Photograd Feature 2021 for ‘In Search of Something’

Where did you attend university and why?

I attended university at Manchester School of Art (MMU) to study Photography from 2017 to 2020, and again from 2020 to 2021 to complete my Masters in the same subject.

Manchester isn’t too far from my hometown, which at the time of my deciding was a rather significant factor. The leap out of one’s comfort zone and into the unknown that is going to university is an undeniably daunting moment, and so I would be lying if I went on about how I chose Manchester because of the beauty of the city. I consider Manchester a second home now, and MSoA an invaluable institution that allowed me to begin truly thinking. Ultimately, however, I chose the place to play it safe.

What are some standout moments from your time at university?

During my MA I was asked to do a presentation to some undergraduates regarding my experience working on photography commissions, as well as my personal practice and my relationship with photography. I am not the most confident when it comes to such things, however I recognized the value of an opportunity to share my ideas and offer some advice. I would consider this a standout moment.

If any, which photographic genre do you consider your work to fall into?

My practice was born out of an interest in street photography, but now I would say my work exists somewhere between street and documentary. I have never really viewed my work through the lens of a specific genre or myself as a certain type of photographer, though I’m sure there is a category to which I do belong.

I have, from time to time, labelled my work as ‘observational photography’. Seeing, hearing, experiencing, feeling, being. Carefully observing the world and myself, my work emerging out of this juncture of photography and personal experience. I would say this is a better description of my practice.

What themes do you find yourself exploring?

I tend to consider a multiplicity of ideas, themes and questions when creating a work as opposed to focusing on something specific, but I would say at the heart of my work there lies an interest in, and curiosity for, the human condition and the complexity of our experience. I am filled with psychological and philosophical concerns, all of which naturally find their way into my creative work.

Can you tell us more about the MA course you are currently undertaking?

Looking back at my years as an undergraduate it’s clear that I was, understandably, trying to figure things out, trying to figure out what I wanted to say with my work. Of course, I still don’t, nor will I ever, know exactly what I am attempting to do or say when I create (trying to figure that out is the creative process). However, now, unlike back then, there are certain themes, values and concerns which have taken root.

Whereas before I was finding my feet, my aim for my MA was to take these certain themes, values and concerns, investigate them thoroughly, and establish a, albeit broad, topic of interest within my photographic work.

What are your goals?

I am no longer in education, which means there are no more briefs to follow, no more deadlines to meet, and so it is up to me alone to keep my practice alive. As of this minute my goals are quite simply to keep educating myself and to keep producing and sharing work. In short, to maintain the creative urge.

What are you in search of?

The optimal way in which to conduct myself in the face of life.

Is this body of work a form of self-exploration for you personally, or something you want your viewer to learn and explore? What have you learnt about yourself?

I’d say it exists somewhere in-between. The work was, essentially, born out of a desire to engage in introspection and remove myself from my comfort zone, with the purpose of suggesting the importance of engaging in such acts.

About myself I’m not so sure what I have learned. I didn’t necessarily set out to identify something specific or uncover something within myself that I was not aware of prior, rather to place myself in uncertainty and observe how I operated.

I am, more often than not, thinking, grappling, and contending with thoughts and ideas, preoccupied and distracted, searching for something. Perhaps I set out to calm this inner turmoil.

How did you know when the time was right to make an image, and subsequently which images were the right ones to include in the series?

It seems that photographers are drawn to certain things and take photographs in certain ways depending on their particular biography, their particular interests and feelings, their self. It’s a topic of mystery, as it should be, and perhaps we don’t need to know. There are of course more methodical and meticulous ways of looking at it.

Say I have an idea, a theme. As I photograph, I will essentially view the world through the lens of that idea, that feeling, identifying particular subjects and compositions that I think will allow for that idea to come through in the work. This is followed by the process of image selection and sequencing whereby I will, in some sense, construct the narrative of the work through association. A sort of visual storytelling.

Deciding on what to photograph and what to include in the ‘final’ work becomes a sort of intuition. In this case, having spent a considerable amount of time working with and entertaining the same ideas, themes and feelings, I established a relationship with them, and developed a vague understanding of what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. The consideration of sequencing and presentation becomes a balancing act whereby something needs to be communicated but in the most effective way. Too blatant and the work will fail to provoke, too subtle and the work will confuse or say nothing.

Have your feelings towards these locations changed now that they are familiar to you? How long does the feeling of unfamiliarity last for you within a certain space?

The locations were of no particular importance to me, and my lack of a relationship with them was precisely my reasoning behind venturing to them. Naturally, they have since become a part of me and have come to occupy places in my mind, and so in some sense my feelings towards them have indeed changed. It is often the case, however, that one’s desire for the memory of something burns stronger than for the thing itself.

Tell us about your reasoning for making a book to present this work.

Books have a narrative structure to them. There is a beginning, middle and an end, and the story is concealed within the book itself, the object being a sort of vessel for experience. Within the confines of a books covers, as is the case with novels, there exists an entirely new realm to explore, a world to enter into and become lost in.

Photographs are, generally speaking, far less legible than text, they cannot explain themselves and therefore they invite interpretation and contemplation. However, when arranged together in carefully considered sequences and pairings they become their own language, in dialogue with one another, hinting, concealing and revealing. I’ve always thought of the book as the perfect place for this visual storytelling due to the way in which we interact with them. The turning of pages and the viewing of different photographs one after another. We view each photograph in relation to what has come before it, and so our mind is constantly associating, identifying relationships and discovering its own meaning, thinking.

Can you tell us about some of your research?

Art is a cultural arena in which the traditional collides with the contemporary (and vice versa), where reciprocity and collaboration are constant, now and across time. It is inevitable in any creative field that one will, whether consciously or subconsciously, find inspiration in, and extract ideas from, the works of others. Paul Graham and Gregory Halpern are two individuals whose works I have always found myself returning to, whose works have aided me in developing my own methodology and visual language.

With that said, I have always seemed to gravitate more towards literature, my projects generally emerging out of my grappling with a philosophical or psychological related idea or theory, and my desire to communicate and understand the feeling it arouses. It’s almost as if my inspiration comes from my/our inability to understand the situation of existence and a desire to communicate this lack of understanding, this not knowing.

What are your future plans? Is this series finished?

In regard to ‘In Search of Something’ I would say I am technically ‘finished’, although my ideas and concerns will no doubt remain and persist, finding their way into my future endeavours ready to be examined once more. As of this minute I am focusing on sharing this recent project of mine, and so I am yet to truly consider what my next body of work will explore.

There is something daunting about the unknown, about confronting reality with nothing but yourself, about thinking deeply about who you are and who you could be, about trying to access the deeper parts of yourself, about taking a look. It is, however, equally as daunting as it is compelling, and, within myself at least, there is a constant tension between these two callings. A tension between who I could merely remain as, and who I could strive to become. The tension of self-overcoming. Perhaps this ‘tension’ could become the foundation for my next piece of work… we shall see.