Created in collaboration with sculptor Neil Ayling, Uplands, Downlands, Sunlit Meadows… Wish You Were Here blends photography and sculpture, past and present. The series repurposes photographic negatives intended for post-war British postcards—once used to promote idyllic rural villages and coastal towns as visual escapes from bomb-scarred cities.

Framed within armatures of vintage oak and contemporary materials, these altered landscapes present distorted scenes of holiday memories and tranquil views—an antidote to the war-torn reality they sought to counter. The physical manipulation of the photographs mirrors the way memory itself is reshaped over time, bending to nostalgia and selective recollection, transforming the past into an idyllic yet deceptive landscape.

The phrase “sunlit uplands” was first coined by Winston Churchill in 1940 during his “This was their finest hour” speech, envisioning a future of peace and prosperity beyond war. Decades later, Ronald Reagan invoked the same phrase to champion a world free from Soviet Communism. More recently, in the wake of Brexit, it has been co-opted by nationalist rhetoric—distorting its original intent to conjure a romanticized, illusory vision of Britain’s past under the guise of “taking back control.”

By exploring the evolution of imagery and language, Uplands, Downlands, Sunlit Meadows… Wish You Were Here interrogates the power of nostalgia—how history is reframed, memories reshaped, and collective identity constructed through idealized visions of the past.