The five pieces here are a new development for me. I have not in the past incorporated figures in my works nor have I previously used photographs. I see my current studio practice as a fruition of the underlying themes and ideas of my previous work. The subjects of geography and geology have always featured in my studio practice. I have also loved looking at family photographs and hearing stories from my parents and grandparents from our family history. My previous degree in Geography covered the physical world and man’s interaction with it and has inspired my studio practice since I embarked on a degree in Fine Art. My current studio practice is exploring questions of my place in the world. I think there are also issues of identity. What makes me who I am and why? What have I emerged from to be me? My present work explores the landscape and geology of the area around the mining town of Aberdare in South Wales where my parents grew up. My main visual research sources are maps both geological and topological and photographs of family and postcards. All the photographs were taken by my father and date from the early a1950’s to the mid 1960’s. I am in some of them, otherwise they are all family members. I made a base collage from a photograph and then layered a different but related photograph on top. Other layers are images worked in charcoal or acrylic.giving a suggestion of place and time. The translucent nature of the result and the areas of blank paper suggest how sketchy our memories can be. The works are as much a celebration of my family and the human experience as a strong and reassuring link for me to my roots and to the question of who I am.