A place, an object, a texture or colour, can cause a childhood memory to flash through your mind. Within my mind childhood memories often come as single images, yet sometimes they run as two or three frames from an event.
As a curious child in rural Norfolk, an abandoned house held as much adventure as an unspoiled beach. I had the freedom, to dare to explore my surroundings, without thinking.
An abandoned tricycle triggered the start of this series. Over the next six months, I found myself gathering a collection of broken and discarded toys, while contemplating my connection to them.
For me, memories have two functions - one being factual recall, and the other, the creation and maintenance of emotional links with the past. As I began taking images of my abandoned childhood toys, a warped game of Chinese Whispers unfolded in front of me. The events and situations, I recalled, became distortions of the truth and often disturbed me. These final images, I hope, are contrary to the truth.
Am I scratching the surface of the memories of an introverted child? Yes, maybe, but at a superficial glance, these photos are images of discarded childhood objects.
