Walking ... Writing

Maze, Sully Island - Tidal Memories

Thanks for tuning in once again, I hope you’ve been experiencing a joyful few months.

Summer is slowly fading away here as Autumn cedes ever closer, and as the temperature begins to drop a little I’m beginning to reflect on my year to date, the projects I have been fortunate to work on, my family’s journey, and how much I feel like hibernating, or at least slowing down in the coming months, the cold can have that affect I guess.

Walking’s been a solace this year - it’s helped me creatively, those countless early morning trails along the river with my dog, Rango. A dog that I was initially reticent about having, well he’s won me over now and seemingly follows me everywhere, probably in part he’s to thank for the “lets get out the door, first thing” encouragement in the early hours, I mean I get licked to death otherwise.

These early walks feel like an extension of my morning meditation, they allow ideas and thoughts to reveal themselves, to be considered, discounted, or treasured. My better ideas seem to manifest from this journeying the river at dawn, as the charcoal grey shadows slowly lighten to reveal my surroundings and the day ahead.

Tidal Memories is a walking project of sorts that I have been working on, it’s this work I initially want to share, followed by some recent stories and collaborations. Thanks again for giving a little of your time, I hope you enjoy taking a read through my latest news and offerings.

Arrived.
We load our bags.
The wind howls horizontally.
Whilst the suns rays dazzle like stars in the rock pools below.
A maze of tall grasses our playground, and finally we overhear the fisherman.
Sully Island, 2h05min.

Tidal Memories derived from wanting to create work that was more process driven, where photography was part of the creative process without seeking to be the sole outcome.

The creation of this work being more meaningful than the resulting images perhaps.

Visiting causeways either by myself or with my family, I would walk the small island that had been made accessible by the tide, and using a 36 exposure analogue Lomo camera, I would document my time and interaction there.

On my return I would endeavour to write a short sentence or poem that shared some of my thoughts and memories of being on the island.

The two elements could then be threaded together, a way to share a sense of time, memory, and place.

I’ve been on a few more walks such as this since, which I am beginning to share on my site, feel free to delve further.

This WIP feels a little different to my usual practice, though through the creation of this work I feel deeply present as I create, and its this aspect which I hope to share and convey more than anything.

Resistance

I’m very fortunate and thrilled to have a series of images from the project Resistance which I recently created in Brazil, shortlisted for the IPE 166 Exhibition at the Royal Photographic Society.

The work was originally published in Icarus Complex Magazine, and it was their close collaboration with If Not Us Then Who that supported production and publication.

Fingers crossed all four images make it into the physical exhibition due to be announced imminently.

Colour Images - Joel Redman, B & W Images - Genilson Guajajara

Novelist and Artist Mark Haddon

Spending time with and creating work alongside other creatives is often a joyful collaborative process, and it turned out to be just that as I sought to create a series of images with Mark Haddon.

The commission was for The Guardian and a feature titled The curious incident of the author who couldn’t read or write: Mark Haddon on long Covid and overcoming five years of brain fog.

You can read more of Mark’s story and unpack this lengthy title through the link.

Mark and I played around with double and long exposures to try and portray his feelings as best we could to the reader.

Thanks for reading through and taking your time to view my recent work, collaborations, and stories.

I sense I may need another walk along the river about now, the dog’s giving me that look.

Speak soon, Joel

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