Simon Martin leans into the tension of transformation, and the strong desire to hold onto what is good from the past, while enduring upheavals of change. Martin looks at his surroundings with subtlety, with fresh eyes. There is innocence in the vision, and the threads of all the contradictions of youth.

Layers of the old town of Argleton are tenderly offered as new development encroaches. An idyllic field of flowers by the sea leaves a dreamlike impression in greyscale. But modernity is just over the fence, streetlights and cars blazing up the dark. The town may soon be swallowed into the non-specificity of new development.

The youth are perhaps analogous to the town, on the verge of change. They seem cool and disaffected in these portraits. But something happens in the image of the boy with his eyes closed. Ennui gives way to vulnerability. Under the shell of the surface is something fragile and lovely. The portrait tips the viewer inward, and the landscapes no longer feel like exteriors, but like pictures of the inner world.

There is a process for recalling information by constructing something called a ​“memory palace.” This is a place you build in your imagination and use locations within it to ​‘deposit’ things you wish to remember. In order to retrieve the memories, you walk through it to the spot where the recollection has been stored. As Martin considers this town on the verge of change, I imagine this series as a kind of memory palace he has constructed for himself. A place to hold and preserve a version of it in the quiet stillness of his mind.

We found Simon Martin’s series while jurying this year’s Life Framer Series Award, Argleton was one of the finalists. 

- Mia Dalglish + Lisa Woodward

See more of Simon Martin’s work HERE

Learn more about the Life Framer Series Award HERE