Mementos of day-to-day existence

My paintings derive from found photographs. Specifically discarded, white bordered, colour photographs from the 1950s – 1970s, which I have collected from jumble sales, charity shops, car boot fairs and antiques shops. In isolating this period – situated elusively upon the border of living memory and historical record – I have attempted to tap into a specific sense of nostalgia eliciting a certain cultural affinity between the viewer and the scene.

I am drawn to scenes of little grandeur – mementos of day-to-day existence which call forth an empathetic response. In transposing these images into paint I claim them as my own allowing my instinctive reactions to characters and situations to guide my recreations of the scenes. My works are somewhat expressive and painterly in style, yet preserve the white borders of the original photographic format. In so doing they strive to assert their association to the original snapshots – reaffirming the sense of a glimpsed moment, familiarly observed. The borders also help to create a rather voyeuristic sensation; a window into a strangers world.

My work, is so much about making use of forgotten material. The characters and settings within these photographs seem to have lost their purpose and in building my own work from them, these forgotten places and lost families, have meaning once again.