My name is Mat. I’m a writer, photographer and filmmaker from Shropshire, England.
That’s me, just casually leaning against a genuine pukka Japanese pavilion. As you do. It’s not posey.
Maybe it is, but that’s okay. It sums up some of what my work is about: masculinity, performance, identity, class. These are themes that are as important now as they’ve ever been. This picture was taken in Staffordshire, not Japan. Japan is expensive, Staffordshire isn’t. I’ve never corrected anyone. Oh, and I was posing, but only after someone jokingly accused me of not having any normal looking photos.
But for the sake of my ego, please note that I always look like this. I don’t walk into any room where there’s not an eye level elbow rest and natural backlighting. It’s important to preserve the illusion.
Ultimately, though, I’m a storyteller.
From my days in journalism, working for two of the UK’s most popular local newspapers, to novels, photographs and films, the mission has been the same. I want to tell incredible stories. I want to put people – real characters – at the centre. I’ve been working on these same ideas for decades. And, yes, for the sake of my ego, look surprised when I say decades.
From my younger years sending scripts loaded with spelling mistakes to the BBC Writer’s Room, I’ve made this my career. And while the spelling isn’t always much better, the ideas have evolved. They’re bigger, focussed on things that impact all of us. I explore these ideas through characters lost in a world that’s become at once too big and too small, and much too quickly.
This site is filled with information on novels, short stories, films, photographs, and anything else I turn my attention to. It’s ultimately not a website about me, but about you, about us all. My work reflects a society uneasy with itself, lost in longing for earlier, easier days.
But this page, this is about me, my trip to a Japanese garden in Staffordshire and, most importantly, my fragile ego.
For information or inquiries, email mat@randominsanity.info