Resin has become increasingly important within my understanding of material philosophy because it exists simultaneously as a protective, medicinal, and artistic substance.

Formed when a tree experiences damage, resin emerges as part of a healing response—sealing wounds, protecting surfaces, and preserving the life of the tree itself. I’m drawn to the intelligence within that gesture: nature producing a material that is both restorative and structurally transformative.

What continues to hold my attention is the way different resins carry distinct sensory and material qualities. Frankincense and myrrh release warmth and fragrance; copal and dammar hold clarity and translucency; benzoin softens into rich aromatic depth; dragon’s blood carries dense colour and historical associations with dye and pigment. Each resin feels inseparable from the landscape and conditions from which it emerged.

Within my textile and printmaking process, resin introduces a different relationship to surface and time. Melted, layered, powdered, or combined with pigments, it behaves unpredictably—hardening, resisting, absorbing, or preserving depending on heat, pressure, and atmosphere. When worked into silk and layered surfaces, resin creates subtle thresholds between opacity and translucency, softness and structure. Certain areas retain pigment with intensity, while others resist or fracture the surface unexpectedly.

I’ve come to see this responsiveness as central to the material’s beauty. Resin slows the process down. It asks for attentiveness, allowing the surface to evolve gradually through accumulation and adjustment.

More broadly, it continues to reinforce my belief that natural materials are active participants within the work itself. They carry memory, behaviour, and internal logic.

What resonates most for me is the relationship between healing and transformation held within resin. A material formed through repair becomes capable of preserving, protecting, and reshaping the surface simultaneously—holding vulnerability and resilience in delicate balance.