Esme Binks

My Practice

The circle, a shape with a plethora of connotations, has been a consistent motif throughout mypractice. A form that has represented the comfort of my home, the cyclical endurance of thepandemic and my experience as a woman; I attempt to communicate the serenity and tension ofthese aspects through my practice. Often symbolic of female anatomy, the circle has been a subtlebut suggestive form that links to the web of references to femininity in my work. As a woman, I feel deeply tied to the domestic space, and I convey this intimate knowledge through my choice in colours, processes, and installations.Through painting and crochet, I elucidate to my domestic space and the labour that accompanies it. As considerably contrasting processes, these mediums use practical objects and methods, oftenused for traditionally feminine disciplines, to create bodies of work that oppose their intended use.As my paintings are abstract in form, the focus is on the process itself, using household cleaningobjects; mops and scrubbing brushes, to create sweeping gestural marks with layers of householdpaint. Products intended for cleaning and disinfecting become tools to apply and produce, it is aproductive process, rather than reductive.The antithesis of crochet enables a traditional approach, a process which replicates the circlethrough interlocking loops of thread, capturing the soft-focus sentiment of my home environment.It does not possess the energy of my paintings, but the contrast to painting in texture, energy andform provides a calming body of work that placates the general tone of my practice. ‘The KitchenCorner’ illustrates how these juxtaposing mediums combine to form an installation that evokes aserene and delicate experience for the viewer