Ruby Wheeldon

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Becoming a World

Becoming a World is my experiment in world-building and changing perception. Its aim is to open the viewer up to an understanding of the interconnectedness of the world. Through this sense of connection, I am hoping to inspire care for the earth – and everything within it – that will result in a more compassionate, understanding and environmentally conscious way of being.

This is also a personal exercise in self-compassion. It is an attempt at learning and practising self-care in a way that is sustainable and not self-centred or arrogant. I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember and it has caused me to feel very disconnected from myself and the world. Becoming a World is exploring how, where and why I fit into this world and how, where and why this world fits into me.

My practice is grounded in the concept of an assemblage. We (everything) are all wholes containing multitudes of smaller wholes and making up multitudes of larger wholes. Everything is its own individual self but it is also a piece that contributes to something larger. Becoming a World echoes this idea. It is a room within a room. It is a world within a world.

Every little piece in this world is explaining, understanding, becoming and connecting to everything else. Becoming a World “is an act of unfolding the self onto the world, while enfolding the world within”.