Malcolm Leyland

“As a professional photographer, I specialised in still-life advertising and was commissioned by many well-known advertising and design agencies and publications. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, I built a reputation for a unique and stylised approach to visual messaging for various brands.

Today, having wholly abandoned commercial work, I am focused solely on developing my early ideas, building upon my aesthetic, and experimenting with the medium, pushing the boundaries as far as I can. My work is about distraction and memory as an artistic, poetic experience. To be slow in a hurricane of life. Be here, be contemplative, be moved.

Part of my curiosity and investigation is to look beyond the conventional 'single viewpoint/stolen moment’ framework typically defined by the camera. For many, the 'single viewpoint/stolen moment’ is the end goal in creative terms. For me, it is just the beginning. Meaning is less important to me than experience.” 

The multiple composites of imagery in Mal’s work allow him to represent how we see the world around us. We rarely stand still and focus on a single composed view. We understand our environment and the objects that make it up by adjusting our eyes and shifting our viewpoints. We see many images all at the same time. 

Mal creates multi-image composites using archival pigment ink on high-quality fine art paper. There is no digital manipulation involved; all images are as captured with a camera. The composites are loosely attached to heavy-duty, acid-free art paper or card. The textural quality of the paper is crucial, and the three-dimensional aspect of the loose mounting enhances the overall qualities of the work; in essence, the images are hung rather than mounted.