24:2009

24:2009 will be celebrating their sixth annual show in Greenwich. Every year since 2004 , between the hours of midnight New Years Eve and midnight New Years Day, 24 photographers have looked to find an image that sums up the essence of that hour for them - be it a social, political or an environmental concern - or a personal reflection of that moment in time.

This year 24photography will be staging two exhibitions, the first in The Royal Park Greenwich will feature the 24 images taken on the 1st January 2009 while the nearby Viewfinder Gallery will stage an interim retrospective, showcasing the 144 images created by the photographers who have contributed to the movement to date. 

Nicky Wilcox, one of the founding members of 24photography, described the images, 'as a subtle catalogue of our time, raising questions of where we are and where we might be by 24:2010'.

I have been contributing images to 24photography for the past three years and the themes that have emerged in my own work are concerns for our fragile earth and ensuring a safe future for our children. 

This year I chose to spend the evening of the 1st January 2009 in the Maternity wing at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing of UCLH, where my own children were born in 2001 and 2004 respectively - the year 24photography was initiated. My son will be 24 when this project is complete and I can only hope that actions I take now will have some positive impact on his future world - however small that might be.

The evening I spent with doctors, nurses and parents at UCLH once again confirmed the immense respect I have for the staff at this hospital. The stories the nurses have to tell, the focus and dedication of the doctors and the visible pain of the parents is all to tangible and in a way to fragile to photograph. Instead I chose to photograph an empty cot and use the words written in a christmas letter to the staff thanking them again for saving the lives of twins born in the same month as my son.

The exhibition opens on the 24th February and runs through until the 19th March 2009.