Beau Birkett grew up in the West Midlands, being interested in the creativity of the arts and the technical aspects of design, he studied a BA(hons) in Furniture Design at BIAD (Birmingham Institute of Art and Design). After graduating, Beau has worked as a freelance furniture designer for 2 years before going through a bout of depression and feeling that morally his design ethos has no room for self expression. He is now returning to the loose creativity of the art world, after 5 years of the tightly structured design world.
Educated in the material world and how the environment affects behaviour Beau has developed a keen eye for observation.
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The abandoned factories of the heavily industrialised landscape has sparked an appreciation for the weathering of the made world and its attached history.
Now in London and with no formal training in this area, Beau has learnt how to use a 35mm film camera, develop and scan negatives through trial and error. Utilising the medium of monochromatic film photography, his body of work explores the human condition; the insignificance of the individual but also the realisation that each life is completely unique with it’s own incomprehensible complexities.
Beau is using the binary nature of black and white film photography to reflect the fundamental human needs found during depression. It allows him to pull out the most important elements and submerge the superfluous into nonexistence, echoing his own experience of a stripped back life. By opposing the usual norms of photography and shooting all of his work at night, he subverts the usual urban context, as light is now coming from the inside rather than the outside, highlighting usually unseen things and compositions.
