Crawford Y. 2019. Mapping I, Oxygen Ib. RPS Photographer of the Year 2019 Finalist.
"Through an exploration of perspective, complexity and scientific investigation I create imagery that reveals, explains and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown".
I was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales famous for the arts. It's geological landscape and biological make-up have subliminally influenced my work. I have worked as both a scientist and an artist and now work in the 'Grey Space' the space in between those disciplines. This adds a cohesiveness and curiosity to my image-making. Working collaboratively or simply creating my own projects often reveals layers of research intertwined with the landscape.
Making sense of the Science. The mapped landscape revealed in the images acts as a vessel to transport the story in a certain time and place, communicating the ambiguous and the unknown whilst creating a safe place for the viewer to absorb the information. The landscape acts a background onto which the micro and the macro of the internal and external human landscape are gently positioned. The repetitive nature of the images reveals the constantly repeated events whilst the sets of images are produced as if a scientific experiment catalogued for success or failure and reflected in its numbering. The abstraction recognises areas of ambiguity explored often through topographical and geometrical shape removing the onerous requirement of controls and variables leaving space for subjective expression.
The Grey Space. We are all artists whether we be a creator of images or a creator of science. Working in the 'grey space' or the 'space in-between' art and science or art and technology can be challenging. Accuracy of science and the abstraction of art can only intertwine as one when we overcome the fear of those anomalies and revel in the beauty of its ambiguity. Inaccuracies and ambiguity after all feed our enquiring minds, whilst the experience of failed images and failed science offers new direction and new results. To narrow our field of expertise narrows our imagination, our creativity and space to learn.
If we have been lucky enough to dip in and out of the art and sciences or a mix of disciplines during our careers, we might describe ourselves as 'multi - or intra- or inter- or anti- or trans- disciplinary'. Each description suggesting a new category and a separation of work. Being careful about how we describe the future of collaborative work will ensure we work openly in the present and through which we can anticipate our future. See more.
