Documenting Art

I am a photographer who documents the world around me. I create visual documents, but always I try to project what I photograph in a pictorial way. In the natural world I document the seasons. In cities I document the material world – recording the work of builders, and the designs of architects.

I also enjoy documenting, through my images, the work of other artists – the window dresser, the graffiti artist, street murals, sculpture and the work of painters in galleries or wherever I find them. I do that for two reasons: firstly because in many cases I feel the work deserves to be photographed and shown to a wider audience, and secondly because when I see something with which I connect artistically I feel an overwhelming urge to capture it.

And that brings me to the image you see here today. I spotted it last week in a back corridor in a store on the way to use the ‘facilities’ (restrooms or loos). It’s very ordinary on one level, and most people walk past it without a second glance. But for me – one glance and I knew I had to capture it. What appealed was the combination of the multicoloured brush strokes and the fantastic yellow wall on which the artwork was hung – the wall colour exactly matching the central stripe of the picture. It was love at first sight!

I then had to ‘loiter with intent’ in the corridor, hiding the camera and looking as nonchalant as possible, until there was no-one in sight so I could grab this shot.