Spatial Transcendence

Photography as a path to reflection

Since leaving university, I have felt a decline in the conceptual nature of the way I work. That said, I don’t think it’s a negative impact. I have enjoyed the more mundane process of photographing things that catch my eye. In fact, I think it gave me the break I needed. 

However, over time, I have felt a growing need to create work again that’s grounded in a conceptual or narrative framework, a feeling that has been slowly emerging over the past few months. I felt compelled to explore something that I have been deeply interested in and so, I began working, trying to figure out what I wanted to unfold and explore. 

The series, which remains without a name, examines how spirituality is experienced through place. It draws on William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), which emphasises personal perception within spirituality over formal doctrine, suggesting that the sacred is often encountered in the material world. Another important influence is Liz Wells, an author and academic whose work has been a cornerstone for much of my thinking and photography. Wells explores the concept of photography and place, arguing that environments (and/or photographs of such) mediate human experience and shape our understanding of identity and belonging. She emphasises that places are not passive backdrops but active participants in the construction of meaning. This perspective highlighted to me how spaces, particularly places of worship, can evoke presence, reflection, and introspection, even in the absence of overt religious symbols.

By photographing place, whether architecture, landscape, or the objects within it, the series aims to highlight how environments mediate spiritual experience, often offering moments where the ordinary becomes imbued with the transcendent. It invites viewers to recognise that our sense of the sacred is often grounded in space itself, in architecture and environments that shape perception and foster connection to that which lies beyond the visible. I also leaned towards a monochrome style, another thing that is out of my comfort zone, but I think I want the representation of place to be unmediated by the interpretation of colour.

James, W. (2004). The varieties of religious experience. New York: Barnes And Noble Classics, Cop.

Wells, L. (2011). Land matters : landscape photography, culture and identity. London ; New York: I.B. Tauris.