PETER TROTMAN

England My current works have a sense of place, but of many places. I'm looking for Hireth, Hirethek in Cornish or Hiraeth in Welsh. This is a Celtic term meaning longing, loneliness, yearning, nostalgia. A homesickness for a past that never existed. Capturing the universal feeling of being next to the sea, looking out and seeing ships, beautiful on the horizon, close and yet remote, unobtainable identity or expected possibilities, belonging and distance, evidence of people and lives unseen, the known and unknown. Raised in the harbour town of Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. I grew up surrounded by natural beauty juxtaposed with a working port. I continue to live in the area, with the sea and ships as a constant presence in the background. I studied in Falmouth, and at University in Exeter. Since graduating in Fine Art I have lived in Aberystwyth, West Wales, and the East End of London before moving back home in 2003. I worked contentedly for 13 years with young people with learning and physical disabilities until compulsory redundancy and cutbacks closed the service I was working in. This encouraged a return to my own painting practise, which was already resurging.