Person

Photographer, artist & builder: Interested in the experience of spaces of leisure.

In my late teens I was a skateboarder & professional BMX rider. My friends & I constructed ramps, invented new tricks & were out riding all day whenever we could. It was new, raw & the whole culture drew me in. There was plenty of camaraderie, but very few rules. The physical sensations of doing the tricks being intense, often scary & sometimes painful. I practiced, got sponsored, rode in competitions & demonstrations, on TV & in the Blackpool Tower circus. We also explored the built environment on our bikes & boards. A physical, creative freedom, similar in ways to the ‘Dérive’, an activity used by the Surrealists & S.I. art movements of the early half of the twentieth century.

I started contributing photographs to BMX & Skateboard magazines & went on to work in print publishing, eventually producing & directing digital media projects. I then moved to Norway & worked in commercial photography, mainly for architects & construction companies. However, it was specific spaces, the unpredictability of photography & how surreal images could be that really motivated me.

Back in the UK, my practice evolved into a primarily artistic one. I undertook a residency at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford & created several personal zine projects. Subjects included life in skateparks, a poetry brothel & the experience of urban alienation. The images were not staged but they did not pertain to be truthful either. At UWE I completed my MA in Graphic Arts, which included developing Mary Wollstonecraft’s story ‘The Cave of Fancy’ into a new photo-text novel. Since then I have returned to UWE as a lecturer, was the artist-in-residence at Leadenhall Market in London & have received Arts Council Wales grants for projects that included conducting public workshops & exhibitions.

Many of the photographs I’ve made - certainly the ones that I felt were most successful - were taken in environments designed for leisure & they often depicted performance or entertainment. It seemed natural that my work would begin to focus more on these types of environments & the emotions they generate. A direction that was perhaps oriented in me when I moved to a large old rectory & was given freedom to explore & make things at a very young age. Working in two original victorian circus buildings, plus spending a lot of time in skateparks & later in hotels on assignments, no doubt galvanising this interest.

Country houses, grand hotels, museums, circus buildings, spa towns, private clubs, palaces, luxurious trains, cathedrals, Turkish baths & skateparks are the type of places I explore. They are usually historic &/or listed sites & often feel timeless & analog. How they inspire us & create sublime experiences, plus the physical & mental health advantages of using them, is what fascinates me. As well as the photography, writing, residencies, events, workshops & lectures I produce, I also work as a builder on historic properties. I believe there are real social, environmental & physical benefits from working with our hands, using traditional materials & techniques to restore & evolve these incredible spaces.

My past experience still contributes to my work today. Although I have no desire to ride BMX or skate at any serious level anymore, hopefully that original approach still finds a way to resonate through my work