Helen Doherty is particularly interested in the relationship between identity and place. Particularly, the role that our specific cultures plays in who we become as adults. Doherty grew up in both South Africa and Britain, and receiving a British education in both places, had the interesting effect of planting a different landscape in Doherty’s head that the one she physically inhabited. A landscape of green hills and daffodils, in contrast to her surroundings which consisted of red earth and droughts. 

Doherty’s experience growing up has provided her with a rich reservoir of memories and images that she could draw on. Ceramic art, which is rooted in cultural practice and identity, has allowed her to explore her own dual consciousness.