
Lawless' practice is strongly influenced by her immediate surroundings. Using commonplace imagery to organise the pictorial space and forms that occupy and give perspective within the substrate, she continues to explore the imagined and observed within architecture through the process of layering, repetition, cut-outs, washout and transforming. The detail and forms within architecture, intricate lines, structures and vast space are continually explored in the work. The physicality of place and the subjective experience of being in a new place is is her inspiration. Her unique perception of the place is reflected and resonates in the process of making. The work revolves around a sense of history, of the spaces that inspire and the journey of making the work. Her intuitive approach leads to chance compositions, accidental mark making and finding fresh, new ways of working.
Most recently Lawless has been working with wall rubbings, focusing on public and private space; the space of maintenance and workers areas. This may be fire hydrants, electrical boxes, post boxes and re-developed sites where you find the workers mark. Whilst on residency at the International Summer Academy, Salzburg, she explored scale; working on a 'one-one' with the everyday objects within the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Thinking beyond the aesthetic and function of the substrate allowed her to utilise conventional materials in an unfamiliar way, resisting the subjective rules. The outcome of this took the form of direct wall rubbings with graphite on paper, linen or found materials. She continues to realise and redefine her process whilst focusing on these ‘workers’ areas- looking within and giving importance to her environment by taking rubbings and recordings of an often overlooked societal area.
Most recently Lawless has been working with wall rubbings, focusing on public and private space; the space of maintenance and workers areas. This may be fire hydrants, electrical boxes, post boxes and re-developed sites where you find the workers mark. Whilst on residency at the International Summer Academy, Salzburg, she explored scale; working on a 'one-one' with the everyday objects within the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Thinking beyond the aesthetic and function of the substrate allowed her to utilise conventional materials in an unfamiliar way, resisting the subjective rules. The outcome of this took the form of direct wall rubbings with graphite on paper, linen or found materials. She continues to realise and redefine her process whilst focusing on these ‘workers’ areas- looking within and giving importance to her environment by taking rubbings and recordings of an often overlooked societal area.