Spotlights (SALA 2024)

“… just a strand in an intricate web of life, every part connected to and reliant upon all the others to survive” Chris Packham, Earth

Small random beams of hope: photographs capturing the interaction of natural hard sunlight in the dark lines of the urban environment.

Who is important and how is this decided? Philosophers such as Kant, Hegel and Singer have ruminated on the validity of these ideas, but for me, the application of their ideas is useless. Increasingly people are defining themselves as important and using social media to create that significance, fabricating and expanding their spotlights. However these perfect, curated images of self inevitably lead to others feeling that they are not enough, that they are not important.

The natural spotlights and the people in these images are random, seemingly appearing out of nowhere in unexpected places. At that moment the individual may not realise that they are important or even be aware that they are in the spotlight: they have emerged from the shadow and for a brief time are immersed in light.