Everyday Lives

I do not draw portraits or take photographs of people. Ethically, I feel I do not have the right to make pictures of people ‘in general’. While some artists make pictures of people with their agreement (portraits), I feel uneasy about it. Doing so would imply a commentary void of deep context.

I like seeing the ‘everyday’ in the environment and enjoy the ambiguity of reflecting the ‘everyday’ and how this accommodates our innate curiosity.

In this way, my work is essentially about people. My interest is in place, time, and context.

When I was an Art Foundation student, my photography tutor told me my work was about ‘metanymics’. That sounded good to me, and I told people who asked that my work was about metanymics! More recently, I have searched for an explanation of metanymics! I don’t think there is such a thing, although it has served me well in the meantime.

I have learnt that I am, in fact, a psychogeographer. Like my themes, I’m not sure it helps - that is just who I am, and my work is just ‘my work’, and that is how it will continue. That is what is important - art comes from somewhere inside you, being a negotiation one has with the world you experience.

So, as a psychogeographer, I wander, and things catch my attention. It’s not special - I can only think it is what we all do. As I wander, I drift in and out of a type of consciousness. This, according to the Situationist International, is known as the ‘dérive’. There is no specific destination or plan, only an expectation of unexpected encounters and a heightened awareness of the surroundings.