EVERY PERSON ON THE B10 BUS

Artist Statement

The bus is a strange place. Groups of humans gathered together in closed quarters pretending they are alone. Regular travellers will know someone on their route visually but will never know their name. They are often just a visual signpost in their daily commute. Travelling between places, neither in one destination or the next tends to see people drop the performance of the majority of their everyday interactions. You see them as they are and that’s what I hope to have captured here. This project started as a way to connect with people’s humanity. To feel a part of the human race rather than disconnected from it. The portraits are drawn anonymously and in situ on my daily commute. They are chosen by whoever was in my line of sight and took an average of two minutes to draw before people moved. Upon moving, the drawing was finished even if in a state of unfinished. Though what unfinished is I do not know anymore. Sometimes just a nose on a page or a single eye does more to capture the person than a completed portrait would. I have drawn straight with pen so as not to be too precious. If I make a mistake, it’s on to a new page. This 3 year project yielded more than 800 images, a portion of which are exhibited here. Though the body of work is called every person on the B10 bus, the project moved from the B10 to other routes and forms of public transport after I moved house midway through the project. And it was only when the B10 bus route was eliminated as a service that this project found its natural end.

The film ‘Come fly with me’ is an animated recounting of a woman I met on the train and the experience shared between two lonely people trying to connect. It is made up of over 3000 images drawn using a mouse.

Lastly, if you happen to see yourself on the wall, come say hi. I never did get your name.