We believe in the critical act of bearing witness. In an age of disposability of objects, stories, and people. We turn deliberately toward what has been overlooked, undervalued, or erased. Like Sawmill Sid, who works with reclaimed wood to reveal the enduring character beneath its weathered surface, we seek to uncover what remains when the superficial is stripped away. His practice of salvaging fallen trees and transforming them into functional art echoes the ethos behind my photography: a shared commitment to honouring resilience, texture, and truth. My lens is drawn to what society often avoids, the quiet dignity of those living on the margins, the tension between decay and endurance, the human spirit marked by time. Through image making, as through woodworking, we engage in an act of cultural preservation: not nostalgia, but deep attention.
Our work resists the aesthetics of erasure. Sawmill Sid does not sanitize the wood he reclaims he allows its imperfections to speak, to carry meaning. I do the same with light and frame, embracing contrast and complexity over polish. Both practices, though different in medium, are grounded in the same philosophy: that there is inherent value in what has been used, worn, and scarred. We reject passive consumption in favour of intentional creation. Through Sid’s reclaimed timber and my photographic narratives, we assert that restoration of material, of memory, of humanity is a radical, necessary act. Together, we contribute to a visual and tactile archive that challenges the disposability of culture and insists on the enduring relevance of the real.