Nowhere but Now

When I couldn’t stand the tension anymore, I would run to the fields and scream to the sky, run and lose myself in the space… As a very young child, my parents emigrated from the U.S. to Britain. The move was particularly hard on my older siblings as they struggled to "fit in" at school and make sense of their new life. As a family, we started out well but later my parents struggled in the changing landscape of their lives and were drawn slowly apart, creating unbearable fights and tension at home. They bought a house in the countryside in the hope that a change of environment would help us all to heal and start afresh. The house was surrounded by acres of wheat fields. The countryside became a haven for my little sister and I as my older brother and sister grew up and escaped to parties with their mates in London. My little sister and I became an island together in the increasing desolation of Mum and Dad’s marriage. We spent more and more time in the fields losing ourselves; escaping the fights, running wild and making dens where we spend entire days playing together. These photos are a hommage to open space and the countryside as the ultimate healing grounds of my youth.