He may not like the 'State' we're in but for artist Mark Titchner, the current political climate is fertile ground for his work.

Brexit, social, civic and national identity, displacement and belonging are just some of the themes which are being explored by the 2006 Turner Prize nominee at the Firstsite art gallery in Colchester.

Through a range of new and existing work, Mark explores the tensions between the different belief systems that inform our society, be they religious, scientific or political.

He works with a number of medias including digital print, wall drawing, video, sculpture, and often employs motifs taken from advertising, religious iconography, trade union banners, psychedelia and political propaganda.

In Some Questions About Us, Mark presents a number of works exploring the relationship between the individual and others in connection with migration and national identity, including large-scale posters developed with asylum seekers and refugees in Manchester in 2017, as well as a new wall drawing based on the Colchester coat of arms.

He says: "I’m interested in how we relate to public messages, as they tend to have the same utopian language found in corporate manifestos, propaganda and devotional texts.

"At some point, these texts become a voice. I’m interested in how we relate to them. For example, there are prevalent ideas in our culture, promoted by these messages, which suggest there is a lack in our lives that we need to improve upon, or that we should aspire to be better than we are, rather than just being who we are.

"I try to insert these same thoughts into public settings while offering the viewer space and ambiguity to interpret the message however they want."

Originally from Luton and Dunstable, Mark, by his own admission, didn't really have a great exposure to art when he was growing up.

"Crazy Seventies wallpaper and comic books," he smiles. "That was about it for me although there was obviously some post war drive for public art in the kind of towns where I grew up because there was a lot murals around.

"When I finished college I was interested in sculpture and object making," he continues, "around the themes of the end of history, sci-fi and technology not quite working, flitting all over the place.

"I didn't have a big studio when I first started in London but I was fascinated by scale and how that makes the viewer feel, so even back then I was thinking about how I could explore that with the limitations I had."

Mark first started using words in his artwork back in 2002/2003 and in his own words, it changed everything.

"I was making these wallpaper pieces and having it in an art gallery did give it a certain atmosphere but I wanted it to engage more with the viewer.

"For the first piece I wanted something really simple, so I wrote 'Nothing' on one wall and then the other one 'Everything'."

Since then Mark's inspiration for his text have come from different sources, sometimes they're philosophical quotes, sometimes lyrics from a song, occasionally his own words, ideas.

Some Questions About Us, the new work that gives its name to the exhibition, grew out of Mark’s involvement with the Mental Health and Justice project, a multi-disciplinary research initiative.

Mark has been working with the team that are investigating issues around the assessment of mental capacity particularly in relation to complex or contested cases. The work consists of ten mirrored placards fixed with wooden stakes (the same format as Estate Agent For Sale boards) each asking a question relating to autonomy and the freedom to make decisions for oneself and how this relates to mental capacity and the law.

Coinciding with the exhibition, a version of the work will be installed on the public boundary of the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, the world’s oldest running psychiatric hospital.

There's also a new work In Our Infinite Ignorance We Are All Equal, which features the reimagined Colchester coat of arms.

Mark explains “My wall drawings always begin with the text, in this case the writings of philosopher Karl Popper whose work was focused on the philosophy of science and the idea that as we discover more about the universe the amount that we don't know increases also.

"The backgrounds for the text are normally composed of overlaid elements which whilst present obscure each other creating a kind of visual noise. In this case I’ve used the kind of Morris-esque floral elements, that are found in equal measure on trade union banners and Liberty wallpaper, and the Colchester coat of arms."

Mark Titchner's show runs at the Firstsite gallery until October 13.

Throughout the summer Mark has been working with different community groups in Colchester to create works that will be displayed in vacant shops in the town centre from next month, supported by Colchester BID.

For more go on-line at firstsite.uk