Liz Thomas

I use photography to explore concepts and thoughts about self identity; relationships, boundaries, the body and the temporal.

I’m messy and I find inspiration in this. Something catches my eye, a result of life, a result of change: something that didn’t make it back up the stairs; the places which like an unseen magnetic field attract antithetical objects together.

Work often starts with no clear intention. Sometimes work is iterated on becoming more staged and manipulated, like how thoughts develop over time. I compose myself in this process, each image capturing a small inarticulate discovery about something I’ve been thinking about.

I often use myself, my house and my possessions in my work. When the same types of objects and technical or compositional elements feature repeatedly they develop a definition, a purpose in the process beyond their usual function or aesthetic qualities. I consider work I create to be self portraits. Like the way an MRI generates images of the internal world of the body without opening it up; what happens with a camera in my hands reveals me in a way I can not otherwise see.

This practice is part of a sense making process. My work is as much the thought as it is the by-product of sense making. The translation of thought into action, action into thought. This process is a conscious element of how I work and how I observe the work. As if I, in this process, am the experiment being observed, looking for repeatable properties to apply to the world. In this way the personal is a route to the universal.

Locations: South East

Categories: Abstract, Fine Art, Nature, Photographer, Portraiture, Scientific, Social, Still life, Writer