In 1990 I started a project to photograph artistic activity in the London area. I decided not to make it a collection based an any particular type of work as galleries and art dealers always championed genres that they found were interesting. Instead, I would follow a word of mouth approach following a long chain of contacts. Each person photographed suggested another that they thought suitable for the project.
IThe project is now an archive of all manner of artworks. I set out to photograph art a a social phenomena. Any attempt to organise a hierarchy of achievement was carefully avoided.
All of my pictures contained information on the life style and environment in which the artists lived. They were shot in deep focus with a medium format camera. Most lived in what was described as ‘challenging’ situations. Many were illegal squats, short-term lets, or flats of very poor quality. Almost all of those photographed no longer live in the same place.
The work has been progessing for the last 25 years. I now have an archive of this work that has only been seen by a few friends.
David Turner
