Lutopia
This is the name of series of work I started in 2007 and encompasses both how the work deconstructs Luton’s urban landscape and also how it struggles as a town with its perception and identity. Lutopia explores Luton primarily through a series of photomontages all created from precise numbers of photos. The large scale (1500mm x 750mm to 2500mm x 1200mm) photo-montages depict views of in and around Luton. In total a single photomontage is equivalent to one second passing in time; each individual photo captured at 1/250th sec x 250 photos = 1 Second. These moments in time envelope the viewer in a distorted panoramic world that seems familiar yet somehow painterly. The collection makes an enquiry into the photographic image as an object, a self-referring form. Photography has recently lost its association with the notion of truth, the work does not resist this change, it embraces it.
The notion of the “temporal” has interested photographers since the creation of the first photographic processes. I am interested in the passing of time and photography’s ability to fragment time and freeze a brief moment. You will notice many imperfections and repetitions in the work. This is intentional, as it again references the passage of time, fragmentation and the cubist inspirations. More importantly, it shows how I have begun to create and subvert the image to reveal my reality of the place (as a painter would). Although the image is no longer a true photographic representation it remains connected to my interpretation of the truth of the scene. The process helps me move away from a very clinical and removed relationship with the medium that digital technology has helped develop. I fell in love with photography behind the lens and in the chemical darkroom, the process behind this project enables me to once again get my hands dirty. The tactile and collage qualities are inspired by my multimedia and painting background. My feet or more accurately my shoes can be seen at the bottom of each photo-montage. This provides both a form of signature and identification for myself as the creator. However, my main intention for this was to give the viewer a point of reference, to enable them to relate to the work and reinforce the notion of this being from my perspective.