Learning Outcome 1:
Present evidence of a body of work that demonstrates a systematic enhancement of your knowledge and understanding.
(AC Realisation)
At the start of the course, I asked myself two main questions; where do my paintings come from? And how my paintings, and my relationship to them be sustainable?
From these two questions, I was able to solidify 3 aims for the MA;
• Develop a series of paintings, through psychic automatism
• Explore it’s relationship to the psychotic symptoms from my own experience.
• Examine the parallels between psychosis, psychic automatism, surrealism, and the psychoanalytic and philosophical ideas surrounding them.
These aims were formulized in the study statement I gave in UNIT 1, which acted as a pivotal guide to develop over the course of the MA.
• unit 1: study statement
Looking back, the biggest problem I had faced before the MA was my practice, especially my paintings, feeling ‘forced’ and ‘performative’, being too on the nose in terms of exploring/narrating my psychosis. The way I proposed to start a new approach to my work was experimenting with other forms of recognized surrealist automatic methods that I could integrate into my practice, one being automatic writing.
From starting the initial exploration into automatic writing, I was curious as to how writing can be implemented into painting. Exploring into this combination of text and paint, and how it can provide a tool for highlighting and redacting specific thoughts and feelings, not only acted as a discovery in a new approach to making art, but it also helped me realize how my paintings have the ability create this dialogue by itself. My paintings as a result have developed into something that feels more automatic, and something that I feel is much grander than what it was at the beginning of the MA.
My 3 minute summary video can be used as a way to view a lot of my ‘completed work’;
• unit 2: 3 minute summary video
The following blog posts demonstrate a systematic enhancement of my knowledge and understanding;
• automatic writing on paintings
• paper works - 13th
• a piece that is completed? help
• development work - group crit refresh
• a new step for my paintings; yipee!
• type writing development paintings
• a new piece!
• some more before and afters - painting development
• black paper experimentation
• more automatic writing development - ‘oil paint writing’
• typewriting development 2 - the machine
• some new paintings
• canvas work - wow!
• a minute for my paintings
• new work
• a collection of new works
• ‘i’m trying’ work development/completion
• new pieces - flow state - recognizing older works as complete
• ‘what a mess’ work development + finished!
• ‘gentle’ piece
• what you up to today joshie?
• end of year show work; development 2
• a consistent practice - new paintings
In relation to a body of work that enhances my knowledge and understanding, I don’t believe my paintings could be what they are today without the Research paper that I completed in UNIT 2. Titled ‘Psychotic Manifesto: Understanding the purpose of Psychosis in the Surrealist Movement’, this research paper provided academic insight that is not only crucial for my practice, but is pivotal in enhancing clarity in my paintings.
• unit 2: research paper
Learning Outcome 2:
Synthesise and critically reflect coherently on your process whilst providing evidence of an active, independent and/or collaborative practice.
(AC Process)
Throughout the end of Unit 2 and Unit 3, I realized how important reflection is for not only my paintings (paint now and reflect later), but also life as a whole. If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t of realized how painting for me is how I live a happy, and purposeful life. With this amount of reflection comes with a lot of artistic and personal development. I feel calmer in myself, and overall I feel happier. That’s not to say that painting always makes me feel happy all the time, but instead it makes me feel alive. This lands really nicely on one the first questions I had set myself up to answer in the MA, how can paintings, and my relationship to them, be sustainable? One thing that I’ve noticed is how, from being able to understand how painting makes me a better, healthier person both mentally and physically, is realizing this question is actually missing something really important., and that’s how can paintings sustain me?
In terms of reflection, the following blog posts showcase my overall ‘personal’ reflections throughout UNIT 3;
• i made a girl cry one - UNIT 2 feedback *1
• samaritans
• a warm sunny day - tutorial with jonathan - 25-02-2026
• :( but :)
• the art of survival - the survival of art
• painting - operating as my ‘sinthome’
• eureka!
• psychotic automatism - phd talk
• life is kind - tutorial with jonathan - 22-04-2026
These blog posts also highlight critical reflection, but specifically related to process in an active, independent practice;
• i love painting
• new work
• a collection of new works
• getting somewhere
• ‘i’m trying’ work development/completion
• ‘what a mess’ work development + finished!
