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'Ground' was commissioned by the Bede Gallery, Jarrow, as part of 'Visual Arts UK '96'. The project was intended to comment on the effects of unemployment on the local community, but as the Government had just released the scheme, 'Beat a Cheat', encouraging people to inform on each other, it was difficult to initiate any honest dialogue. The feelings of distrust, matched with people's frustration and inadequacy at the complicated, bureaucratic systems involved in claiming benefits from the state, led to the development of a maze. People wandered nervously through the structure, glancing at each other through cage-like grid, with a genuine sense of unease. In more universal terms, the installation reflected the restraints we all face, imposed by the society in which we live.