Light/Mass explores the alien-like urban landscapes found in cities across the United States. Through deliberately chosen lighting conditions and framing, I work to emphasise architectural other-worldliness within familiar environments.

I moved to New York City from my hometown in England during the Spring of 2020, days before the city shut down. Like many people living in New York during that time, I walked and cycled through the almost empty streets, trying to pass the time and get a sense of my new home.

I became fascinated with these strange-looking buildings I’d stumble across, unannounced in the middle of a residential block or looming suddenly when turning a corner. They felt to me like distinctly otherworldly structures, alien to the surrounding architecture and entirely unobserved by passersby. I started to seek them out, both within and beyond the streets of New York City, looking for oddity in a country slowly returning to normal.

Taking inspiration from science fiction cinema and the work of artists such as Ezra Stoller and Simon Stalenhag, my intention is to blur the lines of reality and fiction in the built environment around us. I seek to frame my subjects as incredible monuments, amplifying their inherent strangeness, now standing out of place and overlooked.

The project was photographed on 35mm digital format cameras. I felt the work would benefit from large-sized fine art pigment prints between 20" to 28" to convey the scale of the subject matter.