Bite the Bullet, Blood Sweat and Tears, Storm in a Teacup, The Last Straw: each image stages the phrase as if it were a literal event, playing on the gap between what an idiom means and what it would actually look like if it happened.

It’s a project Ryan keeps returning to, with new idioms added as ideas arrive. Idioms received an Official Selection placing at the 2023 International Photography Awards, sitting alongside Attraction as one of two personal projects recognised in the same year.