In early 2008 I went to Cape Town. Having loved Africa since my backpack and I first stepped into its complex, pioneering beat (Harare, 1990), I'm always eager for experiencing more.
I'd been in Ibiza for some years and was feeling the need to sharpen my senses in ways that the mediterranean island, in all its tolerant bubble and joys, wasn’t then offering me. A timely adventure to South Africa then. I embraced the challenge of allowing the winds to blow me where they would – an attitude tempered by time on Ibiza – whilst in a country whose navigation requires a certain flinty vigilance.
Invigorated by the diversity of designers and artists I was discovering in Cape Town - the creative energy of a city embracing a fresh global identity - the natural splendour and light - the darkroom facilities - events transpired spontaneously. Enthused by interest in my work, I was meeting people whose attention excited me into finding an interesting space in which I could engage with them. I found a newly renovated classic 'city-bowl' house on Buittenkamp street and hung my large prints throughout. Despite SA being a country that is centric to supporting its own art and artists, (natural and to be expected), the exhibition met with inspiring momentum for me.
The show embodied this spirit of travelling through and towards discovery. Hence the title, and guiding principle for choosing various photographs, whose grouping together might embody an overriding spontaneity.
There is - for me - an elusive, elliptic element within the spontaneous; a beguiling essence coming into being for the singular moment of its being felt. Chasing this – exploring how to consider the ‘unconsiderable’ – 'capture' it - has been a paradox which has informed and preoccupied me, life and work, since 'the beginning'…
Any successful elucidation of this has proven challenging. My romanticism, idealism and a naive approach are thus traits I have willingly displayed - abandoned up - for observation , consideration, evolution – within a rational, sceptical arena.
"But you can carry the winds ... and the open spaces."
Rilke - fourth "Sonnet to Orpheus"
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