I am Tamlan.

British Algerian. Between places. Between languages. I carry both and neither.

I paint. I draw. I work with light. I try to hold something still before it slips away. I studied painting in Leeds in 2002. I earned a first in studio practice, but the real learning came from making, failing, starting again, chasing the thing that feels honest.

I’m drawn to bold colour, hard edges, contrast. Light where it shouldn’t be. Shadow where it refuses to stay. Rothko understood the weight of colour. Klein understood the void. Turrell shaped light. Richter blurred truth. Basquiat made chaos speak. Klee saw the world sideways. I’m still looking. Some days I get close.

My influences are rust, concrete, dawn, empty streets, the hum of Kraftwerk, the gravel in Tom Waits’ voice, the silence between words, the things my family carried, the things my students carry now.

My work sits between memory and noise, between what’s said and what’s held back, between the surface and whatever pushes through it.

This is the space I make from.

This is my work.