Illumination at Centrespace Gallery, Bristol  19-24th April 2024

Delighted to have been selected to show work from UnBecoming in this exhibition, curated by Melanie King, Sarah Currie, and Sophie Sherwood.

Working with polaroid is historically a personal diaristic practice, a material which keeps secrets of those on the edges of society, those who are not to be seen. Its immediacy brings life to your ideas before your eyes and without needing a third party, a lab or a printer to see the work. There is freedom in its hidden qualities. I was exploring the disconnect I was feeling with my body around this time of life and felt self-conscious about the personal nature of this work, this body that was, in my eyes, a disappointment. I felt the weight of societal judgment, self-criticism and stigma around age and chronic health. With its unknown outcome, the expired polaroid felt like a sympathetic material to explore these uncomfortable feelings. Objects I could keep hidden just for my interrogation. Through the project, as my thoughts have shifted, I find the relics of this transition important. I see they are loaded with loneliness, which I could not accept was present when I was in the thick of it.  I wanted to cushion and protect this discomfort, so I turned these remnants of a time into objects; mounted with blue suede and soft sage with protective metal frames, they become treasured mementoes of the hinterland of transition when you sit in the unknown, in fear, about to set sail. They record a pause, a stagnant inertia. It’s been a wonderful experience to let this work out of the studio and into this welcoming group show.

Thank you, Bristol, for Folk House Darkroom and London Alternative Photography Collective’s support in making this show possible.