Artificial

Photography and plastic ('artificial' is the commercial description) flowers commonly bear a representational meeting point, an iconic relationship to the real. Their claim on 'authenticity' quickly breaks down on close inspection. Plastic flowers are used to replace the real thing, photographs too, create memories that are arguably more synthetic than real. It is also the case that plastic flowers, serve to intensify (through colouring and longevity) the actuality of authentic flowers, while photographs serve to intensify the representation of the real (and more traditionally analogue photographs).

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SINCE THEN

Wanstead Park, in East London, was designed and built in the 17th Century by Joshua Childs who made his fortune in two slave owning companies; the East India Company and the Royal African Company. The series is inspired by the words of the poet Édouard Glissant and the music of Jacques Coursil. Jacques Coursil, the great jazz improviser, used Glissant's poetry on his album Clameurs.

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Blank Page

The blank page holds something back. It refuses to deliver a presence that the photograph normally promises. Then again, a blank page is never empty, it just doesn't give it itself up to scrutiny easily. But what is it doing there in the first place?

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