For the past 25 years I’ve been growing a practice as artist, producer, mentor, evaluator and photographer. My approach to social engagement focuses on working with people to investigate landscape, place and our relationship to it; exploring ideas of belonging and identity and asking – what do we inherit from the past, how can we intervene in the present and how do we shape the future?

I particularly enjoy working collaboratively / co-producing with young people. Starting points often use photography to investigate a project’s themes, but work has developed to also include textiles, processions, installation, sound pieces and more recently film.

I am founder and Co-director of Youth Landscapers Collective – a non profit, youth-led arts organisation based in the heart of the National Forest, England. For the past 10 years we have collaborated with artists, technicians and community partners to share the story of this landscape’s transformation from heavy industry to forest future.

In recent personal work I’ve been investigating ways to collaborate with different sites/ buildings in order to share their stories. These experiments have fed back into my social practice.

I have worked strategically with key national agencies in the sector including Arts Council England, The National Youth Agency, Arts Award, Artswork and produced and co-wrote Engage’s Envision – A Handbook : Supporting Young People’s Participation in Galleries and the Arts (2008). I was an Arts and Quality Assessor for participation for Arts Council England for 4 years and also valued my role as a Creative Mentor supporting young people in care through TMC & Derbyshire’s Virtual School.

Inspired by the people and places of the West Coast of Scotland, I have recently re-located to Argyll.