Mairi Thomson

Artist Statement

The push pull flow between the private and the public realm fascinates me. The public perception of a person is one thing; the private person can only be guessed and imagined. How we wish to be seen and how others see us; often at odds. It is this tension between both worlds that I have explored, particularly the notions of observation, perception and expectation. Like the photograph album with its images of edited highlights, my work focuses on the lowlights; the mundane elements of everyday life that are taken for granted. We often need these banal moments to give us the ability to be transported to another contemplative and private place. The idea that everyday life is a performance; you are expected to perform certain tasks, in a certain way, but perhaps privately do not want to and vice versa. Using myself as the protagonist, I have captured everyday actions and mundane tasks through the mediums of photography and CCTV footage. The process of capturing, editing and presenting the image is important. I am in control of the process; however I am not in control of the interpretation.