I often start by taking snapshots, sketches, and see what they might suggest or I think of the books I’ve read recently or films I’ve seen, or something I remember. My work is built on the idea of a world that has its own rules, its own fiction. I have particular ideas that I want to explore; at the moment they concern the notion of mirroring, both as an act of photographing something and as a term related to psychoanalysis, to how we might behave with one another, or how also we might view an image, a portrait. Jean Cocteau’s Orphée (1950) influenced my thinking here also – a parallel imagined world. When you look closely at one subject – like the roses or the couch or an analyst’s office – something can suddenly fall into place. It’s how a choreographer might construct a dance, or a composer might compose music; taking one gesture as a motif to build upon. It’s a similar thing for me with photography, constructing an image out of something that’s already there. Later, there may be a fine-tuning of sentences or nuances; the lighting and the composition are very specific in my work.

[Interview: Frieze]