TENS of thousands of tiny photos line the walls of Southampton's answer to the Loo-vre.

Pete Benham's We Room opened in the toilet of a new gallery in St Mary's.

The images intimately detail the life of the artist over a six-month period.

Now the Southampton Institute graduate has been nominated for an international award for a similar work displayed in the city last year. Infinity - a work which included the same photographs decorated around a mocked-up sitting-room - is in the running for the £20,000 Citibank Photography Prize 2003.

Four finalists will be invited to exhibit their work at The Photographers' Gallery in London next February, when the winner will be announced. But anyone desperate to see the snaps now can view them in the We Room on show at the A Space Gallery in Old Northam Road. It features 36,900 of the original images at the size Pete saw them when they were taken with his watch camera - 17 sq mm. Eventually Pete, of Lyon Street, in Newtown, Southampton, intends to print the images on the toilet bowl, seat and sink. At the opening of the exhibition 80 people marvelled at the intricate depiction of Pete's life between January and June 2001. Pete, 37, said: "It's about breaking down the barriers between strangers and making people think about life and look at others with an open mind."