In early 2007, I lived near London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Totally entranced by the outdoor exhibit Volume, a collaborative work by design collective United Visual Artists (UVA) and Robert Del Naja (aka 3D) of Massive Attack and his long-term co-writer Neil Davidge as part of their music production company, one point six. I began returning almost daily to photograph the installation under changing light conditions, and with varying numbers of winter visitors.
It struck me that the interactive sculpture bore many similarities to Stonehenge and some of its presumed functions within a much earlier Anglo culture; its monolithic elements, rhythmic arrangement, columnar passageways, ethereal musical echoes, and ritualistic communication with visitors seemed magical to me and struck a chord in my own photographic work. For me, and for many other visitors, I suspect, the sculpture wasn’t only entertaining, but took on an almost spiritual function, uniting visitors of all ages in a common and colorful uplifting experience.
Inspired by the work and theories of Bauhaus artists, I often use my camera to paint with light. The word photography itself means “drawing with light” and flux, as a condition of modern life, is a recurrent theme in my work. By utilizing motion, contrasted with stasis, I’m trying to convey my feelings about the transience of our existence, the dynamism of life, and the emotionally evocative and non-contextualized qualities of abstraction.
