My Degree show is over, so what was it about?
Well this is the artists statement, written by myself with the assistence of Rodger Brown at Staffordshire University.

This work celebrates and questions how a Welsh Identity is produced and nurtured by people living at the eastern edge of North Wales and England.

This is a body of documentary photography made along the lower and middle stretches of the River Dee in North East Wales. The Dee forms part of the border between England and Wales. The narrative shows a series of exclusively Welsh locations over a distance of some 30 miles from start to finish.

The work is partly an autobiographical response to the photographer?s own experiences of these places and partly a consideration of the historical significance and cultural influence of the River Dee on its surroundings. In each photograph the land use is shaped and constructed by the River.

Landscape is both scenery and lived in; as such it can be considered a product of the relationship between vision and experience. The work plays on the contrasts and tensions found between the experience of ?place? and the observations of scenery.

The River Dee is more than just a line on a map. The River both connects and separates communities and in places along its length defines the political border between England and Wales. The River represents a boundary that begins to define a distinctive Welsh cultural identity.

By showing how the land is used the photographs document the labours and experiences of people over time. In doing so they reveal relationships and meanings in land use that we can share. Their interpretation raises important questions about our understanding of landscape and how the landscape presents itself to us.