Biography
People at work have always preoccupied me. In my practice I am drawn to record their labour, and to consider how value can be inscribed. I am particularly moved by the effort of people whose work goes unnoticed, or whose work becomes erased or used up, and has to be repeated. I enjoy seeing the competency that comes from repetition and the space this opens up for reflection. For this reason I frequently work with people nearing retirement. Over the last ten years I have filmed in a number of iconic institutions in the UK, such as the V & A museum, St Paul’s Cathedral and The Houses of Parliament, and worked with people such as billposters, chimney sweeps and foresters.
My films are usually short experimental documentaries that allow me to consider my role as an artist, whilst confronting ideas regarding work and usefulness. Circling around questions of value and validation, the films attempt to justify both my labours and those of the people I work with. Often the films deliberately fail - the attempt is everything and has to be enough. I am motivated by a need to be involved in the world and a desire to acknowledge.
Getting permission is a very important part of my practice, providing a legitimising function and allowing a degree of access that would otherwise not be possible. Through setting up meetings and initiating projects I collect my own documentary material that I then use as an archive, montaging the documentary fragments to provide new moments of both clarity and misunderstanding. During filming I often get in the way or become clumsily involved and this translates into the final film, allowing me to play with expectation, disappointment and awkwardness, whilst reflexively critiquing the film’s construction.
