James O’Neill - 'Sussex Murders'

O’Neill’s work is a study on the late photograph, an idea demonstrated in Safety in Numbness by David Campany. The photographs depict the places of murder or attempted murder, but the interest lies within the landscape afterwards. The photographs almost refuse to tell us something, it is through knowing about the image afterwards that we become more interested in the space as a ‘stage’ for the narrative. We scan the image for details, prying into it for more information and trying to decode objects as signs of denotation or connotation. We usually never find such satisfaction, but instead we are still drawn to the images as the photographer was drawn to the space.

Phil Bedford