Tom McMahon

Tom has struggled with his reading, writing, and short attention span throughout his life. He often found himself ‘zoning out,’ where his mind would wander freely, drifting in and out of dream worlds. The images in MindScape are visualisations of these worlds. Through infrared photography and intentional camera movement (ICM), he captures surreal photographs that intersect the blurred lines between the recognisable and unrecognisable, where fact and fiction, past and present, collide.

The project documents Tom’s learning experiences as a child in high school, meandering through time and space to now, in his role as an undergraduate. The recent diagnosis has been crucial in this journey, as he is now able to reflect on the challenges of the past, coming to a deeper understanding, clarity, and acceptance of the disability and himself’.