To the West of the Sun

“But what is there, west of the sun?” I asked.
She shook her head again. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Or maybe something.”

These two lines from Haruki Murakami‘s 1992 novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun, gave birth to a concept that has come to represent my photography and the way in which I work.

In ‘West of the Sun’, I had found a perfect description of the state of mind into which I enter, the zone within which I work. As if forever seeking that perfect image – chasing my tail whilst striving to reach that mystical land beyond the horizon, over the rainbow and to the West of the Sun.

Thanks to Murakami I now have the glue that holds my landscapes together. The umbrella under which my work can live as I document my journey towards that elusive world, to the West of the Sun.

Related Links & Images

Link to the documentary From Dark to Light by Jim Shannon, June 2015.

The Dyngjufjöll Mountains, Iceland by Toby Deveson. August 2015

Chanctonbury Ring, Sussex, England by Toby Deveson. April 1997

Ceiriog Valley, Wales by Toby Deveson. December 2002

Lepang, Bali, Indonesia by Toby Deveson. May 2008

Latest

Swarm

It was as simple as ‘get to the top of Finland and turn left’.  At least that is

Blink and you’ll miss it

Iceland. Never has the essence of a country so closely resembled the way in which I see the

Under the Stars in Madagascar

There are times when writing about memories from as far back as my eighteenth year feels wrong. How

Viewpoints

The Rooftop Collective exhibition edition VI Tempus Fugit. So they say. Here we are again, another Rooftop Collective

Memories

Revolution in the air

Three years at art college would not be complete without some politics, squatting and clashes with the police.

Failed trips or the art of flexibility

Failure can be a strong word. It’s no big deal, and not something I am particularly hung up

Under the Stars in Madagascar

There are times when writing about memories from as far back as my eighteenth year feels wrong. How

Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches

When you are on a 64 hour journey down the spine of Madagascar on the back of a

Randomly Selected

West of the Sun: Exhibition in Cambridge

The Michaelhouse Centre, Cambridge: Last week I popped up to Cambridge to have another look at the gallery

Half a Mile from Russia

I do not know whether it is because of the generation I am from or whether Russia does

Marjoram and Fireflies

At the end of a long day driving, walking and taking photographs around the north western mountains in

Blizzards in the Lake District

January 2010. New Years resolutions and a new found determination to drown myself in my photography again turned