Black Eyed Dog/
The project Black Eyed Dog was born out of a breakdown.
Whilst I count myself very lucky to not suffer as much with mental health issues as many do, towards the end of 2018 I found I’d tipped over my own personal limits into a dark place I’d not been before.
During that time I decided to channel that tangle of feelings and emotions into creating a small body of work to try and find a new home for the noise that was trapped in my mind.
Some solitude around the Seven Sisters in Sussex provided the silence needed to cut through that noise and provided the setting for this series of black and white photographs and the accompanying text.
A tangle of thoughts and emotions I can’t untangle.
Confused and lost in a labyrinth of half-formed plans and ideas.
Enough. Stop.
I need to get out of here right now.
Need space. Need to breathe.
Raw roar.
It carries all of my deepest troubles into the wind and crashing sea.
It’s not enough.
This feels weird, I feel weird.
Is this a breakdown, is this what one feels like?
A black eyed dog he called at my door
A black eyed dog he called for more
A black eyed dog knew my name...
Nick Drakes haunting song going around and around in my head.
I feel this has been travelling towards me for a while now and finally found me, it knew my name and today it came knocking.
My being feels torn.
Snagged on the barbs of this instant, digital life.
Glitching.
'Have you tried restarting?' they say.
That usually fixes things...
Or so we're told.
Black Eyed Dog has been featured in print in Black+White Photography Magazine and also on mnngful.com, a platform supporting independent documentary photography & photojournalism with the proceeds going to the mental health charity Mind. To read the article with foreword by Zak Dimitrov, click the button below.