Synapses is an ongoing series of images aiming to depict a reconnection with the wild places of my youth following an urbane estrangement from the natural world.
“We depend on nature not only for our physical survival. We also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our own minds. We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating - lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.”
Elkhart Tolle – Stillness Speaks
Nature evokes a stillness, allowing space for mental clarity and rejuvenation. Nocturnal photographs of beaches, rocks, rivers and woodland along the rugged coastline of Cornwall set the scene for my response to an energising landscape. The science behind this exchange of energy and its powerful effect on the heart and brain is demonstrated metaphorically through patterns of light. This light flows through the scenery, parallel to electrical and chemical impulses emanating from the mind; they are a visual echo for the patterns created as synapses fire in the brain when experiencing the rawness of nature.
The darkness surrounding each scene and the abstraction of the landscape intends to dance with the imagination, allowing the mind to enter another realm of thought while offering a space for the viewer to reflect on their own relationship with nature; hopefully quietly reminding us of that sense of mystery and magic there is to be found in the world.