Dormanstown pictures
I grew up in Dormanstown. This was an era of full-time employment, increasing equality, and opportunity. This was a tight community as most men worked in heavy industry, and women worked from home and maintained strong neighbourhood networks.
There were no cars and the streets were a playground - both sports fields, and common community space. These streets have gone on to form the structures of my images, of the collages of fantasy and present reality.
The archetypal celebrities of the popular cultures of the 60's have gone on to become characters in my fantasy world, a caste of characters I return to again and again. These characters allow me to express my inner world, struggles, losses and dreams.
I often include myself in the Dormanstown pictures where I am within the pictures and I can return to a land that only exists in my imagination. Even if I only allow myself to be locked in an interior space - a window of such - reaching towards the untouchable reality. These are often large works that I immerse myself in for months at a time.