'The Paris project'
This project grew to become my photobook 'Searching for your Shadow'
(see separate section in Photobooks tab. This entry predates the 'Searching for your Shadow' tab).
The images for the photobook include some of those below - these were an initial selection at the beginning of the extended selection and sequencing process.
This Project is based on the 15th Arrondissement in SW Paris, my mother's home district.
Apart from the Eiffel Tower bordering its NW edge, it is an unremarkable, truly Parisian part of the capital.
This work is heavily informed by the writings of Patrick Modiano (notably "The Search Warrant" (originally published as 'Dora Bruder' in France), who explored the unravelling of a fragmented, lateral narrative of memory, abandonment and loss (of people, stories, and history).
This resonates with my early visits to Paris with my mother, and specifically a week in 1967 when I had a week to wander before a summer holiday trip with a French family. That week was spent walking and looking. I had no camera, but I do believe that week gave me the space and time to look, to start to learn how to actively 'see'. Then, years later, I became a photographer.
In 2019, I spent some time in the 15th arrondissement in Paris, walking, looking and photographing.
Over time this developed into 'Searching For your Shadow', a photobook exploration on memory, my mother, and my relationship with Paris over the years.
Below is an early selection of images from that visit. The selection process inevitably took a long time. However, it was great to have the time to allow a project to develop at its own pace. Not all were used in the book, but many were included in the launch exhibition in Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, April 2021.
Please click on an image to open gallery
© Please note: all images are under copyright. Please contact the photographer regarding usage.