Photograph by Heulwen Hudson
Photograph by Hernesto Galdamez
Hello.
My practice centres on creating fictional narratives through combinations of images & text. The work is usually publicly funded, site specific & often involves conducting practical workshops with members of the community where the work is set. Outcomes are printed publications, digital media and occasionally physical exhibitions.
You are very welcome to contact me to discuss a potential commission or collaboration.
In my late teens I was a skateboarder & a professional BMX rider. I rode my bike in competitions, at live demonstrations, on TV & in the circus. The whole skateboard & BMX culture drew me in because it was new, creative & there was a wonderful camaraderie. The physical sensations of doing the tricks was intense, often scary & sometimes painful. Riding out on the street & exploring the built environment provided a raw creative freedom. An activity, I would only later realise, that resonated with those practiced by the Surrealists & the Situationist International art groups.
Having started photographing my friends & the tricks they were doing, I began contributing images to magazines &, when my professional biking career came to an end, working in publishing & then producing, & eventually directing, digital media projects. There is a thrill in publishing; like performing, it is going to be seen, you are going to be judged - so it needs to be good.
I then moved into commercial photography, undertaking assignments in different countries for a variety of companies. Understandably, clients want predictable, clear & realistic images, however, this kind of work was often at odds with what I began to appreciate most about the medium; its unpredictability & how surreal photographic images can be.
Being back out on the street, reacting to situations rather than constructing them was where I needed to be. Embracing the way a film camera can create images that are not what I expected when I pressed the button. With the help of an intense workshop, I developed my commercial practice to an artistic one.
My first major project as an artist was a residency at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where I produced a book prompted by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Blackwell’s ‘Inspired by Blake’ exhibition then included my work & I went on to create several personal projects on subjects including a poetry brothel & fear of terrorism, urban alienation & suicide. The images that were the backbone of these projects were not staged, but they did not pertain to be truthful either. Around this time I also began to get interested in how black & white images close the visual gap with typography & illustration.
To consolidate my practice I undertook an M.A. in Graphic Arts at the University of the West of England. My final project was to develop Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1787 unfinished story ‘The Cave of Fancy’ into a new, 300+ page photo-text novel. I have returned to UWE several times over the past few years as an associate lecturer.
Inspiration for my work usually comes from literature, history, psychology & human relationships. In particular, work with a surrealist & gothic flavour. My projects usually result in narratives with gaps for readers to fill in. The relationship between the words & images in the work is often non-mimetic: the images do not simply aim illustrate, or mimic the text. Both media carry the narrative. I believe the entertaining & accessible character of fiction, particularly when printed in cheap zines, gives it power in engaging people in art projects & the issues they raise. Particularly people who are not regular gallery visitors.
I have been selected for projects for The Dee Valley, Ffotogallery & the Welsh Assembly & exhibited at the Format & Diffusion festivals. Several companies have also commissioned documentary photography and residency projects from me including Oxford University, The Leadenhall Market and the architects behind the Arhaus Building in Hackney, London. In 2022 I received funding from Arts Council Wales to produce a project about migration, crypto-currency & our evolution into ‘digital' humans. The first chapter of the project was made in Newport & included organising & conducting practical workshops with refugees & asylum seekers. I’m currently finishing a number personal projects including one about the evolution of skateboard and BMX in a very non-digital late 80’s sub culture.
My involvement in commercial photography and my past experience in digital media still contributes to my current practice, and although I have no desire to ride BMX or skate at any serious level these days, it still resonates in my approach to work.
James Hudson, March 2025
Publications
Our Suit Curve \ Printed fashion zine, hand bound, 14 pages, 20 copies \ 2024
Ladders & Snakes \ Printed zine, 40 pages, 100 copies \ 2023
D.H.M: Newport \ Printed zine, 48 pages, 100 copies \ 2022
Vale Voice \ Printed zine, 48 pages, 100 copies \ 2021
Nothing To Worry About \ Printed book, 130 pages, 33 copies \ 2020
Volution \ Printed book, spiral bound, 112 pages, 83 copies \ 2019
The Cave of Fancy \ Printed book, hand bound, 364 pages, 10 copies \ 2019
Some death I have known \ Printed booklet, 3 copies \ 2018
@ a poetry brothel \ Printed booklet with laser cut windows, 22 copies \ 2018
London \ Boxed set of 12 Lambda Prints with silk screened text, 9 copies \ 2016
Three Encounters \ Printed booklet with folded card envelope, 99 copies \ 2016
Skate Park Life \ Printed, hand folded booklet, 300 copies \ 2016
3 Muses \ Printed booklet with folded card envelope, 99 copies \ 2015
Metamorphosis \ Duotone hardback book by Bardwell Press, 350 copies \ 2015
Residencies, Lectures & Talks
Artist in Residence \ Leadenhall Market, London \ 2022-23
Author/Artist in Residence \ OPL Project, Dee Valley, Denbighshire \ 2021
Artist in Residence \ Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archeology, Oxford \ 2010-2011
B&W Photography Lecture \ Royal Automobile Club, London \ 8 November 2016
Practice Introduction Lecture \ University of Derby \ 6 March 2013
Cave of Fancy UWE Postgrad Symposium Talk \ Arnolfini, Bristol \ 23 May 2019
Forum Talk \ FFotogallery, Cardiff \ 31 January 2013
Group Exhibitions
Dee Valley \ Dory Galley, Llangollen \ September 2023
Digital Human Migration \ The Place, Newport \ 16-19 August 2022
Many Voices One Nation \ Welsh Assembly, Cardiff \ 5-29 September 2019
UWE Creative Industries Degree Show \ Arnolfini, Bristol \ 7-12 June 2019
Graphic Art of Photography \ Centrespace Gallery, Bristol \ 9-14 February 2018
Revolution ‘Zeitgeist’ Diffusion Festival \ Wales Millennium Centre \ 1-31 May 2017
Made in Wales II: A Fine Beginning \ Various locations \ September 2015 - April 2016
ESPY Award 2014 - Rural & Urban (Shortlisted) \ Elysium Gallery, Swansea \ 8-30 March 2014
Factory: FORMAT International Photography Festival \ Derby \ 8 March - 7 April 2013
References available on request.