His current work is characterised by the quiet observation of daily life; focussing on deliberately low-key subject matter that is often domestic in nature: the washing – up, his Dad’s office, and, repeatedly, his partner Ruth. Yet his work extracts from these everyday situations something profound and consistently beautiful, the sense of a natural order amid the chaos of ordinary things.
Shafran has chosen to concentrate his work on what he knows best, on what he understands more then anyone else: his own life – the most personal relationships, the most familiar spaces and objects, the most ordinary, everyday situations. His work is about preserving identity and uniqueness: it quietly records what is unique to him. As he has said: ‘My photographs are the ones that only I can make.’
David Chandler, Director, Photoworks.