Sally Beaton is an Edinburgh-based artist working with material-led abstraction. Her work is rooted in the ever-shifting nature of experiences and relationships, where layers accumulate, erode, and reform over time. These processes reflect how personal histories, choices, and connections shape who we become, often producing outcomes that could not have been predicted or planned. Beaton trained at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen (BA (Hons) Contemporary Art Practice, 2014–2018), where her practice was rigorously challenged to prioritise material language and process over predetermined outcomes. This shift toward intuitive making became central to her approach, allowing the physical behaviour of materials to guide the development of each work. Her works are built through layering, concealment and exposure – inviting viewers to imagine what lies beneath the surface and consider what is emerging. Textural contrasts and embedded elements create surfaces that hold traces of past actions, interruptions and moments of change, echoing the complexity of lived experience. Because of the varied and shifting nature of human perception, Beaton’s works are experienced differently by each viewer and may also change over time for the same individual. Layers may reveal themselves gradually, or register differently depending on personal circumstance, attention, or emotional state. In this way, the works remain alive and evolving, continuing to unfold.