The Act of Living

The Act of Living explores the cultural malaise of postmodern living; alienation, loneliness and unease. Exploring the mundane and the tension that lies between comfort and restriction, these images address a contemporary fixation of productivity where the ordinary is less and less desirable; if you work hard enough you can seemingly achieve anything. As our material circumstances become easier, with greater comforts and possessions, life seems to get harder; the more we have the more we need. Imbued with nostalgia and a cinematic feel, I illustrate this 'age of anxiety'. Using objects, ephemera and self-portraiture in my photographs, I aim to convey the struggle to stay present and content in a postmodern culture filled with passive entertainment and empty distractions of materialism. Working as photographer, set designer, model, stylist, I create these photographs alone, staging different worlds in the comfort of my own home.