Artist Statement

I work with photography and film to create portraits of complex social relationships against everyday controlled environments. For me the photographic frame is inherently predisposed to examine the semiotics of human behaviour. By freezing and isolating the frame I am positioned to make perceptible the subtle nuances of the ‘Subject’ which fascinate me in terms of specific social encounters.

The self-conscious performance of the subject as player in these encounters creates a tension, which serves to exacerbate residual tensions of the subject’s hierarchical placement. I create these mise-en-scenes to reflect on how people perform in ‘real’ situations. The tension between the subjects and photographer mirrors the subject’s acute awareness of their social position. The frozen frame presents a meditative space for examination of the normally imperceptible mannerisms. It is these, which constitute the Subject and the enactment of a ‘performance’ upon the stage of their environment.

For me the reflexive nature of photography is crucial to the exploration of these ideas. By using the lens as a mirror to the viewer and the image’s subjects, I hope to create a space for reflection upon the wider social implications of the environments portrayed.

By using a large format camera I am able to create this meditative space, reminiscent of cinema, that alludes to the passing of time as material. A device, which points to, the transience of the subjects and environments recorded. My employment of light, colour and composition adds to both the fragility and distracting beauty of the images.
The lush aesthetics, conventional and rendered surface are used as a strategy to lull the viewer into a position of expectation, which the emotive subject choice or content simultaneously refutes.