T H E  H E R M I T

THE HERMIT considers how little space an image can occupy while still carrying weight.

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Across the exhibition, images are reduced and placed against surfaces that remain seemingly unresolved. By not allowing the image to dominate, each work becomes equally concerned with materials, scale, space and the distance between one thing and another.

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At the centre of the work is an intimate relationship between viewer, surface and print. From a distance, the surface is encountered before the image. To engage with the photographic prints, the viewer must close the physical distance between themselves and the work. As a result, the surface shifts beyond the viewer’s immediate attention, and the image reveals itself only as the viewer moves closer.

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The title takes its name from the figure of the Hermit - not as a self-portrait, but as a way of thinking about solitude and attention. Traditionally, the Hermit carries a lantern that illuminates only the space immediately ahead. There is no complete view, only what can be seen from where one stands.

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The works operate within a similar limitation. Images appear small against surfaces that could comfortably contain much more. Some sit close to an edge; others repeat or recede into the material. The surfaces themselves shift between raw, painted and marked, but remain largely unoccupied by imagery. Their scale asks the viewer to come closer, while the surrounding space holds them at a distance.

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This collection is an exercise in restraint.