My wonderful art teacher at secondary school once lent me his SLR camera for an afternoon and gave me a few props to create a still life. Amongst the items was a couple of ragged old dolls, empty wine bottles and animal bones. I immediately set to work tearing up newspaper headlines, masking up the dolls mouth and making them look grubbier than they already were. The result was a set of striking, almost shocking images, I still have the prints upstairs somewhere. Anyhow, I got thinking about those prints this morning and realised that I've missed making a statement through the work I do, making people think...I want to viewer to be moved, and not always in a comfortable way. I'm not talking direct statements here, you'll find no banners, just hints at things and subjects that the viewer can make up their own mind about. I miss the guidance of my old art teacher, things happen to me now and I think to myself 'what would he say/do about that?' He helped me to learn about myself through processes such as this and for that, I will be eternally grateful.
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