On Saturday I went to HM Manchester Prison, known to Mancunians as Strangeways, to research new work on domestic abuse and violence. Governor Knight is known to be forward thinking and permitted an artist to work inside the prison and to use forbidden camera equipment! I create portraits but what happens to a person when they choose the space they are photographed in? Might they offer a different version of their self, how much does our environment influence our identity?

Armed with lots of questions I checked in through security and had an awful moment when I could not remember if it is safe to put film through an x-ray machine. My supervisor and protector Paul Hollis was not at all amused insisting that if my rolls of film could not go through full security they were not entering the building - I guess I will learn the answer when I develop them. It was hard to argue with three armed men when they had taken my belt and my jeans were slipping off!

Once I had got my kit and shoes back my current muse Sarah arrived. Sarah survived DV and used to take extra shifts as a nurse at the prison to escape her home. She chose this venue insisting that for her it had represented security, a safe world of authority and order.  I’m exploring these narratives and trying to work out how my work can promote debate. Do we need to see the prison or will the subject reveal something from within herself just by owning this space? I know she was trapped inside a marriage but it is important to avoid cliche.

My last series of work explored transgender narratives and was studio based using natural light. Initially it was very strange to have the world stripped back to a grey wall with only the subject to gaze at and work with. I’m looking at this - and wondering what the aesthetic of the DV project will be? How will the images work as a series, how to link them visually whilst exploring many different stories. 

Like “You Brought Your Own Light” this work begins with me. Do we ever really understand another person or their marriage? As a child I thought my parents were normal, as a teenager I saw the families of my friends and taking refuge in their homes I understood that to fight and hate was not the foundation of relationships. My friends did not sit in the darkness of the landing at night listening to a battle below. They did not hold their breath or cover their mouth to stay silent. I think the violence that I could hear, but not see, drives me to make these images. My dad died just before Christmas but never felt that his behaviour was wrong, ” I should have left years ago, all women love me, they all say I’m the good guy, there’s something wrong with her, I’m the real victim; not you.” I do not believe he could have answered my questions. So I asked the prison officers, “Tell me about men who are violent? What makes a man beat a woman?” They asked, “Why does she stay?” I do not think that society asks the right question: Why did he not stop?