Work held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Oxford University, The Royal Society
I create portraits. This can mean anything from a simple formal likeness hanging at the National Portrait Gallery to a provocative and playful nude study created in collaboration with an exhibitionist artist.
"The secret of producing a good photographic portrait is to engage the subject in a collaborative effort in which both parties bring something to the final result. Clearly this is something present in Robert Taylor's engaging and provocative collection of characters. He gives his subjects their individuality and a voice, as well as making the images unique to his own personal artistic and cultural interpretation. People are not used to giving a reaction to an artist's work in an art show, so this is wholly admirable.
By including the voices of his subjects as they explore the surprisingly complicated business of being themselves, the whole enterprise becomes far more democratic, multi-sided and ultimately worthwhile."
Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs,
The National Portrait Gallery, London,
May 2000
One of my most favoured working methods is the combining of striking and often intimate portraiture with the individual voices of my subjects, either answering my questions or making some kind of relevant declaration. The additional element of a 'voice' often provides an insight that might get lost in words or images alone, however well crafted.
My background in law, publishing, sustainable development work in West Africa and prison reform enables me to draw on a wide range of experiences and insights when creating and developing such projects.
Recent projects include:
Projects listed in bold type below can be seen at my website www.taylor-photo.co.uk
- Women in S.E.T. An ongoing exhibition celebrating the achievements of award winning women of outstanding achievement in science, engineering and technology.
- Offender Artists An exploration of creativity as a part of rehabilitation through portraits and interviews created in prison with award winning offender artists.
- Light After Death An exploration of some of the surprising manifestations of life, light and joy possible for some after bereavement.
- Tim Clarke, NOW A collaboration with a terminally ill man exploring through portraiture and extended text interviews his feeling about and preparation for his imminent death.
- A collaboration with some members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a group of teenagers with extreme special educational needs exploring the young people's sense of self through their reactions and interactions with portrait making and music making.
- A portrait of a university in the form of 50 portraits accompanied by short interviews exploring the subjects' relationship to the university and the city that it is part of.
- A specially commissioned portrait of a small impoverished West African town in the form of a small book, comprising interviews, portraits, general photography and a diary featuring the photographer's very personal impressions of the people, places and novel experiences.
- A collaboration with a portrait painter in which sixteen people were the subject of both painted and photographic portraits, - created completely independently - and then asked to compare the two media, describing their experiences of the two processes, and feelings about the results. The exhibition featured the portraits and extracts from their responses.
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