Equally, I enjoy being experimental and trying my hand at a range of art media. I often challenge myself by using new media and techniques that I have not used before, with the mindset that there is no challenge too difficult to overcome. It’s about what’s right for the project.

Far from my love of two-dimensional portraiture are the five bird boxes I have created for the Art Trail. While the basic form is the same, there are slight differences in decoration, and big differences in the content inside(!), reflecting the individuality of whom each bird box represents. The bird boxes are based on individuals from the local community of Pontypridd who attended creative wellbeing workshops I facilitated using natural inks at Meadow Street Community Garden and the University of South Wales Library in Treforest. The expressive, painterly artworks they produced have been transferred onto the bird box exteriors. Inside each box, there is a different, hand-sculpted model scene that tells the stories the participants shared with me during the workshops about what helps them to reduce feelings of anxiety. Recordings of these conversations can be listened to through scanning the QR codes on the bird boxes with a smartphone. The figures inside the bird boxes serve to tell the narrative of the scene, but do not reflect the appearance of the workshop participants for confidentiality purposes. In fact, the figures instead are a celebration of diversity within a community, representative of different race, gender identity and disability. Consider the bird boxes as a series of resources, co-authored with the local community, to inspire different ways in which we can support our wellbeing.

To view the scenes inside the bird boxes, unhook the door and open it to peak in, making sure to close the door and put the hook back in place, ready for the next person after you’re done. These bird boxes have been dotted around Ynysangharad Park in the form of a mini trail – see if you can find all five bird boxes!