“Young photographers are presented with practically infinite possibilities for creating their images. For me, being able to slow down that process allows for more consideration,” says photographer Evan Purdy. It also allows for more intimacy with a subject or scene. Over the last four years Purdy has developed an analogue practice, from shooting to developing and printing his work in the darkroom, where there is a concentration of the senses. “I find it brings me into a sharp mindfulness, a realm where only myself and my images exist.”

Purdy’s work is aesthetically fluid but the outcome is always emotionally driven. “My photography focuses on the psychology of living within contemporary British society,” he says. “I try to explore the consciousness that surrounds my life. Just like dreams, photography has the ability to reflect what goes on beneath the surface.”

Since the end of last year, he has been working on a long-form project that is due to be published early next year. From what we’ve seen so far, Purdy is leaning into painterly aesthetics, as he traces the role of dance among young populations in places like Berlin, Barcelona, London, New York, Athens, and Manchester. “Titled Shapeshifting, the book explores what it means to dance both independently and collectively inside cities. As young people attempt to create a sense of understanding of their place in the world, the movement of the body liberates the constraints of the mind.”

Through his lens, Purdy hopes to not only document how people understand themselves, but also gain a better understanding of them himself. “I would argue that empathy is the greatest skill for any photographer to master. Our images capture our way of seeing the world, to expand this sense of perception through understanding others, creating a great photograph. The language of photography has the potential to guide people into questioning their shared reality and their own role within that.”

Purdy is less enthusiastic about his experience of studying for a degree. “My course felt like a very potent example of how our places of education have been allowed to lose sight of their primary purpose,” he says, describing it somewhere that felt more like a “business” that treats staff and students alike as “numbers in a spreadsheet” and that lacked in inspiration. “UAL has constructed a mountain of bureaucracy, which made everything feel completely impersonal.”

Having now finished the course, Purdy hopes to carve out a career while maintaining his sense of artistic integrity. “Most photographers have to work commercially in order to create what they truly want to make. It’s this strange reality where in order to be an artist you must first be an advertiser,” he says. It has challenged his early ideas of the kind of field he would like to work in. “I’ve always felt myself drawn to fashion imagery but in getting a closer look I witnessed how photographers are willing to sacrifice all notions of their artistic voice for the sake of commercial gain. Protecting my medium of expression feels like an increasingly impossible task as time goes on.”

The rise of AI has complicated matters further, particularly given the relatively closed circle of decision-makers. “If AI is left to the wealthiest, then it will be used to serve their interests. I think Nick Knight has been pushing for artists to take collective ownership of AI and I agree. A grassroots approach where AI is a partner and a tool of creativity would present a more equal landscape. Artists could help show the power of creative expression over the power of greed.”

His ambition is to continue to use photography as a vehicle for meaningful human connections. “I hope that it stays vulnerable. I hope that it stays honest. Mostly, I want my work to remind people they are not alone in experiencing the overwhelming reality of being a human in the modern world. We have been separated from nature for a long time and I think this creates a universal feeling of unease, the sense that we are missing something.

“My [ambitions] would have been very different years ago. I could have listed a number of publications, brands and galleries that I dreamt of working with, but now I understand that those desires were given to me – they were never what I truly wanted. Ultimately, I have a yearning to explore many things about this world and art has become a way for me to get to a place of understanding.”

@evan.a.purdy