This project furthered my ongoing investigation into the utopian commune and its current forms. The research developed from an international group exhibition that I curated for Cell Project Space, London (2007): Hope & Despair included work by artists from Germany, Denmark, France, Britain and USA and examined the relationship between artistic practice and the philosophy and practice of certain closed utopian communities in Europe and the USA.

The understandings from that exhibition fed directly into my studio research and the work presented in this project. The two solo exhibitions, Face Yourself (2008) and Garden Ruin (2009), focus on four independent communes: The Center for Experimental Culture Design (ZEGG), near Berlin, 'Black Bear Ranch', California, 'Okötop' in Düsseldorf and Freetown Christiania, Denmark. The exhibitions, in London and San Francisco, provided the opportunity to link these communities together in a series of works examining the outcomes and artefacts generated within self-contained utopian communities. The research included extended visits to these sites, working directly with the communities and their archives, as well as creating my own documentation.

The main objectives of this project were to reveal the hidden cultural developments within a closed community and to identify what role art plays outside the mainstream system. The artworks I made in response to the research were in part reflecting the function and form of 'communal artworks', which included garden design, as well as drawing from the larger visual 'melting pot' that springs from collectives. For this project I used material appropriated from direct source and continued my interest in observing art and craft production within the closed community.

The broader political context of these communities, and their use of and relationship to the landscape, are key aspects of my current research. This has led to my 2011 residency in the 'Garden City' of Singapore.