Artist's statement
My primary aim is to capture key woodcarving moments. Whether they be hammering, chainsawing, or chipping; I wish to elicit an emotional response from my viewers. My subjects include detailed close-ups of tools, textures and action sequences. Unobtrusive in my modus operandus, I endeavoured to adopt a photojournalistic style whenever possible. Ideally, I would like each photograph to be transformed into a moment of art. Through composition, an image or moment which may seem so ordinary at first could be elevated into something both visually beautiful and compelling through creative interpretation, provoking an audience response be it emotional, aesthetical or technical. In turn, I hope that they will construct and re-interpret their vision of the world through the filter of these pictures. Moving beyond mere documentation, I also wish to arrest particular moments or aspects of the process I find iconic.  To me, the symbolic gestures of stripping and nailing – akin to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection – find their physical analogue in the act of hewing and chiselling a piece of wood into a new and/or useful piece of art. The concept of life and death, both physical and spiritual, is articulated in these strong palpable images. Does the art ofwoodcarving evoke some episodes of pain in your own life? If you were the trunk, do you then interpret your life through the filter of suffering and pain, seeing yourself a victim of your circumstance, or do you instead anticipate your eventual triumph and elevation of your spirit after the work is finally done and you stand before all as a piece of art? You decide.