A photographic archive forms the basis of my drawings and paintings in which I am examining notions of the relentless passing of time, transient lives and fleeting memories. However, central to my painting practice is the materiality of the oil paint itself; choosing when to control the behaviour of the medium and when to allow gravity to exert its force, producing drips and runs.
Each photograph represents a fraction of a second - a tiny piece of the jigsaw in someone's personal narrative, and as many of the photographs are fading, damaged or disintegrating, this fragmentary visual evidence is itself ephemeral.
My paintings seek to convey something universal using the photographs as catalysts for extending or re-inventing narratives. I view the process as almost a conversation between myself and a person long gone or a child now grown old, trapped as a ghost in the layer of silver emulsion. MW
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