Click on images to view film clips (2 x 1 Meg)

'Interactions' consists of two films: one of estuarine invertebrates collected from watery mud in the Thames, and the other of freshwater invertebrates collected 50 metres away in a man-made lake. Both groups of invertebrates are filmed interacting with each other in a confined space, trying to escape the unaccustomed light of the microscope. Some are predators who are aggressive about their territories within a confined space, while others are grazers who collaborate in sharing the space. Not all of the invertebrates interact in one way all of the time, although most of them have preferred patterns of behaviour.

The sound track, which can be heard on two headphones, was recorded at various locations on the Peninsula. The recordings includes evening flights taking off from London City Airport, passing cyclists, occasional traffic, waves breaking on the mud, and the sound of machinery from Prior's gravel works. These sounds contrast with the noise of construction work on new homes, as government planning laws encourage ever increasing densities of housing on the peninsula.

My thanks go to the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park for the use of their professional microscope, and to Tony for expertly collecting the invertebrates for this project. Many thanks also to Paul for his technical help and support in the filming and editing of this project.

Presence - Absence, 2007.
Split screen projection : Tavistock Square (left screen), King's Cross to North Greenwich (right screen)

Click on image to view film clip (5 Meg)

While studying for an MA at the Institute of Education (University of London), I have travelled repeatedly to the area where two of the worst bombings happened in 2005 - one above ground in a bus beside Tavistock Square, and the other nearly directly below ground on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Russell Square. In an interview with Peter Lodermeyer, for an article to be published in Junge Kunst, June 2008, I answered a question about Absence-Presence:

"Your question about whether this work has 'political meaning' for me, has been problematic to answer. Maybe this is because the initial impulses of this work were more investigatory and physical. Claustrophobia in a rush hour train, due to another tube line being closed, caused the initial interest in filming what that experience felt like. By holding the DVD camera down low in a rush hour crush, the footage allows an experience of claustrophobia to be managed through focusing on reflections in train windows and the narrow gaps between people. However I was also investigating the 2005 London Bombings Victims' website at the time - particularly the victims' and their families' need to understand why the bombers had carried out this attack."

Deptford Creek, 2000.

These images are of Deptford Creek looking downstream, taken standing on the Creek wall outside my studio.
Photographs were taken every half hour on Tuesday 13th June 2000 from 10.30 to 15.30 hrs, showing the tidal flow.
This photo-project was created for the web-art project 'Agogical Interventions', Deptford X Festival : June 2000.

Creek Life, 2005.

The inhabitants of one litre of muddy Deptford Creek water have been filmed under a microscope. Their actions and interactions with each other have their own individual patterns of movement. All want to escape confinement but with varying degrees of success. The water leech made it onto the floor before being put back into the Creek.

3 screen shots

Thanks to Chris Gittner from the Creekside Centre (Deptford) and Paul Malone for his technical help.

An internet art project for Deptford X Ephemeral Cities 2005. 29.10.05 to 27.11.05
Curated by Paul Malone