JOSH COLLINS’

ARTIST STATEMENT

In recent years, I have taken an interest in how the operative capacity of pure elements and their phenomena [such as LIGHT, WATER, TIME, and STONE] can serve as media to engage our cultural, personal and environmental narratives. The accessibility of these media allow for inherently open-ended encounters. These experiences aim to bridge narratives through a common embodied curiosity.

The play of light. The ebb and flow of water. The passage of time.

In order to challenge contemporary narratives such as colonialism, patriarchy and a wide range of entitlements I look to balance a soft critique of these narratives with an affirmative identity and sense of belonging that is grounded in the patterns of resiliency and expression found within ecological systems.

In addition to my base interest in facilitating a relationship to natural context, my work also navigates built and cultural patterns; including gentrification, the activation of the commons, a critique of currency/value, land ownership, the role of craftsmanship in establishing a sense of belonging, and how to be an ally for the expression and fulfillment of individual agency and wellness in the above context.

My practice is interdisciplinary and collaborative; looking to bridge design, construction, craft, environmental studies, and the social facilitation of agency, identity and curiosity.

The realm of art provides opportunities for the direct navigation of both critical and lighthearted dynamics, as well as the navigation of deeply personal and cultural issues. Art (supported by technical excellence and an emotional respect for those it accesses) possesses an incredible power as an agent of change, growth and cultivation.

The common perception of ‘installation’

gives way to ideas of (inter)action and (in)habitat(ion).