I spent December 2017 at a residency centre in rural Finland. In this deep winter, the muted sun appeared low on the horizon for only a few hours each day. Dawn and dusk were long, drawn-out, unassuming affairs.
In the early months of pregnancy, I felt unwell for much of the residency. I found myself sitting for long, dark hours, drawing. Slow, soft strokes appeared on the page. Strange forms emerged, imagined spaces that unfurled in front of me – a small body of work that marked the time and the darkness, drawing out unexpected, inaccessible, previously unseen spaces. As they emerged I envisaged that they would, eventually, metamorphose into something other – perhaps animations, or immersive installations, or maybe large drawings.
The Unfixed seeks to capture the uncertainty of these small drawings and the unfixedness of the imagined spaces within them, taking a gentle approach as they develop softly into the next stage of their coming-into-being.
Image: Laura Woodward, 2017, Nest, graphite on paper, 29cm x 42cm