Small Town

'Small Town' is an intimate look at a rural community where I spent the first 10 years of my life. I didn’t attempt to paint a picture of the place itself but instead looked at both my experience then – over 30 years ago – and in 2012. By revisiting places as well as attempting to engage sections of the community, I hoped to replicate the sensations, colours and smells I experienced at the time. Whilst the people and experiences are inevitably different than those from my childhood, others are still there and the access to them was critical for the project. I was very much an outsider given that I had no personal connections whatsoever to the community. I instead actively engaged with various groups and looked at their dynamics. The groups I contacted were welcoming and supportive of the project. I was given almost universal access and the process was rather fluid. Whilst I had preconceived ideas about what I wished to photograph, I was accepting of the opportunities that arose. These abbreviated friendships allowed an intimacy in photography that can be lost through the process of simply putting a camera between a subject and myself. I am acutely aware how that environment continues to affect my practice. I often tell people that if they experienced my Small Town, especially that of my youth, then they would have much greater access to my work.