Portfolio

Corpus: Husband, Father, Artist

For this corpus, Ed considers his position in the world as a man and what that means to him, his family and society, set against the current contagion of misogyny. The paramount factor in this is that boys and men must be taught to respect women as equals, and to dismantle the misogyny of the patriarchal system.

He considers what example he sets for his son as he grows, imagining how they would discuss the opinions that 4^th Century BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle held about women.

“The female is, as it were, a mutilated male. Females are weaker and colder in nature. Compared to men, woman are immature, deficient, deformed; they are even a bit monstrous. Men have hotter blood than women, a more important role in reproduction, and are generally more perfect.”

Parts of this quote appear in the paintings, deliberately enclosed in quotation marks. In provoking the viewer with these inflammatory statements Ed wishes to open up debate. The discussion of these comments by Aristotle is part of the dialogue between the artwork and the viewer. Aristotle’s profound, yet often problematic influence on Western thought makes his voice particularly potent as a catalyst for examination. For us to continue as a species, collaboration between the sexes must happen as it did for the greater proportion of time that we have existed before recorded history.

Corpus: The Ballad of Alexi Thymia

The inability to recognise or properly experience emotion is known as Alexithymia. With this body of work, Ed personifies this phenomenon, treating Alexi Thymia as a semi-autobiographical character who is struggling to come to terms with his trauma. Ed and his wife lost their daughter, Ruby, after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In removing the stigma around men talking about their traumas, men become stronger, not weaker.

Corpus: Lullay Series

This body of work was made in response to Ed and his wife losing a baby. Ruby Lily Heron died after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Paint is used to evoke the complex emotions involved in processing this grief. Reds, oranges, and browns representing anger. Blues represent sadness, but also reflection and acceptance. These colours compete with each other as do the emotions of grief.

Multiple layers of elements in these canvases are akin to looking through the layers of thoughts and feelings, of ‘working it out’.

Corpus: Please

Ed created this corpus for his undergraduate degree show. At the time, Ed was investigating ambiguity in abstract painting. The title was chosen with ambiguity in mind, because it is left up to the viewers of the work to decide the context of the word ‘please’, whether it means to give pleasure, to make a plea, or both. Similarly, ‘break’ can mean destroy, to cease, or to have respite.