I am a 27-year-old trans-feminine person working and living in North Wales. I note this as my practice is deeply personal, arising from an entanglement of both personal and observed experiences. My work explores the stories that evolve within the microcultures of small towns in North Wales, the kinds of stories I grew up with, narratives which seemingly have no immediate relevance to anybody outside of these communities, and yet here, they have great importance, shaping the landscape of social interaction. My work is rooted in my day-to-day experiences, connecting with sexuality, masculinity, mental health, addiction, abuse and politics.

Across the duration of this project I have been working on a large-scale carving. Through different characters, the work explores the themes of transition and the connected hormonal changes, death of family members and illnesses of others, local covid deaths, and feelings of claustrophobia and loneliness. The work also explores the positivity and happiness you can find within local groups. It’s an image of everything – of how life has positives and negatives all at the same time. My hope is that the work shows the beauty of just living, even when most lives have changed permanently. The carving has been digitised to share with you here, but I hope one day will be exhibited as touching, feeling and seeing the carving in person offers the best experience of this work.

Alongside the carving, I’ve been collecting a multitude of materials – images, videos, and sound. Through recording my every-day experience in this area, I hope to show the non-linear and multifaceted layers of process and life that come into my art practice. I intend to do this without fetishising, glamourising or distorting life in any way.

I’m sharing with you here a video and sound recordings, and you can see the images through this instagram page linked here: https://www.instagram.com/sfttlns/