" My first camera was a 21st birthday present from my father. A Pentax MX. Sometimes presents can be things that you don’t really like or want but I remember treasuring this. I remember taking some photos of the steep steps in Newcastle leading down to the quayside. At home, I made a picture of a floral patterned waste bin in a flowerbed. There was also one of my mum and dad in bed on Christmas morning. It didn’t come out quite right as the light got into the back of the camera and distorted the colours. That fascinated me. My father was drinking a cup of tea while my mother read from a book by Alison Uttley. My dad was half in and half out of the light"

John Peter Askew first trained as an economist before studying sculpture (BA First Class, Sunderland University, UK) and then completing an MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London. Recent solo exhibitions include Pushkin House, London 2020 and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, UK 2019.

He thinks of photography as moments out of time in which we have an opportunity to reimagine our relationship to the world. ‘We’, launched at the Photgrapher’s Gallery, London in 2019 is a 380 page book of jewel-like photographs by John Peter Askew that shows our ‘best selves’ & imagines a better more playful world, celebrating kindness & communality.