Bestiary of the Burgh is an ongoing body of work that keeps shifting shape. What began with fragments of animal folklore in the city has moved into stranger territory — imagined creatures, half-real presences, and industrial myths re-imagined in paint and porcelain.
Over the summer, the work has begun to connect more closely with Ghost in the Machine, a collaborative sculptural installation and performance commissioned for Hidden Door 2025. In that project, performers took on animal roles within the machinery of a disused factory, reimagined as a kind of temple.
In the studio, I’ve been working with my developmental monoprinted sketches alongside polaroids taken during the performance of the ritual actions.
Imaginary Bird, mono-print 2025
Some of the canvases reimagine animal workers operating colour-spilling machines, while others use performance stills to find images that evoke a ritual presence within the factory. The paintings are at different stages — a few finished, others still in progress — but all carry a sense of movement and transformation. They sit between memory and invention, documentation and myth-making, continuing to shape shift and draw connections between costume, and industrial sites can be reimagined as part of a contemporary bestiary
