The Abundance

In October 2007, I sailed 3,991 nautical miles aboard the last remaining Royal Mail Ship, the RMS St. Helena. . I was on a voyage that would last for two weeks from Portland, UK, across the equator to the Island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

I had dreamed of making this journey for a number of reasons. Partly it was because my mother was born and raised on the Island and I had long been fascinated by the isolation of the place. Also, my father was a sailor in the Royal Navy, so I grew up hearing tales of far off lands and life at sea and was keen to put together the pieces of the mystifying stories I had been told. I was aware of how these two people, spending much of their lives with access to limited resources, had a very particular and inventive approach to goods and materials.

During this self-initiated residency I intended to focus on the way St Helenians used and appropriated the things around them, and in particular how this approach to objects might alter with the arrival of a proposed airport. Naturally, my interests quickly diverged as it became clear that identities, mythologies and histories were also territory for adaption and reinterpretation.

With grateful support from Deutsche Bank, The Museum of St Helena, The St Helena Tourist Board and the St Helena Development Agency, I spent three months researching and making work, followed by a solo exhibition at the Museum of St Helena. To read an article about this residency which was published in the St.Helena Independent, and to view images of the exhibition, click here.

I am continuing to develop the work begun on St Helena, and am working with anthropologist, Prof. Dan Yon, to prepare further exhibitions and a publication relating to this experience.