Neil Massey
Photographer / Based in London, UK
Neil Massey (b).1970
After studying photography at Bournemouth Art School in England, I spent the following 15 years based in London working as an editorial photographer. During this time, I traveled extensively commissioned to photograph musicians and youth subcultures. Identity a theme I have been revisiting ever since.
In 2009 I moved to Vietnam where I lived for six years. I fell in love with Vietnamese culture and its people - witnessing a communist country embracing capitalism and undergoing rapid economic and cultural development. This provided the backdrop to a series of long-term photographic projects ('Bloody Chunks', 'Untitled', 'Song' and 'Monobloc') entitled 'The Vietnam Collection'. This body of work explores Vietnamese life - in all its raw unadulterated beauty.
My last three projects ‘Monobloc’ ‘Trace’ and ‘An Ode To: The British Telephone Box’ have been investigating the mundane objects in our lives. I like to think of these man made objects as artefacts from the 21st Century. Treated like pieces of evidence, they are not moved, they are photographed as found. This work, though absent of people examines human presence and the aftermath of human activities.
I am also working on a multi-media collaborative project entitled 'Vietnam KIN' which aims to reunite lost Vietnamese family photographs with their rightful owners.
I'm currently based in London.