As part of completing the Redeye LightBox professional development program https://www.redeye.org.uk/opinion/meet-lightbox-talent I had the pleasure to become a founder member of FORM Collective. The collective was formed of seven Photographers from all across the country with the emphasis of producing a new body of work to be included in a major photography festival.
More details about FORM Collective can be found on the group website
https://www.formcollective.co.uk/
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Trying to survive as a practising artist and provide for a family is an increasingly difficult task to do in todays culture. Because of this I have had to take a variety of jobs to gain a regular income and try to sustain a creative practice. Shouldn’t Throw Stones was created over a 2 year period working as a Night Watchman/Security guard at the ex HQ of what was a Glass manufacturing Empire 'Pilkingtons Glass’ in St Helens Merseyside. During this time I had documented my role as a Night Watchman and the working life of the current employees that still remain on the 32 acre complex. I also collected archive materials of what remains from the glass industry archive items left on site. Part of the project has involved interviews with ex workers from the organisation from the 1960's to the present day as part of a film installation. The works were initially displayed as a site specific exhibition on the grounds of the Former Pilkington's HQ, there is also a book publication to coincide with the exhibition. The large body of work has been a collaborative process with writers, architects, academics, sound engineers, drone pilots, graphic designers, musicians and has gained sponsorship from a variety of creative industries and partners as well as achieving Arts Council England funding.
Music by TVAM (Joe Oxley)
Graphics by Matt Lewis
Archive materials provided by Alexandra Business Park
With thanks to Awesome Liverpool
Delayed Until Further Notice
A video piece filmed in a conscious manner of an almost accidental, security C.C.T.V like style, 'Delayed Until Further Notice' is a collaboration between the artist, four dancers and a choreographer, and was shot on location at London's Waterloo station. Based primarily on E.Goffman's theory on behaviour in public places, (Civil Innatention -1963) removed the controlled environment of a classical performance place, for example; theatre and stage and made the piece site specific in order to further explore the boundries between normal everyday movement and choreographed dance. Written and directed by Kevin Casey and choreographed by Emma Marie Casey.
Gone to the Dogs
Gone to the dogs is a body of work that has captured the inner workings, atmosphere, racing and the day to day maintenance of the Regal Stadium Dog Track in the City of Sunderland. The documentary project aims to show how a once national past- time (predominantly working class) and form of entertainment is slowly dying out, with the decline of Dog racing and closure of stadiums throughout the years. The documentary examined the different areas of the stadium, from the members bar, to the viewing gallery, down to the actual dog track below and also recording the roles each member of staff have to carry out, from the bar staff, down to security and dog handlers. The documentary shows a culture clash of how a traditional working mans past- time, struggles to adapt and survive in a modern era where times have inevitably moved on and changed. All images where taken with medium format 120mm black and white roll film. The film was 3200 iso, due to the banning of flash photography at the stadium and also the fast film speed gives a high contrast grain to the film that lends itself to the environment it was taken in, highlighting the variety of tones from inside the viewing gallery to the spotlit track below. The work was hand printed in the Darkroom, split graded on warm tone fibre based paper. Size of each image is 12 x 16".