When say that I crochet animals, it often creates a stereotypical image in people’s minds. Although I enjoy playing with this image it is a preconception that’s hard to shift. Aesthetically, the animals I make are more akin to taxidermy than anything else so I came up with the term Crochetdermy to better describe what I do.
My background is in conceptual art. In an attempt to find new ways of exploring the 'Anything can be art' theory, I make work that combines uncomfortable themes such as accessible objects, nostalgia, traditional craft and realism.
I have just completed a commission for the Guardian Weekend magazine and am at present working on a major commission called the Lionheart Project. Celebrating the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012, the work features three giant hand-crocheted lions in a custom-built mobile taxidermy style case that will tour during 2012.
