First Cycle

In the desolation of the grounds of Bayham Abbey there is a palpable eeriness. To go no further than this intimation of the sacred would remain visually in awe of Bayham Abbey as ruins. Nothing more. To recover meaning from the eeriness of post-modern life demands inward dialogue of the spiritual life with an engagement of all that is eery and foreboding in the spiritually scarred landscape. Throughout Metaphysical Diary, the leitmotives were efforts, not directed towards attainment of external reconstruction (visual representation) nor its phantasy. A point of departure is sought - any signpost or marker along an inward journey in actual space and time, thus the minimal specifiers in the title of the images. After all, external reconstruction is phantasy, and internal reconstruction, itself, is a mirror of one's own spiritual legacy.

In the first cycle, an interpretation of 'restoration' or the incarnate 'spirit at work is foregrounded within the ruins of Bayham Abbey. This is given through the tension in the sandstones. In technical terms, this is achieved through a process of gelatin etching, to create a sense of visual disruption and shifting movement where none exists: a 'restoration' from the present nihilation and contemporary ruins is then the journey which is emphasised, and finds its more meaningful correlate in interiority. In searching for a visual method to restore the viewer towards a greater intimation of the sense of spiritual mystery inherent in Bayham Abbey, the defacement of the photographic imaging process through gelatin etching enacts a destruction of the visual experience of the abbey in order to achieve a prefiguration of the former glory of Bayham Abbey. In the last image of this cycle, the technique of multiple exposure is sparingly used in order to build up one image onto another, thus creating verisimilitude. It's effect privileges the small scale phantasy of simultaneity: that the destroyed wall exists with its foundation and thus constructs a less fragmented Bayham Abbey than the contemporary ruins.