Watch Carefully

Watch Carefully is a work developed from a set of photographs taken in China in 2014, and is a reflection on the erosion of intimacy in modern life. The pair of images - A Boyish Secret and A State Secret - are an intriguing set of contrasts: most fundamentally the striking innocence of the boys, compared with the sinister presence of state surveillance but also in the organic warmth of a sparkler held between young faces put against the observed emptiness of the large square washed in the synthetic light of the tower.

A Boyish Secret

Remote minority village, Guizhou Province, China
2014

In a small village in Guizhou province, two boys play with sparklers and firecrackers. Tomorrow the same fireworks will be used in a large funeral as part of the traditional ceremony for the dead, but tonight they remain a child's private delight.

 

A State Secret

Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.
2014

An ornate street lamp burns brightly at the edge of Tiananmen Square, banishing shadows and providing ample light for the watchful eyes of the State. The elegance of the lamp, and the beauty of the public square is disrupted by the indiscreet industrial design of eight separate security cameras clinging to its stem.