I launched FREE in this event: a pop-up photo book shop and artists talks organised by paula roush's BA Photography students at the London Southbank University.

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The talk was about my work and how one of its ramifications became freedom of speech through practice-based research. The organiser, paula roush, introduced the theme, ‘Photography in the materiality of the photobook’, which was an evident feature of FREE. I had been producing a series of works based around the idea of crushing books and this book was a little like a Russian doll: images of a book, within images of a book, within a book that you had to physically open each page to be able to enjoy its full visuals.

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I was really excited and looking forward to talk about my work and I was really lucky, because I felt that my audience was less knowledgeable than me so I felt at ease during the talk. Had the shop been filled with specialists in Book Arts, I would have felt much more nervous I bet!

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This experience made me think about my relationship with photography and helped me realise a change in my practice's outcome: that I am now controlling the reader – as opposed to what was happening at the beginning of the course. When consolidating this talk I also realised that I am using beauty as a tool rather than a final outcome.

 

There is also something extremely satisfying about talking about your work: it’s something you believe in, it’s something you are excited about because you are constantly discovering and it’s something you do, something you are a little specialized in. It made me notice that I have been into book-making for 12 years now.