Collected Works

2026

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A man with long white hair examines a large gilt-framed portrait painting in a museum storage space, with photography lighting equipment beside him
A man arranges Simpsons merchandise and toys at a shelf beside a large Homer Simpson figure dressed as Santa ClausA close view of Simpsons merchandise: figures, board games, and boxed collectables densely arranged on shelves
A hand points at the surface of a large landscape watercolour painting lying flat on a table
A hand holds an aged handwritten document, its ink faded and paper worn with age
A conservator leans over an old manuscript document on a white table, working carefully with tweezers and toolsConservation tools — a scalpel, spatula, eraser block, and tweezers — laid out beside an aged manuscript on a white table
Shelves holding bound volumes of The Clarion newspaper from the 1910s to 1930s, alongside stacks of deteriorating periodicals
Floor-to-ceiling white shelving units packed with hundreds of small plastic toys, figurines, and miscellaneous objects in every colour
A woman wearing gloves handles a piece of decorative ceramics beside a display cabinet filled with porcelain figurines and tableware
A marble bust of a man on a stone plinth in a cluttered museum store, with a taxidermy bird diorama and sheet-draped sculptures behind
A taxidermy deer head covered in a translucent plastic sheet in a natural history museum store
A man in a teal t-shirt stands in a dense archive storeroom lined with flat archival boxes on metal shelving
A shelving unit crowded with vintage household product packaging — soap powder boxes, razor blades, and other branded tins and packets — with boxes of comics below
An open wooden specimen cabinet drawer revealing rows of pinned entomological specimens, with binders stacked on top
A taxidermy animal head with large horns, partially covered by a translucent plastic sheet, against a grey wallA taxidermy animal covered in a plastic sheet, its horn protruding, in a dimly lit natural history storeMultiple taxidermy specimens loosely wrapped in plastic sheeting on a shelfA taxidermy animal shrouded in plastic sheeting beside a glass display case, resting on a wooden floor
A row of dressmaker's mannequin torsos wrapped in translucent plastic bags hanging in a dark storage space
Unframed paintings stacked on wooden racks in an art store; the foremost shows two figures under a yellow light
A curator holds an abstract painting in a gallery art store, surrounded by racks of framed and unframed works
A collector holds up a large Morrissey concert poster reading The Boy Racer, 27th November — Morrissey on Tour with David BowieThe same collector unrolls a large Morrissey tour poster in a kitchen
A typed museum catalogue card
The back of a picture frame covered in exhibition labels and handwritten inscriptions
A gloved hand slides a small black-and-white photograph of two men standing beside hanging fish across a worn wooden table
A woman sits in an armchair gesturing expressively, with a tall glass cabinet of Barbie dolls and doll-related memorabilia behind her
A vintage blonde doll seated in a red toy convertible car on a plastic storage box
An elderly woman examines a small object from a box of mixed brass hardware and watch parts in a cluttered garden shed
An open antique music box with a decorative cherub illustration on the inside lid and a metal disc on the turntable
A man stands in his sitting room surrounded by a collection of antique wooden music boxes of various sizes, with a tall ornate clock against the wall
Rows of glass display cases stacked on metal shelving in a natural history museum store, containing geological and natural history specimens
Five men in work clothes and high-visibility vests sitting inside a bus, talking during a breakAn elevated view inside a large industrial workshop with several vintage double-decker and single-decker buses in various states of restoration
Two men stand talking beside a partially stripped vintage bus body in a workshop, one in a hi-vis vest, the other in a brown work coat
A person's feet in sandals beside a display case containing a pair of ornate white beaded flat shoes on a wooden floor
Dozens of dust-coated cast-iron shoe lasts of various sizes packed into a wooden crate

Statement

Collected Works is a photographic study exploring the impulse to acquire objects, a familiar but often overlooked behaviour that reflects wider patterns of accumulation. This project examines collecting as a meaningful and valuable cultural practice, but also a compelling lens through which to examine the values, desires, and habits that drive consumer culture and, by extension, environmental degradation. Photographs of a range of private and institutional collections ground the study in contexts recognisable to a broad audience. Bringing together imagery and conceptual framing, it invites the viewer to reflect on the value of carefully assembled objects, but also to reconsider how consumption shapes and affects the world.

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