Mark Massey
I discovered Mark's work on Instagram, and was impressed by his Essex Chronicles project - and am grateful that he agreed to it being featured here. Mark has lived in Southend for all his life - and I think this is reflected in his work. What I like about the series - and what I think sets it apart from others - is how it mixes different subjects, approaches and scales: there are grand landscape photos, juxtaposed with intimate details, there’s the industrial aspect and the ad-hoc improvisation that characterises so much of the coastline; there are photographs introducing the people living with / from the estuary, and photographs which veer towards the abstract in their play with colour and composition - I rather enjoy the mix, and think it’s a good representation of the place. The series keeps being added to - see the full series on his website, and also check his Instagram feed.
Mark recently tested a newsprint version of the Chronicles project - since the series has attracted quite some interest lately I would not be surprised to see another, and maybe extended print run before too long.
