‘The Immortal Commonplace’, 90 x 90cm, oil and acrylic on canvas (2012).

‘My work occupies the conflicted territory found where opposing and contradictory values and beliefs meet. It is both an interrogation of Western culture and an exploration of the tension between faith and doubt, physical desire and spiritual longing. It can be read as an articulation of the uncertainty and irreconcilable antagonisms inherent in our existence.

The subject of ‘The Immortal Commonplace’ is derived from a photograph of the abandoned detritus of everyday life: unwanted, obsolete, trash. It represents that which we leave behind; an artefact recovered from the archaeology of existence, bearing the trace and the residue of our passing. In the sense of ‘apocalypse’ meaning a revelation of something hidden, a discarded mattress is transformed, becoming a poignant reminder of human presence, and a metaphor for all our private, secret and intimate moments and activities.’