ABOUT APARTMENT HD
NHL +447384408956
JDD +447885185662
Together, two lines of enquiry converge in Apartment HD, a collaborative investigation into the spiritual, visual, and psychological textures of contemporary space.
Artist Statements
Natasha Lara Hughes
Natasha’s practice emerges from a deeply personal trajectory shaped by lived experience, including her escape from a situation of captivity and abuse that impacted both herself and her infant daughter. Her work operates as a form of visual testimony—an articulation of survival, resilience, and transformation. Through image-making, she seeks spaces of stillness and transcendence, evoking the quiet persistence of faith that sustained her through profound trauma.
Her compositions are marked by a dynamic minimalism: environments that are at once charged and contemplative, energetic yet serene. These works offer moments of pause and reflection amid the relentless velocity of contemporary life. Drawing upon architectural forms, geometric restraint, and the poetics of light and line, Natasha investigates the relationship between the human body, consciousness, and constructed space—both interior and exterior.
A longstanding engagement with abstraction underpins her approach. In contrast to her more purely abstract painting and sculptural practices, her two-dimensional works often hover in a liminal zone between figuration and abstraction. Almost-recognizable forms surface and recede, referencing memory, spatial disorientation, and fleeting perceptual encounters. The result is a pictorial space imbued with a subtle vibrational energy—what the artist describes as a "universal song," an underlying frequency resonating within silence itself.
Recent interdisciplinary collaborations have expanded her practice, deepening her engagement with photography. This medium now informs new developments in drawing and painting, enabling a cross-pollination of methods and conceptual frameworks. These evolving bodies of work can be explored further in the Artworks section of the website.
James Dean Diamond
These experimental works capture the fleeting pulse of the city, through a photographic inner and external monologue. The deconstruction of urban landscapes into abstract, painterly narratives, unveil the hidden, metaphorical currents that flow beneath the surface of the metropolis. A spiritual electric storm is revealed coursing through the veins of the city, creating a dynamic, yet poetic and introspective state of mind. Transcending conventional street-style documentation, this photography reimagines the city as a living, breathing force - a realm of infinite untold narratives.
Diamond’s perspective emerges from a neurological and ocular condition that alters his visual perception. What might be seen as distortion becomes, for him, a lens of truth. His photographic practice reflects a constant negotiation with disorientation, pain, and sensory overload. Yet through this fractured way of seeing, Diamond uncovers a unique aesthetic—surreal, dreamlike, and emotionally resonant. His images transform the familiar urban environment into something estranged yet intimate, echoing both alienation and deep presence. Influenced by abstraction in painting, his photographs document a lived reality shaped by visual impairment, turning personal trauma into visual revelation. Through the medium of what he terms “photozographia,” the artist engages with the urban environment not merely as geographical sites, but as spaces charged with spiritual and poetic resonance.
Ultimately, Diamond’s work constitutes a deeply personal yet broadly resonant inquiry into the nature of perception, memory, and trauma. Diamond’s work reconfigures visual impairment as a generative force within artistic practice, transforming personal affliction into a distinct aesthetic vocabulary.
Biographies
James Dean Diamond studied Photography at the London College of Printing and completed his Master’s in Fine Art at Brighton University. He has exhibited across Europe and the U.S., and his work has been featured in numerous publications and blogs. He was Artist in Residence at Sussex University for three years, where he created photography and sound-based installations, this body of work was nominated for the 2023 Prix Pictet Award. He was also sponsored by Polaroid for pioneering a new technique using their Polapan and Polagraph instant films.
Natasha Lara Hughes studied at Chelsea College of Art and was awarded a scholarship to pursue her Master’s at the Royal College of Art. Her multidisciplinary practice has been shaped by living in Paris, Rome, New York, Tokyo, and most recently the Andalusian region of southern Spain. Selected by Blains Fine Art (later Blain|Southern), she has exhibited at L'École des Beaux-Arts Paris, Hoax Gallery London, and Peeps Gallery. Her current work spans drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, and photography.
Apartment HD works are represented online by Singulart, and they have recently contributed to group exhibitions with associated galleries across Europe and America, further expanding the dialogue around their evolving visual language.
