Conceptual Projects

Same Shit Different Day

I have recreated events that have become increasingly more commonplace within the urban environment and more specifically within the South London area- gun crime. domestic violence and suicide. The narrative presented are all real life incidences that have affected people close to me. Having witnessed a man being killed in broad daylight during my teenaged years, compelled me to make this work. My main concerns are not the the moment or what led up to the moment, but moreover my complete lack of emotional response to witnessing such an event. I feel that this is mirrored in the way I hear often hear people talking about local murders, rapes and other traumatic events, in a way more akin to gossiping over what has happened in a soap opera or film then something that is real and currently occurring. It seems as if either over exposure of violence both in reality and on screen, has numbed our emotional response to it, perhaps as a coping mechanism or perhaps just another example of how society has become less responsive to the needs of its people.

T is for Tourist

T is for Tourist is a working title and is a project were I am taking a different approach to the way in which i make images. Rather then 'making' images to create a tableaux or narrative, I am attempting to 'take' photos whereby i set a chain of events in motion and see what sort of juxtapositions present themselves. I am looking at how for many young people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, they can feel like tourists in the very city from which they were born.

Your Mum

'Your Mum' explores the representations of single mothers and the offensive language used amongst certain communities towards themselves. Even though this is a portrait I wanted to offset the landscape within which my subject was living, with a traditional portrait background often seen in school photographs and family portraits. Single mothers are very often maligned and their offspring blamed for many of the problems I have explored in my previous work - such as gun crime or street robbery. But whose fault is it? The mother's? The often absent father's? Or society as a whole? I believe that the solution is not to fault the individual but to look at and remedy the break down of our urban communities. I chose to work with a religious aesthetic to emphasize that we are living in what is ultimately considered a 'Christian' country - but it is rare to see those values applied to helping those from low economic situations. After all the Virgin Mary could quite of easily givne birth to Jesus between the ages of 12 and 14. Why continue to vilify these women and girls, and not instead to support them and in turn rebuild and strengthen our communities.

In My Hood

I have seen young people within London and other Urban areas, wearing the coat portrayed in this work. When i saw this i was perturbed - imagining how intimidating it would be to be faced with someone wearing this on the street. But what about the person behind the hood? This is an example of taking 'hoodies' to the extreme. Isolated from themselves and their surroundings - why would a young person feel compelled to wear such a garment? Who is the greater threat - the individual or the society where young people are vilified and blamed for the positions of aggressive vulnerability they often find themselves in.

I'm not Asian

Coming from a mixed race background, assumptions as to where I am from have often been placed upon me. I do feel that to some extent that it is a natural way for us to try to classify people and their heritage in order to contextualise our perception of them. However what does race mean and is it intrinsically linked to culture? Why does my appearance denote my background and in some instances dictate my future?

I'm not Asian' is an exploration of my background and was triggered by many arguments i have with people as to what my identity is. I am neither black, nor white, I am neither British nor Jamaican and I am definitely not Asian. I'm greater then the sum of my parts - I'm a Londoner.

Mixed Race

Bad Breed

Gash

Waste Man

This series of portraits continues looking at commonly used insults used amongst young people as explored in 'Your Mum'. The language young people use is as diverse as the backgrounds they come from. Colloquialisms have developed from the West Indies to the East End, creating a language that gives the youth a sense of control over their space and lives. Often however this sense of ownership of their street slang has many negative connotations. I have over the past few years increasingly heard teenaged girls being referred to as and referring to themselves as 'Gash. This is not used as a direct insult but as a reference to being someone's girlfriend. I feel there is something wrong with with this. Branding their peers as 'wasted' or as a 'Waste Man' or inferring that someone is of a 'Bad Breed' are also examples of how young people are having a hand in reinforcing the negative stereotypes already applied to them. This piece of work is aimed at getting them to consider themselves and the language they use. My choice of mixed race subject was to infer that this is not an issue related to or connected with race. Our cultures as much as our language has now become a mix and blend of our colonial past. This is the positive flip side to this piece of work.