Scott Payne
Visual Artist
My work is based around the issue of International and National borders. I am mainly focused on the geographical and political aspect of these borders, as well as how certain borders affect the people that live on or nearby them. The intriguing part about these borders, is the way that there is always potential for the change or movement of the borders. In my current work, I have been exploring the physical qualities of borders, whether that be drawing a border on a map or building a wall along a border. My inspiration for this idea was the media coverage of certain contentious borders, such as the US-Mexico border, the border between the UK and the rest of Europe post-Brexit, as well as various others. Through my textile work, I have been looking at the ridiculous nature of Trump's border wall, by creating barriers that juxtapose the harsh qualities of the materials used to mark borders. I am also creating a series of drawings that focus purely on how borders are represented on a map. In these drawings, I have focused only on the border itself, and removed any of the geographical features of the surrounding regions. These have allowed me to explore the power that lines on a map can have over people and society in general.