An Artist's Bio

I've spent most of the weekend trying to write an artist's bio and it has been really difficult and made me feel uncomfortable. Here's the result. It's a first draft I guess because I know it doesn't really fit the criteria for a bio that is supposed to be more about me than the work. But I guess there are bits of information that can be gleaned from it that will inform the reader about my personality - for good or bad! I also posted on my private Facebook account and some fellow OCA students and tutors provided links to some good advice for writing when mentally blocked. Here are the links:

https://filip-magnus-writes.blog/2017/05/23/writing-advice-the-messy-first-draft/?fbclid=IwAR0BGTXWw-naVZWY_iy_GrXUNxtBejHV8tj69t9hbQl_brDiMszBCYkcG1w

https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2013/apr/15/writing-artist-statement-tips-language?fbclid=IwAR3RQVOh4fIjqupazNm2uWlssJASQLVvH3aItr9DxbwKwtLqGnXikYYZdek

Bio:

I like to explore a chosen project through constructed imagery. This entails making props and re-photographing them to incorporate into visual narratives. I'm all about the narrative. I take a topic that I've researched and spend quite a bit of time thinking about it before I ever make any work. Sometimes all that thinking gives me sleepless nights and I have to reach across and doodle in my sketchbook visualisations of a thought that has been quietly nagging away at me. It can take a month or a few years for a project to get underway. Most of my projects are connected to Queer identity as that is part of who I am and I think it is important to make work on themes that I have a tangible connection to.

At some point the research has been done to death and there is a flurry of activity; prop making, scouting out locations, perusing my sketchbook for oblique truths – always thinking, always looking for that elusive moment when thoughts and ideas and visualisations crash together and something small coalesces into something larger, more profound. Once I know I'm there I find the work comes together very quickly and a series of images are made. They might need tweaking; that one idea that completes the series may remain ellusive for a while - but it doesn't take long once I'm fired up on a project.

My name is Michael Colvin and I'm a photographer artist. This is my bio and I think the work I make is more important than who I am.