Marc Provins

I woke up twice last night, the first time I was having a dream about Spaghetti Hoops which I've not eaten or thought about since childhood, but now I'm craving them. The second time I was dreaming about my favourite city, Antwerp, speaking fluent Flemish which I can only do in my dreams. I didn't visit last year so will definitely be going this year. The last time I went it was 20 years since I'd moved there and so I made portraits of some my 'Antwerp family'. This year it will be 20 years since I came back so I hope I can finish the set.  So from the archive two images of Carina.

A couple of nights ago I was chatting with Camilla Parker Bowles in a dream. She seems really nice and looks much younger than she does on the telly. The next night I dreamt I was pulling live insects out of a crack in my skin, that wasn't so pleasant. I mention this as I've been pondering the human experience and the way our realities are multi-layered, we are able to think about the past, the present and the future and generally not get confused. We move seamlessly between fact and fiction whilst enjoying books, films and games, we experience art and music on both a sensual and an intellectual level.  The American photographer Rebecca Norris Web says "My Images are much wiser than I am. It often takes me months and sometimes years to understand what they are trying to say to me." When things go well  for me  taking pictures becomes almost meditative, completely instinctive and intuitive with barely no conscious decisions. It is only later wh...

I hope I'm not confusing you, my blog audience, by bouncing between making work in the outside world and  still lives in  my intimate box room. I'm finding it quite thought provoking moving quickly from one to another, seeing shapes, arrangements and colours reflected from one approach in the other. I also like the blurring of the disciplines shifting from staged still life pictures one day to observing and framing the moving, changing world the next. It feels like they are coming together in some way, watch this space... The title of this blog post is the Dutch word we take our English word  still life  from. It came into use in the 17th Century to describe a genre of painting very much in fashion.  Hearing the Dutch language always makes me happy as it reminds me of two of the best years of my life living in Antwerp, and also my Belgian 'family', a lovely collection of people that are still great friends 20 years since my pal Matt and me fi...

I take so many photographs that I seem to be developing my own image stock library. It's often a surprise when I see themes emerge without me deliberately seeking them out. This is one such set which I was going to call 'Roar' but I don't think sharks do that. Strangely I've had quite a few dreams/ nightmares about being chased recently, I wonder if there is a connection?