“I decided to make a documentary photographic project about the pandemic in Cornwall during 2021. This was a yearlong documentary project and because of the many governmental restrictions, the constantly changing laws made it complex as Britain had effectively become a police state overnight. It was a unique time in history and I had to document what was happening. The images were taken in Cornwall on a 1950’s medium format film camera and by using black and white film has given the project a dystopian almost cold war aesthetic. I hand processed every film in my kitchen sink and I have digitised the negatives ready for the next part of my project which is to turn this work into a contemporary photobook.”
Mark has been awarded the Cultivator Creative Investment grant (CIG) to fund and publish the work and is also now studying a six week, intensive photobook design course with the Royal Photographic Society, also kindly funded by Cultivator.
Mark completed a BA (Hons) Media Arts (First Class) with The University of Plymouth in 2018. He applied for the Cultivator Graduate Start Up in 2022. The programme now supports payment of his studio and darkroom rent at Cornwall’s Regimental Museum in Bodmin and mark is having in depth business coaching with Olivia Khadka.