Instagram: @shniiitz
Informed by my own chronic illness and relationships, my practice has explored how care manifests in a visual language. I thought a lot about what it means to be careful (or to be full-of-care). I was interested in the subtle and quiet acts of care that we perform for one another; the acts that do not seek acknowledgement or benefit to our ego. It's the acts that we perform solely because we care that I wanted to document. In investigating this theme of care, I found a profound sense of invisibility around caring for others and being in need of care. I wanted to create work that celebrated carers, those in care and everyone in between. The more work around care I did, the more I began to notice a persistent and transient dynamic of caring. I wanted to create work that was able to attach permanence to the acts of care we perform; something that would offer that same comfort even when separated by physical distance. Struck by the invisibility around care, it was also important to me that my work offered a sense of pride, visibility and recognition to those caring / in care. Despite my attempts, I realised that no one piece would be able to encompass that great sense of care, and that perhaps it is in the time, the process of creating my work, that demonstrates how much I care.