Fleur Alston

Fleur Alston

Fleur Alston’s work is concerned with our relationship with the natural world and the objects used in her photo collages are heavily symbolic of both life and death.

Alston frequently incorporates the Mandala in her work.The central point of a Mandala is the space within which the viewer can identify themselves, in the centre of the circle is the highest deity or abstract concept. By placing a dead animal in that centre, Alston attempts to shake the viewer’s perception of themselves and their whole,instinctively at a sub-conscious level. Something could be understood and revealed in that experience of the unfolding pattern.

The artist views the Mandala as an integral part of our collective consciousness that is shared by every person who ever lived. Alston states that the varying reactions to her work make her believe that people are now so far removed from the cycles of the living world that they either fear that unknown exponentially, or crave intimate knowledge of it and seek a return to a stronger connection with the natural cosmos. In some ways Alston’s work is exploring this disorder and departure from nature.