I am a photographic artist and educator based in Suffolk, UK. I studied Photojournalism at the London College of Printing in 1988, going on to work as a freelance photographer. In 1990 I began studying my Masters at the Royal College of Art, graduating with a Distinction. In 2017 I won Sky Arts, Master of Photography, an 8 week television contest based in Rome.
In 2018, I decided to become fully freelance. I was commissioned by the PhotoEast Festival to work with the Ipswich refugee community, using the theme of 'Belonging'. This evolved into a body of work, whereby I bonded my photographic portraits of the community onto large sheets of OSB board, finishing them with graffiti paints. I invited the participants to handwrite their stories directly onto them. I have continued with this project as personal work and have since collaborated with a Syrian man and a Ukrainian mother and daughter.
During lockdown I worked on a portfolio of colour landscape photographs entitled Close to Home and further developed the process of printing photographs and archival imagery onto alternative surfaces such as wood, concrete and flint.
In May 2021 I received a Develop Your Creative Practice grant from The Arts Council, England to further research the bonding of photographs onto concrete surfaces for exterior display. As a result, I collaborated with Epson UK and exhibited a 60cm x 45cm concrete example entitled 'A Lowestoft Man' on the Epson stand at the NEC Photo Show In September 2022. I worked towards upscaling the image, which included finding sealant solutions, and in late November, with the support of Epson UK, East Suffolk Council & Anglian Water, successfully bonded and sealed a 166cm x 120cm version of the photograph at Ness Point in Lowestoft, the UK's most easterly point. Over 2 years later it is still in perfect condition - I am in the process of reearching funding for innovation.
During the third lockdown in 2021 I made a concrete portrait of my son Stan, specifically for the popular Grayson Perrys Art Club programme, using the given theme of 'Dreams'. I then reshot the concrete portrait in foggy conditions at Felixstowe Beach. The photograph was selected from the thousands of entries as one of Grayson's 'top picks'. It was exhibited in the series two group show at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery from December 2021 until September 2022.
In March 2022, I worked on a commission for Dudley County Council in the West Midlands creating sample pieces along with 25 other artists, to be part of the intrinsic build of the new Metro system. Initially, I visited a local shopping centre with my pop-up studio and photographed members of the community. I bonded 2 of the most successful images onto concrete slabs overlaid with archival maps of the town and srom my Arts council research, sealed them for outside display. These were exhibited in July '22 alongside the other artists' work. It is my aim to work on more similar commission-based work and build-up my portraiture and alternative surface portfolio. Please get in contact if you would like to discuss projects that you have in mind.