Thomas Brown and Sarah May create an oddly optimistic portrait of creative frustration

Date
29 May 2012

We’re massive fans of Thomas Brown’s clever, conceptual photography, which tends to take intelligent ideas and use them to cease something beautiful to look at. His newest work, a collaboration with the equally tremendous Sarah May is Memorial a series examining the darker moments of the creative process, “an expression of hope, celebration and beauty.”

By fusing traditional motifs (flowers/candles) with more unusual objects (chewing gum, balloons) the pair have produced a project which aches with a familiar melancholy but appears to offer a quite optimism that everything will, in the end, turn out ok.

Powerful but not melodramatic, they should be a comfort for anyone struggling with the Sisyphean frustrations of creative endeavour.

Above

Thomas Brown/Sarah May: Memorial

Above

Thomas Brown/Sarah May: Memorial

Above

Thomas Brown/Sarah May: Memorial

Above

Thomas Brown/Sarah May: Memorial

Above

Thomas Brown/Sarah May: Memorial

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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