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 physical exhibitions, printed zines & digital media.
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 often comes from literature, history & philosophy. 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 non-mimetic: the images do not simply illustrate, or mimic the text. They aim to carry the narrative weight with the words. I believe the entertaining & accessible character of fiction, 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 private companies have also commissioned residency projects from me including The Leadenhall Market and the architects behind the Arhaus Building in 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. Future chapters of the project are now in production. I’m currently finishing a large personal project set 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 art 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, July 2024
Publications
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.