A small selection from Clay Pigeons (2019-2024).
“I spent much of my early 20s trapped inside a room. Having developed agoraphobia shortly after leaving home, it was increasingly difficult to face the panic and fear I felt whenever I left my flat; living in cities and feeling that busy spaces were impenetrable, I found ways to avoid going outside for weeks at a time. But books and fantasies were an escape from the isolation. Reading Frankenstein or Butcher’s Crossing, I dreamed of fleeing to explore quiet mountains and moors.
Making pictures for Clay Pigeons gave me respite. Driving extensively through Britain, forming a bubble of safety inside my little car, I sought to use photography to express my experience with agoraphobia. The view camera became a tool that allowed me to connect to the people and places I found – it mediated between my own discomfort and the outside world, which often reflected my fear, isolation and fantasies back at me.
Clay Pigeons was made to initiate conversations about an anxiety disorder. It was intended to push me beyond the stoicism of outdated masculinity and make discussions about mental health unavoidable.”