Artist Statement - Getting to know you.
This body of work is not a look back on what somebody’s life amounted to, but a record of the everyday objects I developed a relationship with. My wife’s father tragically took his own life in 2014 at the age of 48, I could count the amount of times I had met Peter on my fingers. I had developed a fondness of him, but it’s hard to grieve for someone that you don’t yet fully know. I grieved more for the time and opportunity lost and the pain for those he left behind, which is an altogether different emotion.
The process of clearing his house was on reflection good for me. At the time, it was just something that had to be done. I learned a lot about him from the everyday objects I came across and also the way he had done certain mundane things. These were things that I realised I would never now have the chance to discover in any other way.
This series of images covers different objects for different reasons, some items represent a feeling, others are things Peter made or marked and others are representations of his interests. Some items are things that I discovered, and others are from learning more about him from my wife as time has passed. The images were shot systematically and not as “products” they are not intended to be perfect, this is a record of things that still remain at this point in time. As time goes on things get broken and fade and this project feels to me like a full stop.
Some of the items in this series hold sentimental value to me, which is a weird concept when you consider the fact that I did not know Peter very well. Others I will likely never use, or they will eventually run out or stay in my loft for the rest of my life. Since becoming a father, I believe I am now a custodian for these things so that I can pass them on to my daughter. For other things like a taped up sprinkler, maybe I will be able to bin it without feeling guilty. There are other items that you could argue would better represent Peter, but this collection of images is not about that, it is about the things that I associate with him. There will be things I have missed, but this is by no means a stock take.
The concept had been developing at the back of my mind for a long time. The yellow aesthetic was in keeping with the way that Peter marked things that belonged to him with yellow tape or paint. These items are in most part meaningless and at the same time deeply personal.