The perception and experience of the world is mediated by the physical body and what we experience is influenced by the way in which the body interacts with the wider world. What we see is not wholly determined by that which is observed, and neither is it true to say that what is perceived is purely a result of the mind (Abram, 1996). Drawing on analogies from Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Gregory Bateson, material choice becomes a way to see, a lens or “sensory pathway” (Ingold, 2000: 18) into the world.

If, in creating something, an artist works alongside materials, it could be said that this is a collaborative process, less the product of the artists’ will and more the result of a communal endeavour.