Acclaimed photographer graduates with doctorate degree after near-decade of continent-spanning research

Dr Simon Larbalestier enrolled at the University within the Department of Art and Design in 2015, to study part-time, for a practice-based PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).

The 62-year-old, originally from Pembrokeshire, Wales, has now graduated earning high praise from examiners who described his research - a photographic investigation into dwelling and habitation - as “a compelling and convincing contribution to new knowledge”.

When he embarked on his PhD project, Simon already had an exceptional track record in the world of Photography and Design, with his work being exhibited and published internationally. Receiving consistent critical acclaim, his accomplishments notably include having created photographs, in collaboration with feted graphic designer Vaughan Oliver (v23/4AD Records), for the Pixies whose influence on the alternative rock boom of the 1990s is widely acknowledged. He has also been profiled on The Late Show, BBC Two’s influential arts magazine programme.

Simon decided to undertake a PhD project following an invite by Dr Cian Quayle, Associate Professor and Programme Leader for BA Photography at the University, to give a guest lecture to Photography students.

He then set himself a global task, conducting his research between Wetherby, West Yorkshire, where he lived as a teenager, and his field work base in Bangkok, and focused on encounters with, and returns to, these locations in both the United Kingdom and Thailand.

The project explored how photographs can express human presence embodied in space and place, framed through phenomenological concepts, which he explains “seek to describe everyday existence as it reveals itself”.

Simon faced considerable challenges as a distance learner, and particularly during the COVID 19 pandemic, in isolation, when he was unable to work on location in the way that his research and practice required. This included a period of three years in Thailand unable to fly. However, the barriers he faced led to a significant and inspired shift in the way which the practice could be thought and reimagined.

Simon shared more on how: “A central question of the thesis is: ‘What is the relationship between being-in-the-world and dwelling?’ I examine how the photographic trace can preserve a chronology of dwelling within sites in both a northeast province of Thailand and in the United Kingdom. The research also considers my personal response to the pandemic, asking: ‘What is the effect of dwelling when a global pandemic suspends movement and isolates individuals?’”

He added: “The philosophical framework of Martin Heidegger also came to play a pivotal role in the research, offering insights into the temporal existence of beings and their rootedness in place.”

Another challenge Simon turned on its head, was the writing side of the PhD, and getting back to study since last attending university in 1987 when he completed a Master of Arts.

He explained: “I appreciated not having to nuance everything academically because a lot of my creativity comes from the chaos of my neurodivergent mind and the way it processes my lived experiences. Accordingly, the rigorous demands of the PhD have taught me very valuable lessons in how to approach my current and upcoming projects.”

He added that his supervisory team provided huge support both in terms of face-to-face meetings and then regular online meetings.

Commenting on Simon’s thesis, Topology of Home: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Nature of Dwelling, the Examination Team said: “The submission presents a compelling and convincing contribution to new knowledge emerging out of the correlation between these different modes of practical and theoretical inquiry. The novel aspect of the research is the poetic interrogation of photography as both a document and a mediation (between the concepts of ‘home’, ‘dwelling’ and a reflection of the importance of phenomenological experience).”

Simon’s return to the United Kingdom in 2024 came with a large and exceptional body of work based on eight extended portfolios covering each phase of his research, in an edited selection of photographs.

On his next steps, he said: “Having completed my PhD, I have returned to the United Kingdom to explore new ways of disseminating my research and creative work. I am currently restructuring my extensive photographic archive, which spans from 1985 to the present, while also exploring the potential of Piezography - a digital printing process that opens new avenues for tonal depth and expression. These ongoing projects reflect my sustained interest in the material and philosophical dimensions of photography, as I continue to examine how memory, presence, and temporality are embodied through the photographic image.”

Dr Cian Quayle added: “I first met Simon when I had just completed my PhD project at Camberwell College of Arts (UAL) in 2000. In 2015 at Chester, the opportunity to supervise Simon’s project arose and has been a rewarding one for myself and Dr Jeremy Turner. Simon’s rigour, precision and vision as a photographer is second-to-none in his poetic use of the medium, and is authentically embodied in the experience and encounter, which inhabits the photographs themselves.”

For more on Simon’s work, please visit: www.simon-larbalestier.co.uk 

ENDS

Images:

1 - The Pandemic: Light-Bleeding Windows in an Abandoned Home, Chaiyaphum Province, Northeast Thailand, December 19, 2021, from the series, The Shell (2013–2022). ©Simon Larbalestier (all rights reserved).

2 - My Mother’s Winter Hat, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, March 15, 2024, from the series, A Return to The Things Themselves (2022–2024). ©Simon Larbalestier (all rights reserved).

3 -Twenty Black Crows, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, March 26, 2023, from the series, A Return to The Things Themselves (2022–2024). ©Simon Larbalestier (all rights reserved).