Losing Ground
Losing Ground is a portrait of London and a self-portrait of my fifteen years living there until 2016.
The urban environment and its visual detritus has been a constant feature of my practice, and I draw inspiration from walking the streets and selectively gathering its discarded material culture. This exercise in psychogeography has appeared in various projects over the years, such as Point of disappearing, Days of nothing, and the detritus magazine series. Losing Ground is a reflection on my time in London, a personal project but one which is comprised of the work of strangers. The chaotic and random material, all familiar urban signage, drawings, lists, maps, emails, and lost photographs, create a confused jumble of voices, tones, messages, and meanings. The multiple narratives, fragmented and without context, form a collective portrait of urban life and its shared experiences.
The title of this series of ten A3-sized books refers to the changing artistic and economic environment in London in recent years. In my experience, the increasing cost of living in the city has both rebuffed many people – myself included – and quashed its once-experimental creative spark.