Jay Burton
I was born in the UK in 1994. As a child, I was quite satisfied sitting in the centre of a room and simply looking around for hours. Observing my surroundings was enough to entertain me, I suppose. We moved to France when I was six, and although I was warmly welcomed by everyone, I still felt like a foreigner and grew detached from feelings of national identity. Over the years I developed a love for the natural world and humanity, and sustainability became a core interest of mine.
Although I’m very social and outgoing, I always felt content alone, looking at the world go by. It’s no real surprise that I discovered photography so early on in life. I clicked with the medium instantly and spent my teenage years learning the craft with an evident attraction to abstract photography.
I have always been impressed by photographers who are intimately connected to the subjects of their photos, inviting us into their lives. However, I realise that I don’t interact much with people in my photography. I observe humanity at play. My photos are often quiet and contemplative. I shy away from wide angle lenses, preferring to dive into the hidden corners of the world with an 85mm lens, photographing what few people see. Some could say that my photos are melancholic or gloomy, but I like to think that they simply show the truth. They harbour a certain gentleness within them that says that it’s okay to appreciate the rugged, the left behind.
My current work, called Driftlands, stems from a fascination with human consciousness and our unique, subjective experience of the world. In this project I photograph perceptions, the way we feel the world. With single exposures, I use window reflections and intentional camera movement to create abstract landscapes, removing the context of a place to invite the viewer to imagine the narrative within. As you need a person to create a story, humans always appear in these pictures. After all, we are shaped by stories and stories shape the world. They frame the way we perceive and define reality; they are the models with which we understand everything around us.
I’m inviting you to dive into the world of the Driftlands. The combined experiences of your life have defined how you perceive the world around you. You are unique in every way. And so, I ask you dear viewer, what is the story of the Driftlands?