Philip was born in Rhodesia in 1952 (Zimbabwe) to artistic/creative parents. His early childhood memories are of huge optimism and a healthy ‘can do’ attitude, despite the country’s racial and political shortcomings. It was a time of innocence mixed with excitement. The promise was that a synthesis of technology and the ancient indigenous cultures would result in a new culture a long way from the cynicism of Europe.

But it was not to be: although he felt his roots were in Africa the developing political and racial environment drove him to depart for Europe at the age of 19. His late father, a renaissance man (www.davidchudy.com) had died when he was 13 but had left a strong impression. Philip was positive about his potential to contribute as a traditional media fine artist. But, his first close up taste of the Euro art world was a shock. He expected to have something in common with fellow artists but found no common ground at all. He told himself he was interested in vision and the excitement of seeing life in the raw, not in plundering existing cultural references, nor in what he saw as using visual media to illustrate intellectual or non visual ideas. Even the counter culture seemed institutionalized and depressing to his eyes. He was refused by a number of art schools in England. One went as far as to tell him that he was too formed and that they only wanted students who they could ‘mould’.

His immediate reaction was to give up and he turned to photography which he felt did not have as much attached cultural baggage. Although continuing to idealize traditional media, it would be years before he began once again to work in this area.

Under the circumstances, photography suited, mostly as it served a double purpose permitting him to reconnect in some way to Africa on short trips, which he made regularly from the 70s–mid 90s. He typically traveled to remote parts of the country, or braved racially segregated townships with large (4”x5”and 8”x10”) plate cameras. He tried to capture a sense of ‘normality’, whether shooting undocumented landscapes or connecting with isolated individuals, some of whose only physical legacy may be their impressions in these photos. Although much of the work from this period work may be valid in a documentary/anthropological sense his stated intention was expressly anti documentary.

A sense of the incongruous permeates many of his photos. A feeling that what has been captured is part of a dreamscape is more important than that the events/subject/time is properly catalogued for posterity. “I often went on trips with friends who were keen to recount the adventure and the places where we had been: their snapshots were far more effective than my images - - my images had very little to do with the experience or what we did”.

Despite the ‘non documentary’ imperative, for years Philip was not inspired to produce any art photography featuring any English or European subjects. Instead he concentrated on commercial studio photography where he satisfied him urge to experiment with technical special effects and early computer graphics. During the 80’s, Philip worked on high-end advertising accounts from a large loft in London’s docklands. After a fire destroyed much of the building, he relocated to Scotland. This is where he developed his first personal/art photographic connection with Europe.

Still searching for a sense of Africa’s space, he began to photograph bleak environments first in the far North. Images shot Lapland and Scotland formed a new aesthetic framework to which images from the rest of Europe might be attached.
Philip is now based in the Bay Area of California, a place which he values because it shares the light and endless blue skies of the Highveld in Zimbabwe. “The basis of my visual aesthetic were built on this kind of light: California is a place which still looks to the future”. “I am at home here both as a photographer /CGI artist and a fine artist”
His photo work has been featured in a series of solo gallery shows in USA, England, Scotland, Holland and Germany.