Samantha Galloway (She/Her)

The coastal landscape has always been my sensory playground since I was young; and I have always foraged and collected interesting forms such as bones, shells and rocks, for their aesthetic and tactile qualities as well as their amulet properties. By doing this, I feel present within the landscape through the physical and meditative act of walking along the coast, as it’s a place where I feel calm and connected to the land and myself.

Reflecting on Rebecca Solnit’s book “Wanderlust: A History of Walking” she highlights the importance of wandering: “That is to say, it is the body that moves but the world that changes, which is how one distinguishes the one from the other: travel can be a way to experience this continuity of self amid the flux of the world and thus to begin to understand each and their relationship to each other.” This resonates with me as I spent my childhood immersed within the coastal landscape, which has resulted in my deep understanding and knowledge of the place as well as the memories and connections I have made with other people who shared this space with me growing up. For me as a designer and maker today, it highlights how I use walking and foraging as a way to escape reality, and to explore new ideas and forms of inspiration for my practise.

The title of my degree show collection, “Terra Incognita”, translates to unexplored terrain, or the unknown, which sums up my final year collection as my work plays with the viewers perception when considering its aesthetic, titles and materials. I use a range of found materials from the coastal landscape, as well as processes such as casting, to create a hybrid of old and new experiences of the landscape. Through carefully titling my pieces, I aim to bring my fantasy into reality, through making mysterious and unusual looking found objects or amulets, leaving the viewer wanting to touch and hold them close.