Tell us a little about your piece?

I wanted to make something inspired by the city of Glasgow as I've been living here for a year and haven't yet made anything as a response to this wonderful place! Living in the East End has been a completely new experience for me. People here are very real and there's no pretentiousness about them, which has been really refreshing. It took me a while to learn to love it here, but after getting into more of a routine I felt myself slowly warming to this strange, eclectic place. These little mundane things that made me feel like I was in the right place are what I wanted to put into this piece, to remember them as I begin to move on - from the industrial view out of my window, to taking up swimming with a friend, to being greeted by a whole line of lollipop men on the way to the pool, and watching the world go by from my desk. Unfortunately it's also been a year of sadly seeing Glasgow go up in flames a couple of times, hence the matchboxes, but this was also influenced by the concept of 'fanning into flame' all that is good in contrast. I think the colour white is quite an ironic colour for this work because Glasgow is so grey and a little bit grimey, and particularly with the matches and the theme of fire, but I quite like that contrast and how it encapsulates the rose tinted view that I have of a place and gives the piece a nostalgic heavenly look. 

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What was the most challenging part of the brief?

Keeping the pieces free from fingerprints and glue smudges - It's not a very forgiving colour!

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What part of the brief did you enjoy the most?

It's really satisfying seeing the layers build up so subtly, especially as I was often working on them during the evening with a desk lamp, then seeing them the next morning in daylight really brought them to life.