A sense of absence and loss is the unifying theme of Caroline Thomson’s work, often depicting what is no longer there, as is the case in the missing birds series, a group of paintings which express the sense of unease engendered by the decline in wild birds. Or the paintings that draw on images of suburban domesticity, that are embedded with a sense of loneliness. The minutiae of daily life becoming loaded with regret and foreboding.
Her most recent paintings however depict woodland scenes as if stumbled across. These paintings initially set out to explore the allegorical nature of the forest as a place of retreat or sanctuary, a hiding place in times of trouble or threat. Working from personal snapshots of woodland walks, the images exploit the filmic slippages inherent within photography imbuing the paintings with a sense of false mystery. Scale and place are not necessarily apparent. These images of enclosure and escape seek to offer a sense of possibility, freedom and relief from the failings of modern life but in turn suggest a counter sense of displacement and uncertainty innate in these strange worlds.
