Robyn Lawrence

I dyd know wythin these few years a false Witch called M(other) Line, in a towne of Suffolk...Oh, that damnable witches be suffered to live unpunished and so many blessed men burned:

East Anglian Witches Ghosts & Strange Tales, pp. 21.

On every trip I take to the beach I find myself searching for holey stones - or hag stones, as my M(other) would prefer. Also known as 

witch stones, 

adder stones, 

and eye stones, 

they are said to be windows to other realms, tools to see invisible creatures, and protection from bewitchment.

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Melanie Klein's mid-20th century psychoanaltyical studies into Object Relations Theory articulates how the core aspects of our intellectual and emotional development is a manifestation of our relations to objects devised in early childhood. Reproducing object through print, I contemplate on how our relationships to objects serve as an allegory to the science of what happens internally versus what is happening externally. 

Physical processes such as lithography, letterpress printing and bookmaking all lend a valuable insight into the tactile and technical importance of this work.

The translation of object to image reminds us of an inability to touch, an inevitable distance. 

Language, too, is in essence intangible - untouchable - distant until it is transformed into text. 

Thinking on the tensions between internal vs. external, thought vs. action, desire vs. reality I am acutely aware of what cannot be touched.

Referencing histories rich with the mystic, the supernatural, and the subconscious, the text in my work draws from personal narrative, often falsified with hyperbolic language - bridging gaps between the intangible and mythical experiences within our minds, versus our understanding of an external reality.