I wrote a brief statement for this. I find it helpful, as it allows me to work within a contextual frame. It follows:
'In October 2009 I was diagnosed with a un-ruptured brain aneurysm. Overnight, my perception of mortality, and my own life, changed completely. Brain aneurysm on average effect 1 in 15 people, with a third of those suffering a rupture dying immediately. Coming to terms with having what is effectively a time bomb strapped to your head is challenging. I began to notice subtle changes in my attitude towards the finding of this abnormality, from a state of neutrality and acceptance during the daylight hours to something closer to terror at night. My domestic surroundings, once a place of comfort and security became a colder sterile place; only the light of day seemed to offer any comfort. At the same time, morbid curiosity forced me to seek out tales of others who had suffered the rupture I feared so much and imagined often. These texts moved and terrified me, gave me comfort and offered concern. These strangers spoke of my biggest fears, and my deepest desires.
I found myself looking out of a window more. I was born in the room that it is situated in. Looking at a familiar 'view' from a domestic place is a strange thing, you tend to not look at the view, because it never changes, but rather you look at yourself. Its a very reflective thing, which i what led to this repetition within the images and in the complete set ( 10 images) day slowly turn to night.
This is a starting point. I shot these digitally and worked from prints, scratching the quotes directly into the surface, but i want to re-shoot onto film. Using image and text has never been a strong point of mine, and I use it only because the concept requires it. That being said, there is a 'right' and a 'wrong' way to go about these things, so more working with text will be done i expect, although the scratching is very very satisfying!
