"This photograph is part of a series of self-portraits taken in my childhood bedroom at home. Over time changes have occurred – furniture has come and gone, wallpaper has peeled, carpet has been pulled up, walls have been plastered and painted. Yet the basic constraints of the room – its size and shape, the angles of light – have remained constant. It is against this background that I have photographed myself. Like the room, I both change and stay the same. I use props – wings, a parasol, a broadsword – and clothing to repeatedly reinvent and resituate myself in this narrowly defined space.

At the time I took this photograph, I was in an in-between state, at home again after some time away. In this portrait, the room is also between incarnations. The old textured wallpaper, thick with light-blue paint, has been removed and the wall replastered. The beautiful swirling brown tones of the wall will soon be covered with matt white paint, but for now it holds its own."