Though I had travelled internationally previously with my work usually for an exhibition (Quebec City, Prague, St Catharines) this was the first invitation to an international artist residency for an extended stay. The only requirement of the residency was an open house at the end of the 4 months to showcase my explorations.

After making numerous forays to local and close by, markets, gardens, museums and architectural icons in The Netherlands and Belgium I began to find a daily routine.  I set myself tasks of reading, research and a deep dive into working with my analogue 35mm camera. I was smitten by the flower markets and began to purchase huge quantities of flowers to photograph on a weekly basis.  At first these were formal in nature and reflected experimentations with my new macro lens. Inspired by Karl Blosfeldt’s studies of plant life and architecture I began to consider the architecture of flowers and like a child putting celery into food colouring to reveal the veins I began to dye through the stems, my flower collection. This led to much experimentation with inks and dyes and different plant material finally centering on roses.  I made correspondences between the ink patterns and architectural ornament. Eventually this translated into a large series of new work, screen printed onto a double organza material creating the illusion of depth in the 2-dimensional object.

Stichting Kunst & Complex, Rotterdam was founded in 1981 by local artists to create and build a strong artistic and creative community. Their initial mandate was to provide studio spaces to their members and in 1987 they located a building on the Keileweg where they created 29 permanent studio spaces and 3 international guest studios. By invitation, international artists are invited with a minimum stay of 3 months and maximum of 1 year. This outreach positions the Kunst & Complex in a prestigious role within the network of global artist residencies.