In the process of constructing a sense of the world a complex interplay of influences comes to bear on our interpretation of incoming sensory data. This is built on a combination of responses; physiological, chemo-electric in nature, layers of memory, socially based comparisons rooted in language and all other aspects of communication stemming from what Julia Kristeva would call, the symbolic order.

It has been argued that within the symbolic order, imagery is rapidly surpassing language as the primary influence on consciousness and that a persons grasp on ‘reality’ is more influenced by media than by lived experience.

The almost uniquely human habit of drug taking and particularly smoking nicotine has long fascinated me with reference to the above. Its dual operation at the physiological and the social level manifests itself simultaneously as deeply embedded symbolic references in society, literature, cinema and television and as a bio-chemical reaction.

Smoking is associated with sex, death, rock and roll, evil, coolness, liberal intellectualism, sophistication, glamour, power and almost all forms of subversion.

Music and smoking have consistently been used in my work as vehicles for exploring this uncertain space. Music with its primal, ‘oceanic’ qualities of rhythm and harmony which are symptomatic of the immense diversity of behavioral response; from pelvic motion of Elvis to the cadaverous leer of Marilyn Manson. Smoking with its chemical influence and cathartic lymphatic impact from which emerges the Clint Eastwood frontiersman black cigarette, the Marlene Dietrich gloved hand cigarette holder , the pipe smoking professor and the street lamp lit hat and cloak cigarette of the under cover agent.

I work with a wide range of media but often photography, video, sound, text and built environments.

I am an amateur phenomenologist who lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand, I listen to music and smoke about half the time.

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