I wanted to explore a topic which I could do at any time – accessible, not reliant on others, or the need to gain access to people or places – a slower, more meditative form of photographic practice. I also wanted to get out of the flat and be surrounded by nature in some form.

I had been writing for the local magazine Village Raw on topics such as biodiversity loss, and our relationship with nature, and wanted to delve deeper into this on a local level.

Living in Crouch End, in the north of London, Lea Valley was an obvious place to begin my exploration. It’s an amazingly diverse location starting to the north of the city, and piercing its east flank all the way to Bow where it meets the Thames.

It’s the only place I explored in London – Britain even – but there was so much to explore, I could have kept going for years, and still be discovering and documenting life – both human and non.

It was interesting to observe how life changed as you got further and further from the city and its satellite villages, such as Enfield.

I visited the area time and again. Sometimes I would take the bus or train to a certain section, and from there explore by foot. Other times I would cycle to Tottenham, and either go north or south depending on what areas piqued my curiosity on Google Maps.

Generally though, I found heading north more interesting, as this is where you witnessed the fraying of ‘civilisation’ – life on the periphery is different. It’s where those who do not ‘fit in’ – whether out of choice or circumstance – attempt to carve out a home and a life. It’s where the corporations who provide for the city’s dwellers carve out their space – from factories and warehouses, to incinerators and power plants. It’s also where that which is not human or of human design has a greater chance of establishing itself and carving out its own niche – sometimes in harmony with humans and their activities, sometimes not.

If you take the time to stop and look, the periphery of our urban spaces – the borderlands of industrial society – is where things get really interesting. It is where human, industrialised culture attempts to assert itself, while being besieged by a force which refuses to subscribe to that culture, or acknowledge any boundaries and separateness it tries to impose.

And so, with this work I am attempting to explore theses boundaries and the relationship between human industrialised society and the natural world that surrounds it, envelops it, fractures it, and which it is ultimately a part of – whether it is acknowledged or not.

I attempt to do so in a non-judgemental way, which simply captures what might be considered the ubiquitous and the mundane elements of industrialised societies – things we are often blind to, either out of choice or familiarity, or because they are hidden from our view – but which underpin these societies.

Thank you for taking the time to explore my work – I really hope it speaks to you, and generates questions for which you seek out answers.