‘Unknown | Known’
Exploring personal notions of self, space, place, walking and journeys.
As a photographer I have spent years working in projects as a means to understand my own connection to the landscape and our coastal areas. For me it is critically important to draw on our experiential past; to reflect on and understand the myriad of life experiences, often non creative that shape who we are, how we see and how we perceive our place within the world.
‘Unknown | Known’ is my journey through this notion, my current project which has been meandering along nicely for around eighteen months or so now.
‘Sense of place is the sixth sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.’ (R.Solnit)
‘Unknown | Known’ is a personal journey, an exploration into our inner notion of self and place. It aims to explore and reflect on a narrative around my own visual journey into ‘seeing’ and ‘looking’ deeper across a landscape that is personal but importantly both known and unknown simultaneously.
The notion of place is more important than the location, the sense of place and our personal space and connection within that ‘place’ is what I seek to explore. The place is both personal and illustrative of who we are, where we have been and draws on our experiences and perceptions internally as well as being shaped by the external interactions with locations.
‘Unknown | Known’ forms of project with no defined times or bounds, it will develop and meander through the experience of exploring and walking to develop creative engagement with the work and ultimately assist in my expression of personal notions of self and place. The work will feature both still photography, video and audio to capture and portray as much of where the senses dwell within as we look inside ourselves to understand more of the world outside.
“To experience is to learn; it means acting on the given and creating out of the given”
(Yi-Fu Tuan)
‘Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.’
Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost
‘Unknown | Known’ will continue to develop over the coming months / years, with further explorations in audio, video and multi media to develop the narrative of my personal journey through the landscape.
Collaboration and reinterpretation is something that inspires and fascinates me, to this end ‘Unknown | Known’ will feature a collaboration with a musician where we will look to develop the notions I am exploring visually through music, with the end being both an audio visual performance as part of exhibiting the work as well as the creation of a hand made and crafted book which will also feature the music / audio pressed to vinyl.
To see further work from the series as it is added please visit my Behance Portfolio or my web site where you can see more of my work including my previous 6 year long project ‘Dark Visions’ | Dark Visions Galleries.
