Tegan Chaffer

Artist Statement

My practice explores the idea of home as a complex and conflicting space. My painting process involves imagining the surfaces’ edges as strict boundaries defining a space over which I exercise complete control. This is a factor reinforced by their miniature scale, which allows for intense manipulation and configuration. I manufacture interior environments within these walls, working from digital photo collages featuring discreet details to explore the strangeness and duplicity of a home. Through painting, I analyse the home as a private, nostalgic body of comfort and self-expression, as well as a structure with links to potential confinement, traditionally owned by men and maintained by women. 

Using a consistent bright pink-orange underlayer in each of my paintings, I investigate the home as a female environment, depicting quietly discomforting scenes and narratives that echo the claustrophobia of these outdated gender roles. Within these environments, I use a contrastingly chalky colour palette to re-iterate the inherent nostalgia related to my personal idea of home.

Alongside my paintings, I’ve created atmospheric, delicate models of my own homes inspired by childhood media. My pieces are imbued with a strong sense of memory, exploring the idea of home as a ‘memory machine’ - a space for the creation, containment, and preservation of memories. These works are accompanied by a large-scale soft sculpture doll that acts as a lingering, ghost-like presence designed to emphasise the tension of a private space made public. The doll is positioned to study viewers as they view the paintings, catching them in a moment of distraction like the subjects in the paintings. 

Graduate Show Installation

Soft Sculpture Installations