Shayne Higson
“I have been a photographic artist exhibiting for over twenty years. Like most artists, the works I create are a personal response to a subject. Sometimes I am inspired by my physical environment, sometimes by social or political issues and sometimes by personal experiences.
Over the years I have incorporated techniques of drawing, painting, collage, installation and sculpture when I have thought it appropriate to the idea behind the work but on the whole the works in the final exhibitions have been photographic prints.
I am attracted to photography’s link to reality, however I have nearly always taken the straight image and manipulated it in some way. Sometimes it has been subtle, and sometimes not.
During the 1980s I manipulated the photographic image by painting, drawing or scratching the actual transparency and sometimes I cut up different transparencies and glued them together to make a transparent collage on glass that was then printed as a Cibachrome print.
Much of the work I have produced since 1999 has been in response to the plight of asylum seekers. My most recent work explored relationships dependant on the written word. Old love letters, letters to and from detainees, SMS text messages and romance on the Internet. People revealing themselves; some slowly and thoughtfully, some provocatively, others impulsively, spontaneously, even recklessly.
When an idea requires manipulation of the photographic image I now use digital photography. The quality of the digital image has improved significantly and it gives the artist enormous control and freedom.
(Shayne Higson 2006)
