Discover the evolving body of my work through showcased exhibitions, each accompanied by the research, concepts, and creative processes that shaped them.

- Drayton Colson

2026

2025

Artist Statement:

Maxine (Triptych) 

This triptych centres on Maxine, a stripper and trained dancer, to explore the dualities of strength and sensuality within stripping culture. Using chiaroscuro lighting. (A technique rooted in the Renaissance and Baroque periods to dramatize contrast and volume through intense light and shadow) Historically employed by artists like Caravaggio and Rembrandt to convey emotional intensity and divine presence, here chiaroscuro is recontextualised to elevate the dancer’s body.  

To pay homage to the travelling circus strippers, these photos are set against drapery as an allusion to the stage curtains and backdrops seen in those performances. This homage is reinforced by printing the photos on rough canvas, reminiscent of circus tents. Extending this theatrical reference, the work explores how costume, particularly heels, acts as both armour and identity. The photographs blur the boundary between persona and self, reflecting how strippers often adopt hyper-feminine roles as protective strategies. The images frame Maxine’s body as both powerful and performative. Through pose, lighting, and visual symbolism, the work critiques the viewer’s gaze while inviting reflection on how visibility, performance, and power intersect in the sex industry. Rather than documenting reality, this series constructs a narrative of embodiment and resistance. 

-Drayton Colson, 2025

 Artist Statement:

Jamila

My work explores the relationship between time and space through the photographic medium. With my primary focus being on pole dancing. Initially, this project was to document my personal journey with the sport, but as my research deepened, I found a much broader history and cultural discourse surrounding it that I felt needed to be addressed through my work. My practice turned out to be deeply influenced by historical and contemporary discourses surrounding pole dance, positioning it within broader conversations about bodily autonomy, performance, and artistic representation.  The origins of pole dance can be traced back to ancient cultures in places like India, where it was used for fertility and religious rituals. Over time, this evolved into performances by sex workers in strip clubs. (Which could be interpreted as a more western fertility ritual.) The dance form has undergone a significant transformation to distance itself from its strip club reputation. Despite the work done by strippers to establish studio spaces for pole dance, this shift has now caused tension between modern pole dancers and sex workers, as newer dancers do not want to associate with the stripping aspect of pole. Many pole moves are named after the strippers who created them and used them as their signature move during their performances. For example, the moves I have chosen to photograph, Jamila and Jasmine, pay homage to these dancers. It was these strippers that worked in the sex industry who were also able to grow the dance studio community, which in turn expanded the pole dancing community, legitimizing the sport and allowing it to be seen as an athletic art form.  In my work, I depict the transitional moments of getting in and out of the moves in the background while highlighting the main move in the landscape orientation. I am investigating the ways in which spatial aspects and temporality can shape the perception of movement. Drawing inspiration from Eadweard Muybridge’s early motion studies, my photographic work fragments and isolates movement, breaking it down into distinct visual moments. The integration of multiple exposures and sequencing techniques references the layered imagery of Peter Funch, allowing me to condense time within a single frame, creating a tension between fluidity and stillness. 

A1 fine art gloss print mounted on card 

2024

Artist Statement:

Falls  

These waterfall artworks have stemmed from me hiking out in the Waitakere Ranges with my brother, where we would find places to photograph together. Through these hikes I became drawn to the waterfalls and how much the captured movement of a waterfall can vary. Through this, I was also interested in how this size translates into the studio space. Because my preferred working medium is photo media, I started by working in photoshop to enhance this size. I worked to make the image slimmer to bring attention to the water and then elongated the waterfall in the image. This elongation process made me fascinated with the sizes of everything in the photo, so I also dragged in the tree to overlap the waterfall, as this tree in real life is also very enormous, and I have never seen this type of tree so big before, and it really captivated my attention. Then, to continue the idea of bringing the size of the waterfall into the studio, I have printed the photo at 1 x 3 meters. Through photoshopping the water, however, I became extremely interested in its captured movement and then wanted to replicate this. So, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and paint another waterfall picture I had taken, trying to keep it more abstract and just looking at tones and movement. Emphasizing both elements with wall filler mixed into the paint to give a 3d element to the painting.  

Acrylic paint, Wall Filler, on Card, 2.5 x 1 meter

Canvas print, 3 x 1 meters

Artist Statment:

The Mark

These two sister works have developed through my experiments with paint and playing with how I can manipulate this medium with different things to bring this out onto the canvas. At first, I experimented with leaves, fingerprints, hair, and forks in order to see the mark each would leave on the canvas. I found on the small pages I was testing on I really enjoyed the marks the hair would leave on the canvas. So, I thought I would scale up and continue with the hair but then realized I only liked the hair marks on the smaller canvas, and I much preferred the forks on a large scale. After experimenting with painted backgrounds, I decided to use bright colours which led to the orange background, and after stepping back, I decided to invert it and have a black background. These two works have come out of experimentation, refinement of the experiment, but also a playful movement of swiping a fork across a canvas from top to bottom.  

Acrylic paint, Wall Filler, on card, 2 x 1 meters

Artist Statement

This work marks my first university project at Whitecliffe, where we were challenged to reinterpret Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez through our own creative lens. As a photographer, I approached the task using a technique I frequently return to—compositing multiple versions of myself into a single image. This method allows me to explore identity, perspective, and narrative within a still frame. The "paintings" featured in the background are past photographic works of mine, originally created during high school, some of which received national recognition. By incorporating them into this piece, I aimed to reflect on my creative journey while recontextualizing classical themes through a contemporary, self-referential lens.

Drayton Colson, Recontextulised, print on canvas, 2 x 1.5 meters

2023