Victoria McTavish

Victoria's art practice is rooted in the feminine experience, both at the personal and collective level. Her practice gives expression to woman's journey and in particular viewing woman's story in a cyclical way, making the connection between natural law and the use of unnatural force. Issues of power and control, balance and healing, are themes addressed in her study of the witch trials. By examining and confronting the darkest period in women's experience, she makes links between patriarchal domination systems and the current ecological crisis.

Using a range of media including film, photography, collage, textiles, and materials from the natural world, her work combines these elements to give voice to woman's story. Her current practice uses bedsheets, stitch and collage, all of which are traditionally associated with women's work: the making of beds, cleaning, sewing, pulling apart and putting together again. In particular, she uses these materials in a symbolic way to represent the deeper layers of meaning behind the subject.

Drawing on archetype and myth gives the practice a collective narrative which provides a context for viewing the larger cosmological picture. The story of the goddess and her descent into the underworld is a fitting container to express the personal accounts women experience through male-dominated systems, as well as hopes of freedom through transcendence from such systems.

Current and on-going practice

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'Land Enclosure' and 'No Fair Trial'

Related to the witch trials, these pieces use ash stalks, wire and bedsheets, and are made using collage and latex techniques.

Site-based practice

This is photographic documentation of ritual practice in nature.

Red ribbon dancing

A series of stills taken from a short film representing menstrual blood and women's garments under water, specifically researching 'trial by water', also known as 'swimming the witch'.

Printmaking

Abstract, experimental prints and etchings.

Self-portrait and looking through a crystal

These images are part of experimentations with layering photographs and prints.

Layering and memory

Works relating to places and buildings from memory.

Mixed media collages

These works employ various methods including layering and ripping, constructed from a mixture of natural and found materials (such as ash, plastic, thread, textiles, leaves, inks and oil paints).

Sculpture

This small plaster and wire sculpture with feathers is representative of the goddess Inanna and her archetypal journey into the underworld.

Textile-based practice

Details of recent textile art practice, including work from the degree show, indigo and boro stitching, and pieces that describe women's personal experience.