Walking a line between photo documentarian, art and social commentary James Fletcher has been faithfully capturing images for over 30 years. Having travelled through various foreign cultures, of both higher and lower socio-economic status than his native Australia, his focus often gravitates toward the people of the region, each with their own unique story, etched in
their face, reflected in their demeanour and voiced through their community.
“Sometimes you can recognise the familiar in the strangest of places. Even get caught up in a nostalgia you’re unfamiliar with… but the really fun part, is never being able to anticipate the moment itself.”
As if to provide context to these ambiguous narratives, I’ve tried to document the natural, the spiritual and cultural voices of these regions. From choreographed physical environments to the wild messy clash between nature and urbanisation, there’s a beautifully disruptive appeal that the lens translates and manifests in any given moment. Each print is designed as a moment captured in time, but whose soliloquy manifests with you, the buyer, the collector, the owner. None of my photos are captured with judgment, there’s no preordained conceptions, no ingrained dogma. Each image is based in fascination, anonymity and recognition. “The idea that one of my photos can be interrupted as random chapter of a story, or denote a dramatic pause in conversation, or even cast as a wordless poem authored by light and shadow; its endlessly intriguing to me. That anonymous authentication a collector can give my lens, it’s a beautiful, random and wonderful thing. I appreciate my audience so much.”