The series of work entitled 'The Skin of Hope' was produced during a 2012 Australia Council for the Arts studio residency in Barcelona, where I was accompanied by my partner Paula and our adopted daughter, Hope. Blurring the usual divide between familial life and art practice, the residency inspired a series of hand knitted sculptures and photographs weaving an account of the ways that Hope and I acknowledge, bond and imprint each other at skin level. Materialising our past wounds and present, tactile connections, the works include a hanging, child-sized, knitted suit of armour for Hope and a reversible pair of knitted arm-length gloves for me, scar-embroidered with surgical stitches and the words HOPE and MOTHER. Through the slow crafting of the works, and the photographs of us wearing the garments, I reflected on Hope's and my own resilience, repair and capacity to love. In a photographic work featuring Hope's text and drawing of herself on my naked back, I further framed skin as both a receptive and transmissive space, bearing witness to our most intimate moments.