In Spring 2021, I photographed trees in Wales, resulting in TIR_COEDEN (Tree_Land).
Photographing nature is an investigation into what it means to be alive. For me, photography produces evidence of existence. Therefore, it is existential. In nature, I focus on the force of life. I am letting it happen. I listen and look.
Political events like the 2020 US election, Brexit and the restrictions on civil rights, personal freedom and free movement and inevitable long-term disruptive consequences for democracy fueled the making of this work.
The resulting images are a visual record of acknowledging the anxiety and chaos felt in 2020. It is a visual investigation of connecting with oneself through being still and observing nature. It is practice-based research on giving feelings a visible form. Can photography be a tool to record and make visible emotions impossible to describe in words?
“Just when I made peace with the dark and cold months of January, February and March - spring starts. The sun and warmth feel extravagant compared to the desolate cold. It doesn’t feel quite right, and I miss the harshness and unforgiving bite of the winter sun. Now everything wants to bloom, and I feel anxious about being left behind. Nature blooms, but I feel stuck in my forced arrangement of getting along with the cold. And yet, I soak in the sun, and my body relaxes, realising how tense it was over all those winter weeks. Can one be envious of nature?” Note to self,
April 2021
