cycle between the techniques to inspect characteristics of identity and persona.
My research practice consists of conversational (dialectic) and spatial exploration. Planting myself amongst these worlds and interactions joins together what I create with the research themes that I attempt to balance. Situating myself amongst my subject matter takes sensitivity and enduring repetitive bouts of confusion that become less frequent as the work starts to appear.
The tone of my work often includes humour and silliness to dissect a problem, conflict or jarring that I have been observing. Within my most recent project, "Splitting Hairs", I have looked at the social and historical significance of objects and rituals whilst asking myself, what can visual communication lend to our understandings of cultural artefacts? This question has been especially useful in interrogating the use of wigs in courtrooms. Ultimately, pushing me closer to find out why they still have a place inside our criminal justice system and how they exist as evidence of an inherited colonial legacy within former British colonies.
Dialogue and space are themes that continue to pester me, I imagine this will persist as my practice continues to merge the immediacies of drawing and photographic image making with the intentionality of sculpting and constructing.
