Artist's statement I create these fibre sculpture figures to honour life, and life is most obvious through its creatures’ expressions. Be that creature human or animal, our expressions are the loudest testament to being alive. We, with our millions of individually unique faces and bodies, are what make earth exciting, dramatic, passionate, miserable, ecstatic, turbulent, gentle, hateful, beautiful and so much more, just by resting our head this way or looking at each other that way, closing our eyes or opening our mouths to Roaar or howl at the moon. And then there are our offspring…watching, learning, imitating and aspiring to become us, until their old enough to love who they are. This is where my creations come in. To teach children at a young age to love their childhood and bring them into the art world through their own world of storytelling and expressions. We confine art to the adult world and our appreciation is often attached to “experience”. At the same time we crave that uncomplicated, free expression that often eludes experienced artists as they lose the child within them, and with the child, their truest freedom of expression. Nature is where I find my freedom. My child. And that is where my figures, along with a story written up for each one, is inspired from. To be a reminder that there remains much to love about life
“ Art is condemned to be superfluous when it is separated from life...Objects produced by craftsmen in the thousands of years that followed [the stone age] retrace the history of civilisation.”R.W.W
from the moment the white cotton cloth is in the hands of the Ramses W W Batik artists to the finishing touches I make to my work in Crochikit, every line drawn & stitch stitched, is handmade.
We follow 3 golden rules set out by my grandfather, Ramses Wissa Wassef, 60 years ago:
1- No copying. so each piece is an innovative design
2-No repetition. Each piece is unique
3-No preliminary sketches. Because the challenge of working directly onto the material itself, forces & channels the creative effort
Even though it takes me a long time to finish each piece, I haven't added the cost of my time to the price of my work as I am trying to keep to the ethics put down by my grandfather, and followed by my mother after, of making art available for everyone (or at least as much as possible) . Adding the cost of my time would raise the prices very high as it does take a lot of time and effort. Especially because each piece is uniquely made with its individual character.
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