don't let me down

I went through an unpleasant and life-changing experience. As a result of the experience there were many friends who I didn't speak to for a period of many months, because being sociable was difficult. We stayed in touch but only through texts, emails, social media, which often meant we had no idea how the other person was really feeling. When I considered this much later on, it inspired thought about the way we use online communication platforms.

I started meeting up with all of the friends i had neglected, and whenever i did i took a camera. We'd hang out and, in an unstructured way, talk about the big things that had happened in our lives during that period which are just never appropriate for Facebook or Instagram. At some point I'd take a photo whilst the friend was on their phone. The daylight-balanced glow would create an eerie effect in the low light, suggesting two realms in which the subject exists - the physical one we were both in, and the one in which we had communicated for months. I liked the stark white, which highlights but is also unsettling and changes the nature of everything it touches, like the experience I had. I used film which had been manufactured the last time I'd seen those friends, but which is no longer made.

exhibited: gallery 48, brixton (london, england) - december 2016; Creekside Open curated by Sacha Craddock - APT Gallery (London, UK) - June-July 2019; Creekside Open curated by Brian Griffiths - APT Gallery (London, UK) - May-June 2019; Baltic Open, BALTIC (Gateshead, UK) - 2021