I am fascinated by the conflicting characteristics of play. Play is described as the opposite of work, but is used to train children to be ‘team players’ in the workplace. What if our co-workers were always trying to bite us? People take up sports to relax and have fun, then take them very, very seriously. Think of parents at a Little League game or packs of weekend warriors in head-to-toe Lycra riding their bikes while shouting to each other about their VO2 max. Play and playfulness are everywhere. Play is in every facet of life. It is not good or bad, but it forms and informs our world. My work explores play and shows elements of disorder, nonsense and useless action to question ideologies of work, learning, and leisure.

Using paintings, drawings, prints and installations I combine a playful use of artistic perspective with scenarios occurring in sports and games to show the limits of the rules of the game. What happens when a player leaves the boundaries of a painting? Imagine a badminton birdie so large it is a threat to national security! Choosing materials and techniques borrowed from commercial sign-making, such as stenciling, digital prints and laser-cut adhesive vinyl, I use games as my language and pictograms as my ‘alphabet’ to examine how play can be both productive, teaching ideals of fair play and sportsmanship, and an end in itself, as when a falling leaf must be chased or a bottle cap flicked, for the fun of it.