Nina Josephine Garstang

 

About the Work

 

Over the summer, while developing proposals for exhibitions and funding, I kept returning to the immediacy and responsiveness of gelli plate printing. The process became a space for intuitive experimentation—a way to work quickly, physically, and without hesitation.

 

This series began with impressions taken from man-made objects, particularly plastics I collected along the seafront. These fragments of human impact— things once used, discarded, or forgotten became tools for mark-making. Early prints featured objects such as a fisherman’s discarded rubber glove, but over time my focus shifted. I found myself drawn to the directness of my bare hand, embracing something more human, raw and honest. The hand became both subject and instrument, reminding me that while our touch can cause environmental and social harm, it also carries profound potential: intuition, strength, compassion, and healing.

 

These recent works emerged directly from a transformative Reiki session with a powerful healer. A moment that reconnected me with my own inner energy. As a holistic therapist myself, I hadn’t realised how far I had drifted from that grounding force until I felt it return. During the treatment my hands alternated between cold and heat, and behind my closed eyes I witnessed bursts of purple light dissolving the brown clouds that had gathered within me. I left the session and went straight to the studio, allowing these sensations to flow through paint, plate, and paper.

 

These prints hold the traces of that experience. They are impressions of the hand not only as a physical form but as an extension of intention—an instrument capable of both imprinting and healing, destruction and renewal. They reflect a movement back toward presence, empowerment, and a deeper dialogue between body, environment, and creative process.

 

They stand as a reminder that each of us carries an innate intuition, one that can guide us, if we allow ourselves to listen.