• ‘gentle’ piece
• step one; canvas
• end of year show works; development
• end of year show work; development 2
• solidifying my ideas - psychotic automatism
• a consistent practice - new paintings
These blog posts reflect on two fronts: my own developing practice and plans for the end of year show, and current exhibitions and the curated art world as sources of inspiration, highlighting evidence of a c
Posts specific to my work, highlighting the pieces in progress for the end of year degree show;
• step one; canvas
• end of year show works; development
• end of year show work; development 2
Posts drawing on current exhibitions visited during an intensive week, undertaken in place of the CSM residency I was unable to attend this year;
• tracey emin - a second life
• katharina grosse - white cube bermondsey
• jason shulman, ‘moving image’
• ica - genuine fake premium economy
Other exhibitions and trips I took throughout Unit 3;
• a very gay trip
• ‘the odyssey’ - hastings contemporary
I was able to be apart of an exhibition this year titled ‘EPIGEAL’, these posts highlight the logistics behind open calls, and showing work at an exhibition;
• what you up to today joshie?
• framed piece for ‘EPIGEAL’ exhibition
• my work at unit 2 - ‘EPIGEAL’
Learning Outcome 3:
Summarise and evaluate your overall progress and formulate a constructive plan for continuing Personal and Professional Development.
(AC Communication)
With the MA drawing to a close, Establishing myself as an artist outside of the security of the MA is a crucial step in my career as an artist. Understanding my practice, and how I can communicate what my work is about to others, became a pivotal element of concluding the MA for myself.
Over the past two years, a significant part of concluding the MA has involved recognising that painting is not simply a medium I use, but the primary structure through which I organise meaning and purpose in my life. Through sustained experimentation and critical dialogue, I have reached a point where I can articulate what my practice does and why it matters, and communicate this to others with greater clarity and intention.
My practice explores the structure of psychotic automatism. Drawn from the psychotic experience, my paintings create a dialogue around the true functioning of thought and, treated as a behaviour, become a persistent act of reality testing. In Lacanian terms, they operate as my sinthome, the structure that holds my psychic life together.
My 5 minute summary video aims to summarises and evaluate my overall progress in the last 2 years of the MA;
• unit 3: 5 minute summary video
One thing that has become clear in planning my ongoing personal and professional development after the MA is the presence of doubt about how I will navigate what comes next. The structure of the MA has provided a strong sense of security and, at times over the last two years, this has contributed to a degree of complacency. As the MA comes to an end, the initial feeling of dread has shifted into a sense of being confronted with an abundance of possibilities for artistic and professional growth.
At present, my main areas of interest include;
• undertaking a practice-led PhD exploring the structures behind ‘psychotic automatism’.
• work towards becoming an art therapist
• continuing to develop my large-scale canvas works by finding a studio space.
These blog posts show constructive thinking and planning for my continued Personal and Professional Development Post MA;
• samaritan
• a warm sunny day - tutorial with jonathan - 25-02-2026
• :( but :)
• life is kind - tutorial with jonathan - 22-04-2026
• eureka!
• psychotic automatism - phd talk
• solidifying my ideas - psychotic automatism
• industrial unit viewing - possible future studio?
• life post ma
On a personal note, I want to acknowledge the development I have made during the MA. In my unit 1: study statement, I set myself the goal of developing effective, sustainable strategies to support my wellbeing. Over the course of the MA, I have worked to support my mental health more actively, while also becoming more attentive to my physical health, because I understand them to be deeply interconnected.
For much of my life, I have struggled with my weight and my relationship to food, and this has often been intensified during periods of poor mental health. After a health scare in my first year of the MA, I made a real effort to improve this relationship, and I am proud to say that I have now lost 85 lbs, which is about halfway to my goal weight. It has not always been easy, but it has been deeply rewarding to achieve something I have long hoped for.
This progress has changed not only how I care for myself, but also how I understand the role of painting in my life. Over the course of the MA, I have learnt that my practice is not separate from my wellbeing, but something that actively supports it. Painting has become a way of thinking, feeling, and living that gives me structure, purpose, and continuity. Through this course, I have developed a more sustainable relationship with both myself and my work, and I now understand that sustaining the practice also means sustaining the person making it.
As I conclude Unit 3 and the MA, I leave with a stronger sense of who I am as an artist and as a person. I now have a clearer artistic direction, healthier ways of working, and a more grounded understanding of what it means to build a life around painting. This MA has helped me move toward a life that feels happier, more purposeful, and more sustainable, and that feels like a meaningful way to end this chapter