Thinking (Space): After Study, a Pause

After graduating, I found myself in a creative limbo. I continued working on my diploma project, which evolved into Somewhere Less Than Heaven, and I sought new ways to push my work forward. Enrolling in PH Museum’s Folio Masterclass in 2022 expanded my perspective on photography, especially in the context of the photobook. Yet, despite the structure and community, I hit a wall - a period of self-doubt and creative exhaustion.

Sometimes, we need to step away. To recharge. To create space for new ideas to emerge.

Then, out of nowhere, an opportunity arrived: a one-month residency in Japan. With barely a week’s notice, I found myself on a plane, heading towards an unfamiliar place at the base of Mount Fuji, sharing a house with strangers. I had no plan, no project in mind - only the urge to experiment, play, and create for curiosity.

That experience, in hindsight, was formative. It reminded me that creativity is not always about control, about knowing where a piece of work is going. Sometimes, it’s about embracing instability, about allowing work to exist as a kind of visual scrapbook - traces of thoughts and feelings, unresolved but alive.

I still don’t know exactly what I made in Japan. But maybe that’s the point. Photography, after all, is as much about asking questions as it is about finding answers.

Thomas Martin was part of Face-to-Face: Arles Edition 2024.