This work delves into my exploration of solitude as a chosen space, where introspection grows amidst the backdrop of nature. Over the past seven years, I've spent time traveling by myself, whilst also exploring personal change and reflection. I’ve felt particularly drawn to volcanic landscapes, where ancient forces have sculpted enduring change, permanently reshaping the landscape.

In the solitude of these landscapes, there is space to examine a backlog of thoughts and feelings that are often neglected in the bustle of modern life, flowing below the surface. I have been especially interested in the role that sleep and dreaming play in exploring these reflections, allowing them to emerge and be acknowledged. Solitude allows my dream state to be less fragmented, revealing a clearer understanding of who I am in that moment.

I can observe these realisations within the works I created. They hold a sense of the profound peacefulness solitude offers, as well as a yearning for companionship and connection. Photographs of rocks and clouds feel more like portraits than landscapes, they are companions and characters that exist somewhere between day and dreams.

A mountain appears to be on the brink of opening its mouth to talk to me. Rocks appear in my periphery like the silhouettes of companions, or perch upon a volcanic seat waiting for me. I seemed drawn to photographing my shadow gazing back at me, keeping its distance so I could continue my journey alone.

From within my dreamscapes, another realisation emerged. My dreams were inhabited by lost friendships I once cherished. I felt a shame and a sense of failure in these losses, at no longer being part of a group.
“Loneliness feels like such a shameful experience, so counter to the lives we are supposed to lead, that it becomes increasingly inadmissible, a taboo state whose confession seems destined to cause others to turn and flee.” - Olivia Laing

Alongside this recognition, and within these empty spaces , I also discovered a validation of my solitude. Like the moon rising from behind a dark headland, alone and without shame into the evening sky, I felt acceptance.

This theme of solitude is continued into the printing of these works, onto washi paper, hand-coated in liquid silver gelatin. Thoughts are given more space when one has to spend hours in the darkroom, carefully brushing coats of light sensitive emulsion onto the paper, waiting for it to set, and recoating, exposing, washing and then drying the print.

The surface of the print is changed by this process. The texture of the brush marks the image with intricate detail and almost sedimentary patterns, distorting it and reflecting the layers of meaning within a dream.
A flawless finish is rejected, my intentions of perfection have to be put aside as I submit to what I’ve created, and the images go beyond a representation of what I saw, they become closer to what I felt.

James J. Midwinter