In October 2021, I attended an online presentation “Glacial Narratives” hosted by the Taigh Chearsabhagh Trust, North Uist, about artistic responses to climate change. This inspired me to secure two artist residencies on the Island of Lewis in March and in Iceland in May to further my work on climate change. As a papermaker, I use the fragility and strength of handmade paper as a metaphor for resilience. My project for both these residencies is about reframing the concept of the inanimate and animate in relation to natural and geological forms to create a series of prints, paper based artworks and artist books. At Cove Park I would extend this notion of landscape as an animate force through creating site specific paper artworks. I will bring dried paper pulp to be reactivated using local water as well as papers I have made which are embedded with the marks of climactic events. This includes paper embedded with beach grass sourced after a king tide erosion event at our local beach and water damaged papers rescued after my papermaking studio was flooded during Cyclone Debbie in 2017. Working at Cove Park will help reinforce my connection between paper and the environment as a constantly evolving life force. As an artist, I relate to the act of creating and using paper as a way to express the energy of places and human interaction. Together these represent our interconnectedness
and speak of the hopeful efforts to mend our planet.