Sarah Duncan’s artist residency in Hämeenkyrö, Finland

Member Sarah Duncan’s drawings shown here are the result of her recent month-long residency in Hämeenkyrö, Finland.

Sarah says “During my time in Finland I was interested in how the element of water can absorb and reflect light in a variety of forms. The starting point for my work on the residency was wondering how I could capture the “dark” within so much whiteness. By using small amounts of dark, I want it to be apparent that I am focusing on the positive rather than the negative.

Recent scientific studies have centered less on the possibility and more on the certainty and speed with which climate change will take place.

My practice is not obviously engaged with worldly issues, working directly to transform the global scale of climate change into a human narrative. But more to have it subtly resonate within my work.

Subject matters are introduced as key elements that make up the natural world – water, stars, ice and snow. But underlying are the activities that affect the planet’s fragile equilibrium. Which is what I want to capture within my drawings.

While the grandeur of the subject matter is apparent, so too is its vulnerability

Drawing is a form of meditation for me. While working on small sections at a time I didn’t necessarily perceive what I was drawing as water, the snow or a tree. Instead the image is stripped down to its most basic form of colour and shape. It is only when the piece is complete could I finally experience the drawing as a whole.

I continue to explore moments of transition and turbulence in the landscape. I choose to show the beauty rather than the devastation, a celebration of what we stand to lose.”