Ruth’s practice works across photography, collage and exploratory material processes considering how the physical world can be interpreted beyond what is immediately visible, and how lived experiences intersect with metaphysical ideas.

Within this practice, observation is more than simply seeing, it is an internal process involving visual enquiry and curiosity. The work emerges through an investigative way of seeing, and through layering, cutting, transparency, mark-making, gesture and re-composition, where meaning accumulates through pattern and association. Digital and analogue processes sit alongside one another, with research and experimentation central to the practice.

Her work includes mapping a speculative ‘megamorphis’ using local council data and hand-drawn marks to show rapid and dense urban sprawl, while referencing grafting techniques to reimagine high-rise living as a hybrid of new and old architecture, pointing to the importance of urban character in an era of homogeneous developments. More recently, observations have turned inward, making connections between the body, medical imagery and a river’s shifting surface.

Based in Australia, living on Kombumerri Country Gold Coast, Ruth is currently studying at Byron School of Art on Bundjalung Country.

Ruth has a background in curatorial practice and public art, and regularly collaborates with artists and communities; you can read more about her curatorial work here.

Studio Notes delve deeper into Ruth’s process.

CV