Justin Pumfrey has had a lifelong passion for understanding and trying to deeply connect with the boundless mystery of the world around us. It led him to Oxford, where he studied poetry, and then into working extensively in different spiritual traditions as a means to come closer to the underlying mystery of simply being. It is this magic that his work seeks to capture — turning the ordinary back into what it always is — the extraordinary — and reminding us that we are all, he believes, dealing in a magic realm; nobody knows why or how it works. In many ways it is this mantra of openness - of pure, guileless receptivity - that is the starting point for all his visual explorations. 

 

Of his approach to photography he says:

 

“For me, photography has always been a conduit; an invitation to see things as they really are, beyond concepts and dualities - to have the world revealed, naked and new, both in time, and beyond it. As such, my photography is something like a spiritual practice. It's an opportunity to enter into seeing completely, and to leave my ordinary mind, with all its distinctions and labellings, behind. At its best, I believe that’s what photography is: an incredibly precious invitation to the ineffable. And It’s what I hope my images do. I hope they invite you into the nameless.”

 

The work shown here is mostly created since 2020, when during lockdown Justin was drawn to explore his deep love of the natural world, and in particular the plant kingdom. In those difficult times, nature was unaffected and for him, a continuous source of vibrancy, hope and joy. The sections by numeral reflect different entry points in a continuous inquiry; each numeral introduces a different view point or approach which spontaneously took his interest and each collection serves as an invitation into an illumined space; a ‘magic realm’ which is both deeply personal and universal; a place where feeling is the bridge between what is seen, and that which cannot be. 

 

Over several decades Justin has produced a body of work that reflects his personal journey alongside a very successful career as an international photographer working in editorial and advertising. Justin has won many awards for his work, most recently first place in the 2023 Fine Art Photography Awards and Silver at the 2023 Prix De La Photographie Paris PX3 Awards.

 

 

 

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