In 2003, thanks to Edinburgh College of Art Research Board, I was given the opportunity to undertake a research trip to Japan. Little did I know this would mark the beginning of many years (and still counting) of making work there. I set out with no idea at all of what I might do, although the notion of somehow exploring aspects of Buddhism with its core non-dual worldview was never far from my thoughts.

Over a five-year period and during several trips, I produced a series of related projects with the overarching title, one taste: (n)ever-changing. These were carried out at a variety of Buddhist temple sites in Kyoto

Again, with non-dual considerations in mind, the photographic strategy used became much more ‘typologically’ based. Essentially, in photographic terms, typology involves the representation of ‘types’ – similar subject matter, often photographed identically in terms of composition, lighting, camera angle etc. To what end? Depending on one's perspective, there might be various responses to this question, but I think the following quote from Rod Slemmons neatly sums things up in the context of my Japanese work:

Typology then, by its very nature, invites reconsideration of fundamental dualities such as space and time. Further, such potentially endless repetition can be seen to signal the undermining of perhaps the ultimate duality, the sense of there being a discrete, separate self. Serial music composition might be regarded in much the same way, for example in the work of Philip Glass (a practising Buddhist).