Stuart Paton says about himself:
‘I was born and raised in the central belt of Scotland. The next half of my life was spent in France before turning up like a bad penny in Milan just before Christmas. More Shadowboxer than prizefighter, I nonetheless aspire to pictures with some lo-fi sociology and soul. I’m a photographer because I couldn’t face a dreary 9 to 5 and it offers the only hope I have of self-validation and re-enchanting my world. I shoot street photography in the spirit of reportage – and vice-versa. Then I cross my fingers and hope the result is a mixture of ‘Guernica’ and The Shangri-Las.’
About ‘Black Dog Empire’:
‘Black Dog Empire’ is a set of photographs shot mainly during a two-month break in Milan, Spring 2016. My life was a mess and my possessions waited in boxes. A whole era of my life was coming to an end and I was distraught. My relationship had collapsed, friends had gone missing and my father-in-law was dying. I was encouraged to channel my sadness into pictures and that’s what I did. The result is two-dimensional grief and foreboding. It’s photography as self-therapy and the hope it has the same redemptive healing powers as Tamla Motown.
