Haskins, Faye

Travel is an essential source of inspiration - it has become an action that is comparative to a ritual, which fuels the work. Driven by a curiosity - an intrigue - an exploration of the unknown and yet a familiar action that is repeated - similar in essence to that of a pilgrimage.

"The pilgrim abandons his customary way of life in order to strengthen his own identity, to become less dependent on his environment…" Angela Vetesse - on Hamish Fulton Walking Artist. Although I am using specific symbols (recognisable imagery) I am not in pursuit of a single idea. The work tends to be a reflection of our contemporary free for all, borrowing from a number of cultural sources. The imagery in the work remains ambiguous - this ambiguity allows the viewer to enter the equation of the journey of discovery. It becomes the viewers' role to reflect upon the form and its place in this culture / society. The presence / absence element derives from my interest in relics, in things being revealed or discovered, in the act of discovery, which for me has manifested itself in the ritual like action of travel. The Andean Landscapes For the ancient Andean peoples it appears that it was land itself that held all the promises and treasures. Influenced by a recent trip to Peru, representations of the Andean landscape concentrate on the blurring of boundaries between the land and the sky, between the tangible and the intangible. The land has the sense of being permeable, mirroring the presence / absence quality of past imagery. This is particularly relevant as the work is developed with a strong sense of memory and reflection. One is drawn into the space of the landscapes through a combination of texture and atmospheric tones and only then does the full detail reveal itself. There is an underlying structure of a series of maps depicting the Machu Picchu region of the Andes and the ‘classic’ Inca Trail route to Machu Picchu, linking back to an earlier series of prints entitled ‘Building the Beaten Track’. The recent prints have taken on a similar theme. Snap shots of Peruvian imagery etched into metal narrate a journey with maps, sometimes blind embossed into the surface of the paper. ‘The snapshot is a potent form of imagery – it encapsulates our supposed desire to objectify memory and stem the flow of time’ The Asian influences Many of the ancient temples and sites researched and experienced remain important pilgrimage sites today. There is no attempt to recreate a pilgrimage but an association to the action - to the ritual - my ritual of travel. The Hoysala temples in southern India and Angkor Wat, Cambodia, have been one of the most recent areas of focus. Early Hinayana icons of the Buddha were represented as a pair of empty footprints, the message: - He has passed this way, but he has gone beyond. It is concepts like the above that draw my interests towards Buddhism and the images of Buddhas in all various states and forms. Buddhism is adaptable to differing cultural values and societies and the sense of perpetual evolution in Buddhist thought mirrors my personal response to life and art, constantly changing, building and growing. It is not though so much the religion that interests me, as a personal response to the visual. The image of the buddha holds a fascination for me that is inexplicable in its strength. My representations are usually in a transient state - hovering between the physical and metaphysical, but always with a sense of serenity, strength and beauty. Within Hindu art, unlike Buddhist art, the human form is depicted as curvaceous, voluptuous and filled with potential motion. The celestial dancing figures, Apsaras, have been added to the visual language and are intended to be sensual. The forms are mythical and out of reach, performing what was once an integral part of temple ritual and worship. The Relic Series In the paintings there is an underlying influence that derives from the sarcophagus form which initially manifested itself as a ghostly cocoon like shape, reminiscent of the human body - a shrouded figure. This form, over time and the evolution of the work has transformed into the suggestion of something interred – of the layers of the land - relating to Egyptian tomb architecture with its suggestions of transcendence to a higher experience of a kind, but also to a time or a place upon which foundations are built - Cultural evolution - using the building blocks of the past to grow and develop. As each culture comes and goes a fragment remains, tangible or otherwise, that forms a part of the new society / culture. Every piece of work and element is a journey taken - they are vehicles of transcendence, a place or situation revisited, with the added element of memory. Different aspects of the journeys become apparent in each set of images, various paths are followed and often retraced as new insights are gained on every return.

Contact details
Miss Faye Haskins
Studio 7
Great Western Studios
Great Western Rd
W9 3NY
faye.haskins@btinternet.com
www.fayehaskins.com

Primary Art Form
Visual Arts and Designer Makers

Other Artform categories
Digital Art
Painter / 2D
Printmaking