My work is primarily concerned with visual perception, particularly in relation to the things we create as human beings. Our learnt notions of what is beautiful, what is ugly, what is seen as good taste and bad, and how these ideas can radically change over time. Why do aspects, such as balance, composition, elegance, subtlety and nuance, often hang on a ‘knife edge’ where, on the one side, they become powerfully activated and on the other, sometimes by the tiniest of degrees, are left completely inert?

Is our knowledge of something man-made, and the references it creates in our minds, solely responsible for how we see it? When we look at art, architecture, or listen to music, how is it communicating to us on an unconscious level? How do buildings relate to others in the immediate environment or with the natural world? Are they harmonising with it, or purposefully contrasting with it? Which is the best option? How are they effected by time, not only in an historical context, but in their physical state as well – does time merely degrade them, or enhance them?

And ultimately, as we learn more about context, is it possible for us to replace the old references in our minds and, in effect, see through clearer eyes?

Shawn Stipling lives and works in Cambridge, UK.