Teresa Hedderwick - Sculptor and Educator
My work is concerned with the representation of universal human experiences, such as grief and living with loss, which our society finds uncomfortable to face or process. The source and motivation of my sculptures and installations comes from personal experience or an emotion. The process towards realisation aims to preserve and honour the memory or experience, and expose the traces of the hidden human connections that exist below the surface.
I am interested in representing the contradictory feelings that often coexist such as absence/presence, order/disorder and strength/fragility. This reflects my belief that humans are full of contradictions, that life is complex, and that there are always differing perspectives. Repetition and multiples are recurrent themes in my practice; representing how memories, experiences and emotions can change over time in their remembering or from person to person.
I have used a wide range of materials, but in recent years, the common thread is that they are discarded objects that I repurpose, reimagine and add value to, whilst retaining their symbolic meaning. The incorporation of projected images in some of my works, has become an important aspect in symbolising the traces of human connections and the contradictions of absence/presence and strength/fragility.
I work intuitively with materials, being led by what they and I can do together. I am interested in exploring the intervention of time and how the process of making effects interpretation. Making the process evident represents the scars we gather in life, the process of healing and rebuilding, and the connections that underpin our universal human experience.
