Andrea Greenwood/ Childhood

Andrea Greenwood's sculptural practice is informed by an ongoing exploration of performative processes that reveal the intrinsic qualities of materials. Through ritualistic, repetitive actions and cyclical methods of making, she investigates a physical language rooted in the body. Her works frequently retain visible traces of human interaction—squeezed, snapped, stretched, and manipulated—preserving the memory of touch within the material itself.

'Tripod Grip' 2026 was created with a class of four- and five-year-olds. A large piece of paper was rolled onto the floor in front of them. They were each given a ball of clay which they rolled into sausage shapes creating writing utensils. They were then asked to write their favourite letters onto the paper using their clay tools. In doing so their natural grips were pressed into the clay leaving unique objects that expressed as much about each child as the marks they made. Whilst the clay utensils and marks created appear crude, the mental and physical sophistication involved in making these letters creates a stark juxtaposition. The work questions notions of language, creativity, meaning and what it is to be able to communicate – essentially what it is to be human. The world of AI is about to unleash such monumental changes in how we learn and what we learn which seems quite abstract. Perhaps children ground us and remind us that we will always primarily learn, understand and create with both our minds and bodies through play and discovery of the physical world around us.