Silent, Dark and Deep Series 2, Image 1

SILENT, DARK AND DEEP


The forests depicted in my work are those of the imagination, residual traces of real places amalgamated into single scenes by the passing of time. Exploring the fine line between reality and a constructed visual fantasy they draw on the strangeness that lies beneath the surface of the commonplace. The dark and shadowed spaces lure and repel the imagination of the viewer, as the woodland becomes a world of psychological uncertainty. The brightly lit foregrounds of each image are soothing and accessible but beyond these and divided from them by flimsy fences or boundaries are the dark voids of the forest interiors, reflecting the undertones of danger and anxiety that tread through adult life. The juxtaposition of safe and unsafe plays out in the way that spaces are characterized as light, safe and beautiful, or dark and unsafe, alluring yet dangerous, and addresses this dichotomy within concepts of beauty and pleasure.

The long format of the images emphasizes the boundary line, the delineation between inside and outside, welcome and unwelcome, light and shadowed darkness, beauty and danger. Laden with anticipation and curiosity these fo