Drawings

	Kira as Lightening Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Tom as Vincent Valentine Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Daryl as Tifa Lockhart Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Alex as Saeko Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Carla as Grell Pencil Crayon on Paper 41x28cm 2011 O
	Jo as Rin Kagamine Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Mikey as Link Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Miriam as Lolita Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Paul as Jio Freed Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Potzu as Sassori Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Rhian as Harlequin Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Stef as Cheshire Pencil Crayon on Paper 41x28cm 2011
	Steph as Ciel Phantomhive Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Tomoka as Azusa Nakano Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Sam as Zero Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Heidi as Yuki Cross Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2011
	Mikey as Shiki Senri Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2010
	Sarah as Yuki Cross Pencil Crayon on Paper 76x56cm 2010

PROJECT STATEMENT

Vampire Knights

This series of drawings and watercolours are based on the Manga Vampire Knights for the exhibition 'In Safe Keeping' at the New School House Gallery in York. The idea of safe keeping is particularly relevant to Vampire Knights which is set around The Cross Academy, a boarding school. The school has two separate student bodies, The Day Class and The Night Class. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the school guardians, two students employed to protect the dark secret of the Night Class and keep the Day Class safe from them. The dark secret of the Night Class is that they are all Vampires and at twilight when the paths of the two classes cross, Yuki and Zero are engaged to protect and ensure the safe running of the school.

This series focuses upon Cosplayers, a youth subculture who dress up as their favourite media characters. In these portraits I have attempted to mix the reality with fantasy, the Cosplayers have not been glamorised and any shabbiness or artistic flourish in the construction of their outfit has been highlighted. In each portrait a single figure is presented on white paper. In doing this I am presenting the barrier between the Cosplayer and the viewer. Though they are re-imagining the actual landscape to suit their character, this is going on inside their subconscious and we are not party to their interpretation. In some works I have incorporated elements of the actual landscape as though through a breakdown of digital information. We are provided with a tantalising glimpse of the arena, but frustratingly, we have no knowledge of its transformation. These insertions highlight the fluctuating nature of the environment as they try to impose their inner fantasy upon it, only to find reality reasserting its presence.