Works

Executive Dysfunction | Neural plasticity

executive dysfunction | Neural Plasticity

Oil pastel on paper

Executive dysfunction: “a disruption of the brain's management system, causing trouble with task initiation, time management, and emotional regulation for people with ADHD”

Neural Plasticity: “the brain’s ability to change, grow and reorganize its structure and connections throughout life.”

“Executive Dysfunction | Neural Plasticity” envisions the neural transmission between zones when the AuDHD brain is in executive dysfunction.

Frustration of executive dysfunction is signalled through repetitive, layered scratch marks in the corner which initiated the drawing of this piece. The method of continual circular blending, using repetitive muscle movement, allowed for further release and a process driven artwork.

In flow, the artist used oil pastel colours inspired by the deep sea, as her own place of healing. By creating different zones of colour, the artist aimed to portray the different zones of her brain. Imagining how each zone was lighting up as she travelled through the piece.

The artist furthered this visualisation with scratch marks at boundary lines, to create the sense of neural synapses sparking up to signal activation and transmission.

Abstract shapes appear as if a new growth is beginning to form, highlighting the neural plasticity of our brains and new pathways emerging.

Iridogorgia | Neural connectome

Tissue, Wire, Embroidary thread

“Iridogorgia | Neural connectome” explores our human connection with the deep sea. The rarest of deep sea coral, Iridogorgia, presents a resilience, a new growth. With visual structures similar to our own biology, our neural connectome, we can be reminded of our connection to this earth.

Iridogorgia: A deep sea soft coral characterized by its large spiral shape with longs and relatable branches attached to it.

Neural Connectome: A map of neural connections in the brain, and may be thought of as its "wiring diagram" of brain fibre tracks.

“I am forever searching and exploring the connections in the deep sea.”

- Christina Brouwer

I Refuse To Be Numbed Into Submission

OSB, offcut material, Spray paint

“If you can’t eliminate injustice, at least tell everyone about it.”

— Shirin Ebadi

(Iranian Nobel laureate lawyer and writer. Founder of the Defenders of human rights in Iran)

“I always remember my grandmother telling me the one who lost their home knows better than anyone else what [it means to] have a home, then lose it...”

— Bisan Owda

(Palestinian Journalist and activist. Peabody Awards winner)

“I Refuse To Be Numbed Into Submission” explores the artists personal anger regarding a belief in a societal push to disregard harmful or distressing news in order to not upset the status quo. The artist asks why do we need to keep calm and carry on, when everything surrounding us seems to be falling apart?

By using disregarded fabric offcuts, in parallel to disregarded news, the artist chooses to amplify this forgotten fabric piece, just as she continues to attempt to amplify the voices of those in need. By using the colour gold as backing to the words, a symbol of importance and resisting the passage of time, this is her own way of making a promise to herself. That she will always continue her socially engaged practises.

The artist consciously chooses humble materials that are accessible, inspired by Phyllida Barlow’s ethos, it allows her to investigate these everyday textiles and textures in detail. It keeps her work grounded and relatable, and keeps her forever conscious of the specific issues surrounding the communities she works with.

The artist uses spray paint as backing for the words, as a nod to the street art movement, the making of this type of art being seen as an act of protest.

“This is a shocking time and the darkest time for women, women’s future and women’s education...”

— Marzia Babakarkhail

(Judge in Afghanistan and former chair of the Women’s Committee of the Afghan NGO’s Coordination Bureu)

1 in 4

installation - paper clay - wood shelving unit

Inspired by Refuge’s No bad apples campaign, and activist artist Elina Chauvet, Christina created the 1 in 4 installation to highlight statistics surrounding crimes against women.

The Pomegranates

2 women are killed every week by a current or former partner in the UK.

The Snake s

1 in 4 women are raped or sexually assaulted in the UK.

The feathers

1 in 3 women will experience domestic abuse in the UK.

My Safe Space

cotton bedsheets, fishing wire, elastic bands, video

“The depth cradles me. The silence… teaches me to truly hear myself.”

Alessia Zecchini (World record Freediver)

My Safe Space video

Sea inspired sketches

A collection of sea inspired safe spaces and clay sketches.

The Ferris Wheel

“Art might be seen as an intellectual thing, but I don’t think it always is. It can be emotional, it can be sensory, it can be funny, it can be playful, it can be entertaining.”

Harold Offeh

Searching for Safety

Meditation, Memory and Destruction

Developmental projects and workshops

St Hilarion

(Drawing workshop)
Re-imagined church named after a Palestinian Saint in Cyprus to honour Palestinians on World Strike Day.
Mapping memory

Rewiring our neural synapses.
Mapping childhood memories

Part 1 - Home
Mapping childhood memories

Part 2 - Cypriot Sea
The Boxing Gym
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