Artist's Notes: Soft Palisade Series

There are experiences that alter the way we move through the world.

Not because they diminish our capacity for trust, but because they teach us the importance of discernment.

The works in Soft Palisade emerged from a period in which vulnerability and protection existed in constant tension. As I navigated circumstances that required increasing interaction with institutions, professionals and systems beyond my control, I became acutely aware of the need to think more carefully about trust, access and the sharing of personal truths. Experiences of being misunderstood, judged or spoken for revealed the importance of boundaries — not as barriers to connection, but as structures of care.

Despite their defensive appearance, these works are not expressions of hardness. They are concerned with protection rather than exclusion. The pointed forms that extend from each piece suggest a threshold rather than a wall: a place where decisions are made about what may enter and what must remain outside.

The title of the series reflects this tension. A palisade is traditionally a protective structure, built to safeguard what lies within. Yet these works are constructed from wool, a material associated with warmth, comfort and vulnerability. Together, the words Soft Palisade hold an apparent contradiction that sits at the heart of the series: the desire to remain open while recognising the necessity of protection.

Many of the forms within this exhibition emerged before I consciously understood their meaning. Looking back, I can now see these works as expressions of adaptation. Through the repetitive acts of making, they gave form to a gradual shift from unquestioning openness towards a more considered relationship with trust, access and self-preservation.

The works within Soft Palisade trace an evolving relationship with protection, moving from the first instinct to safeguard what is vulnerable towards a more nuanced understanding of discernment. Together, they suggest that boundaries are not fixed structures but living practices — continually adjusted, strengthened and refined through experience.

At its heart, the series is not about becoming harder. It is about remaining soft. The forms acknowledge that tenderness is not the opposite of strength, but one of its most enduring expressions. They consider how we learn to protect what is precious without retreating from the world entirely, and how wisdom often arrives not through building higher walls, but through knowing where to place the gate.