Elliott Wilcox takes great abstract photos of empty climbing walls

Because of my fear of heights and vertical inclines, I’ve never been adventurous enough to try indoor climbing – I do accept though it looks safer than doing it outside, mainly because there’s roof. Whether this is true or not, it seems clear that we get a kick out of having outdoor representations in a constructed space rather than the real thing and vice versa like indoor skiing, alfresco eating and other conflicting indoor/outdoor activities.

Exploring this complex relationship between interior and exterior spaces is photographer, Elliott Wilcox in his series Walls. Photographing a number of different indoor climbing walls, he wants to defamiliarise us with the space, and it’s the lack of human activity in the images that successfully does this. The walls look alien with the multi-coloured nodules having only a visual purpose now. It’s the strange stillness and rich colours that I really enjoy about Elliott’s photographs.