Canadian maker, Mackenzie Willis, uses found objects and traditional craft practices to create reflexive objects and textiles.

In 2021, Mackenzie sought Mudlarking as a means of self-therapy and found refuge collecting artefacts along the Thames’ muddy shores. Through actions of cleaning, processing, and effecting new composite objects, she seamlessly interweaves reflections from her own life, focusing on the act of making as a healing practice by Autoethnography.

Having been diagnosed with Childhood Panic Disorder at the age of six, Mackenzie has reflected upon the physical shapes that her illness have materialised. By collecting hundreds of Mudlarked materials, she manifests objects that employ emotionally charged shapes, exteriorising fragility and making sense of the intangible connection that found objects give us.

Mackenzie currently works as a Sustainability Environmental Design Researcher with OCADU in Toronto, Canada and has previously worked in London as a Design Researcher with The Restart Project in partnership with the University of the Arts London.