“Water surrounds us,

It defines us,

Its isolation is an isolation in its lifetime.

The sea becomes its own myth, generating madness,

pushing beyond the limits of the mind,

In the clearing of mans struggle.

Cyclical over time,

higher than any border.

A bond that connects us all.”

‘Cleansed’ is a work about the human condition viewed through a different lens. The film and consequently the installation, is an exploration of the artist’s feelings around the deterioration of her brothers mental health, losing the sense of whom he once was.  The overwhelming sense of helplessness, the acceptance of what may come but a hopeful glimpse of reaching potential. 

Textile binds us through the everyday and the ritual.   The white cloth symbolizes the relationship of the mind, the baptism, the domestic and the shroud. To cleanse, to swim, to drown or to hang out to dry.  

‘Cleansed’ was an installation as part of the ‘Under The Northern Sky’ collaborative exhibition with Signal Film and Media, Barrow-in-Furness.  As part of the Arts Council funded project Platform. 

Filmed on Earnse Bay, Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness.  A famous local beauty spot and favourite place that Rachel and her brother Edward, would rock pool and play as children, and walk as adults.  Both loving to walk and talk together, often revisiting places they felt connected to. The vastness of the beach, forever occurring waves and when the sun shines (or rain), there is no other place on Earth to compare.