Once More With Feeling

Mixed Media, 2024

As the titular piece in my Once More With Feeling series, this work marks a return to the spiritual and decorative traditions of my ancestors. “Water Gypsies” who adorned their homes and daily lives with a now-dying craft known as Roses and Castles. Passed down through generations, this style of painting was a way to elevate the everyday, to imbue objects with reverence and identity.

In this piece, I attempt to emulate that practice while simultaneously confronting its erosion. The worn decorations are a deliberate comment on erasure and the commodification of heritage craft. Iterations, by nature, obscure the original—they conceal It’s purpose and meaning. Here, I reclaim it as curio and ritual, emphasising the constant loop that binds us to our past.

Me and my sisters spent the summer practicing around the kitchen table. I wanted to create a decoration that wouldn’t look out of place on our Grandma’s table—but weirder.