Cunning Women is an on-going body of work that posits that gestures, habits and adages passed on intergenerationally, are a form of spell-casting. Spells are an action or utterance paired with an intent to cause an effect. These inherited gestures and behaviours invoke the power of familial bonds and fortify the individual in the face of challenge or adversity: a spell of resilience.

The works focus on the behaviors and gestures inherited through my matrilineal line and how they correlate to the matriarchal lineages of historical witchcraft and paganism. Having been fascinated by magic my whole life this project was about discovering where real magic could exist in the world. These ideas coalesced after seeing the exhibition Spellbound at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where historical objects of magic were on display. Often objects were created and made magical simply because of the beliefs of the creator.

When looking at my matrilineal line I unpicked our beliefs and saw there was a sense of resilience that was being passed on from one generation to the next but was embedded in such everyday things as to almost be invisible. This ongoing project is about finding those hidden spells and magic systems to ensure I keep casting and reinforcing these spells of resilience.

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