My relationship with boats
I have a 50 year history with boating, my father owned various water craft on the south coast of Cornwall during my childhood.
The activity of boating was a surface veneer covering layers of emotions, love, conflict and loss spanning generations of family relations. For me personally it was about the suffocation of my childhood will, being denied the confidence of learning to make my own decisions and the ability of expressing what my heart felt.
This piece consists of two aluminium dagger boards (retractable keels used on sailing boats) which have been etched in to on both sides, sprayed and inked.
I imagery is of myself at 12 years old, my mother, my father and a family friend called Les.
For the last 10 years I have returned to boating on my own terms and finding it far more enjoyable. I find myself nowadays contrasting those past family experiences with my present family situation with my children.
