I’m an artist based in Edinburgh. I'm originally from London, but in 2009 I moved to Scotland to study painting at Edinburgh College of Art, and I’ve been here ever since.

A lot of my work is rooted in how people navigate and share spaces, and how we connect and interact with one another. In my most recent work I’ve been looking at swimming pools – as public, social and cultural spaces. I’m interested in their design, their architecture and their history, as well as how different people and communities use them. I’m also interested in how and why they can be contested spaces, or in how and why people feel excluded from them.

More broadly, I make abstract work – paintings, drawings, sculptures, screenprints and installations – using colour, light, pattern and repetition. My work often looks very precise, but I always like to embrace and respond to unpredictable outcomes.

I spend a lot of time in my studio experimenting with different materials, including metal, plastic and wood. I sand surfaces, paint them, place them together, layer them, put them side-by-side and see how they respond. I enjoy using materials that might not obviously work together.

I also like using materials that aren’t made specifically for artists – I buy sheets of metal from an industrial workshop, get my plywood from a supplier for boatbuilders, and, as well as oils and acrylics, I often use household emulsion or car spray-paint.

My work usually starts with drawings, photographs and sketches, often in a sketchbook or on scraps of paper, using pencils, pen, charcoal or paint, or sometimes on my laptop. When a topic interests me, I research it intensely – whether that’s by going through material in an archive, reading books, articles and blog posts, watching films or listening to podcasts.

My current project looking at swimming pools has led me all over Scotland and beyond, seeing and researching interesting buildings and meeting the communities that use them. As part of that project I’m working with architects, heritage organisations, campaign groups, charities, councils - and of course people who like to swim.

Before I went to art college, I worked as a journalist – which has given me a particular way of looking at and researching things. I love to observe, and dig deeper into stories. I write down notes and scribble snippets of conversation. I’m fascinated by other people’s perspectives and experiences as much as my own, and I also understand that every person and every place has a story.

Image: Anneleen Lindsay