Most of my work is published using Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. In short, I'm open for you to share and adapt my work as long as you link back to me, don't make money out of it, and share your remix in the same way. Let me know if you do use any of my work. I’d love to hear/read/see what you’ve done with it. Some of my work is not published under such licence. If you are unsure if you are allowed to reuse my work, get in touch.
Photographer. Sound Artist. Writer. Microadventurer.
At the root of my creativity lie the outdoors and microadventures.
Those types of adventures are often described as an easy escape from every day life into the great outdoors. There is truth to that, but for me they are more. They are a reminder that adventures do not need to be daring and big to be challenging and rewarding. Exploring my local area is just as exciting.
It connects me to the land, each footstep or pedal stroke an imprint on my memory and body of the landscape I encounter. In a world where in a matter of hours we can be in another continent this reminds me that the grass is not always greener somewhere else. There is wonder and magic to be found by travelling under my own steam from my front door.
I record those journeys in photos, sounds, and words, taking you on the road with me. I become the guide through which you can embark on a journey in a particular space and time, seeing the details of everyday life, meeting strangers, exploring new landscapes, and delving into my inner world. The results are an archive of the world and myself in a particular a date, time, and place.
Queer Out Here
An audio zine that explores the outdoors from queer perspectives
Issue 08 is open for submissions until the 28th of February 2023!
Find out how to submit from our website.
Passage
In early March 2016, I found myself in a deserted train station in Spain. At my feet lay my bike, wrapped in industrial size bin bags. Next to it, my four panniers rested in a line ready to be mounted on the racks. I stood, alone, in front of them, the reality of my journey slowly sinking in. Eventually I hooked the panniers to their rightful place. I got on the bike and pedalled away.
Passage is the story of that journey.
My Commute
In 2019, I decided to carry a camera with me to document the sights I witnessed during my daily commute. Occasionally I wrote some bad poetry too to encapsulate my experience.
This project will be a record of those photos and words in a zine format. Estimated publishing date is 2021.
Scattered seeds
In another life I would have been happy to hear of neighbouring farms, the changes in the village, the plight of weather, the sale of wheat, the new cattle coming in, but this is not this life. The dry soil of dirt and blown seed is not mine. The vivid brown of ploughed fields in the rain is not mine. They belong to a past that was not handed to me, a past I learned to reject too early and can never regain. And yet, it is a past I still yearn for.
Returning to books
Invigorated by this feeling, I turned to a collection of Japanese short stories borrowed from my brother in 2019 (Tokyo Electrique edited and translated by Corinne Quentin). It rekindled a love of reading in translation and a fascination with Japan. I took to Twitter to ask for Japanese authors recommendations. Titles flooded my notifications and my reserve limit at the library was quickly met. Books trickled in, my job changed, and I found myself with less time in the morning and evening to read. The trade off was an hour long lunch during which I could switch off from spreadsheets, and the unstoppable flow of data. A time of my own to claim and use as I wished. I chose to read. I opened paper books and lost myself.
Scenes of Life – How do I heal?
It is June now and I am sitting on an unfamiliar sofa in a rented space for a week’s holiday. My mind stopped its incessant racing, words bubbled inside of me, and here I am typing on a keyboard. I feel grounded as I hear the calls of bird I cannot see, the intermittent pattering of rain on the window, and the gentle music humming from the speakers. I am still, counted time left behind.
Protected: Scenes of Life – Week 015 to 021
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Scenes of Life – Week 014
‘I am tired,’ I mumble to myself. I remember the offer of the doctor in week 11 to sign me off work for however long I thought I would need. It is so tempting to call them and ask to be signed off but it is only a week until the Christmas break, just one week to live through before time is my own, before I can retreat within myself and be free to begin to process the enormity of what I have come to realise about myself and start to live anew.
Scenes of Life – Week 013
In the evening, my partner picks me up from work. I rest my head against the car window and breathe. My world is changing again, my body and mind reeling against the change in spite of wanting this return of the public at work. I feel like a boat rocking on an ever shifting sea, my being carried along without any control.
Allysse Riordan
Originally from Northern France, I relocated in the UK in the early 2010s where I discovered cycle touring and microadventures.
Before that I lived a pretty regular life, doing my time at university before finding a normal job. I wrote a bit but mostly watched far too much TV that led to creating fanfictions and podfics. Until one day, the Internet led me to the world of cycle touring and microadventures.
Curious, I gave it a try and one thing leading to another, I swapped TV for the outdoors, discovering a world I never thought existed outside of my front door. Eager to share my journeys, I began to write a blog which reunited me with my love of writing, and soon afterwards I discovered the world of field recording, pushing new boundaries in my creativity.
At the source of my work are my journeys and every day life. Through non-fiction pieces, I recount the personal stories I encounter in my daily life and during my travel, taking the reader/viewer/listener outdoors with me. I become the guide through which the audience can embark on a journey in a particular space and time, noticing the small things of everyday life, meeting strangers, exploring new landscapes, and delving into my inner world.
Ears open and pen at the ready, I am a wanderer and a creator.