CVs
James Dean Diamond
2025 - Article published in America by Shifter Media
2025 - Selected for online group shows through Singular Art in association with the following galleries:
- Gallerie Valymeric (Lyons France) – Show title: Nature Ephemere
- Quai De La Photo (Paris) – curated by Marion Brifford
- Paraventi Giapponesi Gallery curated by Raffaella Nobili
- Sophiastef Gallery – Curated by Sophia Stefanowsk
- Snap-collective - Natalie Slater
2024 - Apartment HD Gained representation with Paris Digital Gallery Singulart
2023 - Formed new collaboration called Apartment HD with Natasha Lara Hughes (RCA Alumni)
2022 - Nominated for the International Prix Pictet Award
2021 – Invited to give the Ogilvy and Mather Christmas lecture
2019-2022 - The Artist in Residence for Sussex University
2022 – Arts Mentoring Program in association with The Gagosian Gallery and Into University
2021 – Interviewed by Vanity Fair, an article about the working artist
2021 – Work purchased by members of Tate Modern Acquisitions Board
2021 – 2002 shown and collected extensively in Europe and America
2018 – Interviewed by Elephant magazine
2018 – Featured in Lens Scratch (the biggest photography blog in the world)
2015 – Interviewed on NTS London radio
2012 – 2025 Tutoring Art and Science for various schools, Universities and Educational Organizations
2011- Tutor for Frui Photgaphy School
2002 – Supported by the British Council
2002- 2021 shown and collected extensively in Europe and America
1998 – Front cover of Design week and feature about digital photography with Uli Webber
1996 - Voted Student of the year by The Journal Of British Photography
1996 – Reprented By The Special Photographers gallery
1995 - Developed a new printing technique using polaroid film and subsequently sponsored by Polaroid
1994 - Won the Student Kodak Award
1995 – 2004 worked in the commercial sectors of Fashion and advertising
Commisioned by:
Editorial. The Financial times How to Spend it Magazine / Vogue Greece / Harpers and Queen / The Telegraph
The Guardian / Madame Figaro / Pure Magazine
Advertising (High lights)
Levis / MTV / BMW / Volvo / Hyundai / Hewlet Packard / Donna Karen / Baracardi / Camel Cigarettes /
Selfridges / UPS Europe / Swatch / Credit Suisse / Kantonal Bank / The Royal Exchange / Neutrogina
Proctor & Gamble / Converse
Education
Foundation Couse at Portsmouth Art College (awarded student of the year)
Ba in Photography at the London College of Printing
The University of the Arts Student of the Year
Ma in Fine Art at Brighton University
PHD offer at the Glasgow school of Art
HND Electronic Engineering Portsmouth University
HND Accountancy and Finance Southampton University
City and Guilds Certificate in Mechanical Engineering
Natasha Lara Hughes
2025
- Article in Shifter Media - USA
- Online group shows in association with Singular Art with the following galleries:
- Paraventi Giapponesi – Milan
- Galerie Agnes Nord – Paris
- Quorum Gallery – Nantes
- Test Gallery – Milan
- Paragone-Concept – Lyon
- Sophia Stef Gallery- New Jersey
- Charmoli Ciarmoli – New York
2024 - Attained representation with Singular Art Paris
2023 - to 2000 Lecturing and teaching art in various educational institutes
2005 - 39 Mitchell Street - London - Deck of Cards - Group Show
2004 - 39 Mitchell Street - London - Pub Crawl - Group Show
2004 - Lecturer Education Department at the National Gallery London
2000 - Internship in the Impressionist Department at Sotheby's London under Oliver Barker
2000 - Hoax Gallery - London - Crush - Group Show
1999 - Blain London – Dealers Choice
1999 - L'Ecole de Beaux Arts – Paris – Group Show Royal College of Art
1999 - Peeps Gallery - London - Charlie's Friends - Group Show
1999 - Hoax Gallery - London - Stewed, Screwed and Tatooed
1996 - Braas - Frankfurt - Group Show
1987 to 1994 - Worked in Fashion and advertising industry in London, Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo with Storm Model Management
Education
2005 - PGCE Roehampton University - Specialising in Art
1998 - Ma Fine Art Painting - Royal College of Art London
1995 - Ba Fine Art Painting - Chelsea College of Art London
1994 - Art Foundation Course - Woolwich College London