22/01/2003-12/02/2003.

opening event 22 Jan 2003 6-9pm. closing event 12 Feb 2003 6-9pm

sometime town is a process-based exploration; a dissecting of the artist’s past and present, and an interaction with the social and physical landscape of Essex, in an attempt to gain a greater sense of self and place, to be enlightened and ultimately, to discover beauty in the everyday.

In my early twenties, as I drove back home towards the house I shared with my parents in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, I would often pass a road sign that displayed the name of this small commuter town and also bore the graffitied words “sometime town”. This, I felt, was a wonderfully pertinent statement to make about the place and still seems totally relevant today. My parents continue to live in Stanford-le-Hope, while I now call Lewisham “home”, yet I still feel as though I am existing in “sometime town”. This no longer directly refers to Stanford-le-Hope, but is more a state of existence from which I am unable to escape. Mundanity, predictability and dullness seem to be the overriding features of my daily life. Despite this, I have always maintained a sense of hope that I will discover wonder and excitement in my everyday life. Whether this be tomorrow, the next day, or the day after that, I will do it. My life will change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sometime.

Using various modes of transport, Collins will make numerous journeys between his parent’s home in Stanford-le-Hope and the council house in Dagenham where he spent the first six months of his life. These voyages of discovery will enable Collins to closely explore the landscape and interact with the people that he meets en route. Using written notes, video, photographs, audio tape and found objects, Collins will aim to capture a unique view of these places and their people in the hope that he will unveil the beauty and vulnerability that lies within the human spirit and the landscape, that is so often masked in contemporary society.

The pilgrimage to his first home will be marked by making a painting of the house.Collins will use a piece of chipboard to paint on, made from the pieces of wood that he extracted from wood-chip wallpaper using a scalpel and tweezers during the process-based work “Wall”. This work was part of the group exhibition “Domestically Spaced” , at Space Station Sixty-Five from 8/7/2002 to 8/8/2002.