Samantha Clarke graduated from NCAD in 2006 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. Group exhibitions include: 'Scape', London and Dublin (2007); Affordable Art Fair, New York (2007); The Ashford Gallery New Painting Exhibition (2006); Microsoft Ireland 19th Exhibition (2006); Artisit?, Galway (2006); "New Irish Painting", Context Gallery, Derry (January 2006) and "Sofa so good", Filmbase, Temple Bar, Dublin (May 2005).

"My work reflects the idea of individual memory. Both with my photographic work and my drawing I am constantly searching for a balance between reality and personal perception. With my photographic work I enlarge the photographic image onto canvas. This enables me to interact with it and to change the path of perception in the image. My aim is to draw the viewers' eye to elements of the photograph that perhaps may have been overlooked. I am interested in the camera's 'mistakes' with light and focus.

Holes in reality are created in the work, both theoretically and physically. These holes and breaks in representation are caused by the threads and collage on the photographic work and by the ink marks in the line drawings. These interruptions can both change the content and redefine the reading of the image. The photograph and the clear linear drawings represent a kind of reality and the threads and marks represents an alternative to this reality. Physically, also, the needle breaks the surface of the canvas, in the photographic work, and brings the viewer beyond the dimensions of the photograph, literally outside the edge of reality. The same way, perhaps, that the drawings offer an alternative reality.

The substitute paths both fill and create voids in the image. These represent forgotten and lost thoughts. Memories can be like missing pixels in a 'bad' photograph. Perhaps the drawings represent the minds struggle with complicated images. The work represents a struggle with memory, an amalgamation of images partly taken from memory and partly dependant on snapshot photography. Drawing, with paint, thread or pencil becomes a way to make these thoughts and memories more linear.

I often work on old book dust covers and aged paper as they somehow have a kind of relationship with memory and also have an instant connection with narrative and history. Often incidentally beautiful marks are already present on the paper and I use these marks as my starting point in the drawing. The work then develops in the same way, connecting fine line drawing with a repetitive pattern or quickly made ink marks".