"Passer-By II" Photograph - Limited Edition of 25

Artist Statement

"I don't capture what I see. I build what I feel about what I've seen." This simple idea underpins Steven Irwin's practice.

Working at the intersection of photography, collage and mixed media, Irwin constructs layered urban landscapes that explore memory, identity and the fragile relationship between people and the cities they inhabit. His works are not documentary records but psychological reconstructions, where architecture, typography, literary references and human traces are assembled into visual narratives that reveal the hidden histories embedded within the modern metropolis.

Drawing on both analogue and digital processes, Irwin combines his own photographic material with negative layering, distressed surfaces, scratching, staining and digital montage to create richly textured compositions. Each work functions as a form of visual archaeology, examining how cities accumulate culture, mythology and collective memory while simultaneously reflecting the impermanence of contemporary civilisation.

Influenced by cinema, literature and the evolving language of the urban environment, his recent series explores iconic cities such as London, New York and Los Angeles as cultural landscapes rather than geographical locations. These layered images blur the boundaries between reality and imagination, inviting viewers to navigate spaces where memory, history and fiction coexist.

Steven Irwin studied at Cardiff College of Art and London Film School and has exhibited extensively in group exhibitions throughout the UK, alongside solo exhibitions at MoMA Wales and the Penarth Pavilion Gallery. His work was featured in the exhibition Urban Psyche at the Xposure International Photography Festival, UAE, in 2025.

As Rise Art curator Adriana Marques observed, "Irwin's take on our dense urbanscapes reminds us that even bricks and mortar don't last forever." His work continues to challenge the conventions of photography while exploring the emotional and cultural archaeology of the contemporary city.