When I was in my late teens, I read ‘Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism’ by Chögyam Trungpa. It’s about acquiring religion or spirituality like a merit badge or a batch of holiday snaps to show everyone where you’ve been and what you’ve consumed. At the time it went right past me; I was on a collecting expedition that would last the next 20 years. I favored the exotic, having been disappointed by Christianity in many ways, not least, for condemning me as an abomination. - from my artist's statement