As I’ve not been well this past week my practice has been somewhat slowed down. However this did offer me the opportunity for some self reflection. Looking back over the Surfaces & Strategies module, what I’ve learned and how I make use of this in my practice.

One aspect that has made me step back is collaborative working. As my project has progressed one of my aims was to include collaborative ideas from participants, to interview and photograph them. However there have been a couple of major factors as why this is on hold. The first being Covid-19 and the restrictions of entering people’s homes. I wanted each participant to be relaxed in their personal space but I feel that this cannot be achieved until there is a more national easing to the pandemic. The other major factor to holding off working with others is my need to understand where I’m coming from, why is space and the use of space so important to me and how do I want to convey that to the viewer. Over the past five weeks I’ve been looking at how other photographers portray themselves and experimenting with self portraiture.

The image ‘Corners:trapped’ looks at my personal space and how external influences (outside of our control) can manipulate the space. During lock down, my home which is normally a place of refuge became more like a prison. I felt trapped and isolated, separated from friends, family and colleagues but also there was a sense of guilt for not going out and doing something. The use of stark, harsh lighting and contrast give the image a cold and unwelcoming sense, I want the viewer to feel uncomfortable.

This is in stark contrast to ’30 years on: Bedroom window’ where I used natural lighting just before sunset to offer a little warmth. This image was taken outside mt parents house where I lived some 30 years ago, we see my bedroom window on the top right. The image aims to portray thouht and memory.

These images are clearly very different in approach and the context differs somewhat. In the first image I look at how I perceive a space changing in response to my emotions whilst the second image have more of a narrative that both conveys emotional response to a space but also show’s the viewer what is special about that space.

What I has aimed to do with the ’30 years on’ images is to use multiple shots of the space that I’m in to build up an almost sculptural image that allows the viewer to immerse themselves into the space. They are drawn in to look at finer details or have to move away to see the whole. This interplay with space is a very important part of the project.

This where the S&S module has helped me to look beyond the act of taking photos, through to the act of displaying and how I want the viewer to interact with the images. Considerations towards how an exhibition will look, the location and access to the images will play a crucial part in this project. Are this images going to benefit from a ‘white cube’ gallery or somewhere that has a logistical meaning? The context of this project is aimed at illustrating the link between space and the human psyche or mental well being than a space, as such the space that they occupy should be somewhere that has a clear link. Spaces could be hospitals, respite centres or external spaces. The final size and print materials may then be partially dictated by the exhibition environment.

’30 years later’

https://30yearson2020.wordpress.com/

My trip to visit my home city of Derby this year was of significance as thirty years ago I turned sixteen, I started my first job, my Dad married my step mum and I would soon move out of my family home. Although I’d been back to Derby on many occasions, I’d only really stayed at my parents and not taken the time to walk the streets I’d grown up in. For the Landings: Metamorphosis exhibition I decided to create a mini side project that looked at the environment that shaped the person I am today from the house I grew up in to the site of the factory where I first worked making toys. 

One of my enduring memories is that of my dad building or repairing things in the back garden or in the shed. I’d often help by holding down a piece of wood or occasionally I’d be allowed to use the power tools, circular saw or drills. My dad’s hands, to me, seemed big, strong and tough. Something I’ve always done is look and compare them to my own, often wondering if my smaller softer hands would be a disappointment. Now as my dad approaches eighty, I can’t help but look at how his hands, now bend with rheumatism, look frail and fragile.  

The site of the toy factory where I first worked has now been redeveloped and is now part of the university of Derby. I didn’t work at the factory long, I soon decided that I would go to college then later university. I was the first (and only) in my family to go to university. When I left the toy factory, a leaving party, we did the ‘Mile’. The ‘Mile’ is a road that leads into the city centre consisting of around 10 pubs starting with the Travellers Rest, the aim being to take a drink in each pub. This is something of a rite of passage for Derby folk and not for the faint hearted.  

I moved out of home at seventeen to live with my first serious girlfriend into a small terraced house, not too dissimilar to my grandparents’ house. My earliest memories, in the late 70’s, of were of visiting my grandparents in their modest red brick terraced house, many of which were demolished in the early 80’s. Back then the living room would be kept at its best for ‘special’ visitors, family and friends would have to use the alleyway and ‘come round back’. I recall how they only had an outside toilet and tin bath. Moving to a simple house wasn’t a conscious effort rather on of necessity as these old, smaller houses tended to be much cheaper. I only lived here a year before moving to London to attend art college. 

On my walks around the city it has become evident that the city has swept away much of its architectural heritage from the vernacular terraced housing to the Art Deco theatres. As the populous has grown the city has developed without much consideration to the wellbeing of its residents. Views across the city are now cramped and obscured by ill-conceived architecture. Structures that are not designed to last. The city has metamorphosed from an industrious, productive beautiful city to a chaotic space, designed for profit. Gone are the grand hotels and concert halls to be replaced with casinos and shopping malls.