The Edge off Reality
I’ve always been a daydreamer. It’s probably in my nature but daydreaming, drawing and painting were also my escapes from the more difficult aspects of my childhood. Was I the target of bullies because I seemed spaced out or was I zoning out to escape my circumstances? It probably went around and around in a seemingly endless loop. Eventually, my inner world began to affect my ability to connect with the world around me.
When, as a young adult, I became more aware of this disconnection, I gradually learnt to adapt to the real world. I limited my escapes into reverie to my painting and then, much later, to photography.
While I base my work on reality, in that I photograph what I find, as I find it, I need to soften that reality. An accurate representation of reality frequently feels too brash, too harsh to me and I need to find my sweet spot between what’s going on outside and what’s going on inside. Sometimes I search for scenes that seem dream-like or odd and at other times I play with my camera and flash or with natural light to disguise, soften or confuse and to create my version of what’s in front of me. This version of reality reveals a different, subjective kind of truth that is more powerful to me. The work has the ability to make me think and feel in ways that keep me in touch with my inner reality.
from 2022