Headroom (2009)

The book is a visual response to the drive to fit more and more people into an ever diminishing space. The U.K is under pressure to find more housing and every patch of land, including gardens, are being built upon. New housing is tightly packed with little concern for the environment or the needs of the new residents, leading to a breaking down of community spirit. New housing does not seem to be designed with people in mind and ironically this can isolate individuals - even when they are so close to everyone else. Do you know your neighbours? Increasingly in cities we do not, choosing to keep ourselves to ourselves -fearful of others. Whilst reading Roget's Thesaurus, I noticed the thematic listing of words was taking on a poetic significance for me. I used the word lists in the order they appeared in the Thesaurus to convey a sense of melancholy amongst the crowds. The book is printed on accounting paper to show financial pressures, the drawings are a mixture of my photographs of buildings and drawings of imaginary future towers unintentionally imprisoning their tenants. The text is rubber stamped. Loss of identity and community are the main issues in this book. Exhibited at Place Identity and Memory, Dumfries/Stranraer, Scotland, May-June 2009. Exhibited at Compilation: Three Exhibitions on Books, Worcester, MA, USA: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, Jan-Mar 2009.