Figurative Drawings

My figurative drawings look as though they were copied from old photographs, yet they are entirely invented. Each work begins with an AI-generated image that I redraw using traditional techniques, creating pictures that function as copies without originals.

The project began after noticing influencers on holiday staging “spontaneous” images of themselves. What interested me was the gap between the act and its representation: the effortless moment was in fact a constructed performance. The image had replaced the experience, becoming the event rather than its record.

My most recent pieces are inspired by Victorian prisoner portraits, where people often faced the camera for the first time. Their rigid, repeated poses resemble today’s social-media aesthetics, but for very different reasons. The likenesses arise from discomfort and constraint rather than imitation.

Across these works I am exploring how images have detached from lived experience. We no longer require an event in order to produce an image; the production of the image is often the purpose in itself. By referencing a period when photographs were rare and significant, the drawings highlight a contemporary condition in which images circulate endlessly, generating their own meaning and reality independent of any originating moment.

Selected works will be available to buy directly through the site in the next few weeks. In the meantime if you are interested in any specific works please contact me directly through the email below or via the website's contact page.