Consciousness and Experience

I started making new work about two months ago, the initial ideas have grown, blossomed, and now the fruit is almost ripe. This new series explores ideas of consciousness and how we communicate our personal experiences of it. Understanding consciousness is an area of inquiry that has massive influence on many aspects of our society and thinking, but also an area where we are only just beginning to understand the problems, let alone answer them.

Consciousness, the experience of being you, of being awake and able to think, feel and understand, is all we can truly know. Everything we perceive as external to ourselves could be imagined or hallucinated. Most people generally believe there are different levels of consciousness; for example, your pets are conscious, but not as conscious as you are. Is all matter conscious? If not, what arrangement of molecules or cells produces it? How did human consciousness form, was it with the first artists blowing pigment over their hands on to cave walls? The true nature of consciousness and what gives rise to this phenomenon is still a mystery.

We experience everything through our conscious minds. It is consciousness that gives form to our identity; labels our feelings and experiences; and expresses them through language and art. However, if you begin to closely study your own conscious experience you may lose your sense of self and free will.

Where do you begin? Are you within your body? Are you your unconscious mind? Our subconscious is constantly pushing thoughts into the spotlight of consciousness, which can trigger moments of great inspiration or attacks of anxiety. Are we in control or merely observing a seemingly endless string of cause and effect?

Each moment we have in this reality is experienced through consciousness, which is always in Flux. Whether we alter our consciousness with psychedelic drugs or strong coffee, everyone will recognise that we project ourselves out into the world, and the external world moulds our sense of self in each moment.

My new works examine this endless conversation we have with ourselves and the world we experience. Piecing together an eclectic mix of images from divergent sources, I want to communicate a restless view of the world: constantly interrupted by memories, associations and imagination. The images I am making will attempt to show what it’s like to look and see, whilst being bombarded by thoughts, memories and associations.

The new works look at hand gestures, which communicate how we externalise our internal experience. Faces and bodies are recurrent themes too, these house and give rise to our conscious experience and identity of self. These motifs are set amongst intricate patterns and dreamy colours. All the works combine moments from my own experience; a carpet in a shop window, flowers I’ve bought for my partner, patterns from the Berlin tube. Bringing these together reflects my own experience of consciousness and attempts to help you understand the lens through which I see the world. By communicating this study of how I see and experience consciousness I hope you can better question and understand your own. As the only part of existence, we can be certain of, your own consciousness is worth looking in to.

By paying close attention to the nature of our experience, moment to moment, we can develop a better understanding of our own consciousness. If we share our experience, we can fine common threads in our conscious lives and develop a better understanding of what it’s like to be human. I encourage you to examine and explore your own conscious journey, pay attention to the nature of thought and how you are in each moment. As far as you know, you may have the only consciousness to explore.

Sign up for my newsletter to keep up to date with my new work, events and offers.