joelene.art

Joelene is a Belfast-based sculptural artist. primarily working with ceramics although she also explores painting and printing.  Depending on the subject matter, she produces both abstract and figurative pieces. 

Her initial process of approaching a project is research-heavy.  She enjoys getting to know the key themes of a subject before progressing to substantial practical processes.  The research also extends to the materials used, with an exploration of their properties.

Exploring social issues, often traumatic in nature and dehumanizing, common themes include liminal spaces, alternative perspectives, transformation, cultural values, and perspectives on the nature of existence.

Abstraction is a key feature in the works as quite often the subject matter has demanded it, though Joelene does enjoy the challenge of figurative works.

The current work focuses on the intersection of colour, culture, and blindness and explores how blind individuals perceive and experience colour, and why it is important to them.  With the use of sound through water, Joelene creates images by capturing the vibrations as prints and developing these into compositions.  She highlights the key marks on the prints before refining and texturing them, which a blind person can explore and interact with. 

Born with the rare genetic condition albinism, which affects vision, Joelene challenges cultural assumptions of what it means to be visually impaired.