Restart

After a very long break from creating I've experienced the grace period i needed to start afresh in 2012. Out third year studio is very open and flexible, with a lot more freedom to explore artistic (photographic or otherwise) paths naturally and without constant deadlines/set projects. I've loved working in the studio, a choice I may not have originally chosen to persue had I been left to my own devices, and hope to continue in this direction, perhaps leaving traditional portraiture (as in second semester's 'Generations' triology) behind me and picking up where I left off at the end of last year, photographing objects and looking at the importance of the material in our own ideas of self and identity. I've found that tight cropping, both with framing and lighting techniques (especially darkness), has been intrinsic to my practice so far and will certainly explore these artistic choices this year. I also hope to steer a little away from the idea of a series or sequence which has been a requirement in 2011... In high school I loved working on individual, singular artworks of a grand scale and I feel a pull to do so again now. A return to the sculptural side of photography could offer a possibility of really stretching myself aesthetically and emotionally. Although I have a high regard for 'candid' street photography, or staged photography within the realm of 'reality', I feel more control and freedom in myself and my subjects when I remove them from their context and consequently create a disjointed absurdity which leads the viewer to experience an image on an intellectual level, rather than the easier tendency to judge a photograph on how beautiful it is, or how real it looks (I have already established my reluctance to consider a photograph as a direct window into reality: impossible!).

Memories Lost and Broken

Artist Statement

Memories Lost and Broken is a series that draws on the fragmented nature of memory, and the feeling of nostalgia that is often associated with a frustration at not being able to clearly grasp a passed moment in its entirety. There are always gaps, blank spaces and shadows in our subconscious that may be irretrievable, and for this reason these photographs are drenched in darkness and the solid, impenetrable black of forgetfulness. The six objects have been selected by each of the six people photographed, as representation of a time or memory personal to them. The viewer may sense a vague familiarity in relating to the objects, but cannot quite access their true meaning or correctly match them to the face to which they belong. In this sense, Memories Lost and Broken also makes a comment on photographic representation. No matter how perfectly a surface may be transcribed by the camera, true understanding of a person's history or an object's personal importance will always drop away into the gap between real and representation. A viewer’s inclination is to invent these unknown histories, and so they too become an active part of the artwork. Perhaps it is best to be satisfied with the beauty in not knowing, and to allow the familiar yet inaccessible sense of nostalgia and Déjà vu wash over you as darkness washes over these fragmented memories.

Anna Gaskell

Erasers

Replayground

Arlo Mountford

 Return to Point, 2006

mixed media installation, animation

"A black circle ransacks art history. Appropriating works and ideas, taking aesthetic cues to shift from one idea to the next, Return to Point uses the simple shape to disregard the chronological art canon and instead determine its own."

Filip Dujardin

Angela and Ithyle

 

I found this image by Angela and Ithyle after I'd taken my project 1 photos, but I love the way it plays with depth of field and the fogginess of memory. My photographs have been focused in reverse to this image, on the face in the background with the photograph and hand in front a little blurred, however not as obviously as here. Although I love this photograph, I think such a shallow depth of field would perhaps add another element of obvious 'symbolism' to my portraits which I had not intended. My primary themes are that of age and generation, whereas this technique also brings the authority of the photograph to question, which is not my intent (though i find it fascinating). Another, separate idea for a series could be images like that above, with childhood photographs, but not necesarily shot in the studio or within the same family group. This might make room for new themes about the photographic medium to come through. I love art which is self reflective, which comments on its own medium from within, and find this is very popular in photography and cinematography (for example La Jetee, below).

La Jetée

Watching this famous film in photographic theory, brings up some fascinating theories about photography and cinematography, and the problems in freezing reality, the assumed truth of a photograph, the death of time etc. beautiful imagery and a rich storyline as well.

Project 1

looking at age, change, memory and generation. These are from a shoot with my Grandmother, aged 78, holding a photo of herself, aged 50. I should have reflected light onto her back to pop her forward a little: I will also be doing a similar shoot with my mum and a self-portrait, so I'll keep this in mind for those sessions. I was planning on shooting on a white background but it was a little too crisp, and lacked the nostalgia I was after. The black is much more dramatic and I like the way the subject emerges out of the darkness, like a memory from the past. I like both shots, and will know after photographing my other models (mum, myself) how they work within a series. I think the photo below has a lot of conceptual potential!

Jeff Wall

"I begin by not photographing"

Large scale light boxes for presentation are just beautiful and make a strong reference to advertising billboards/historical paintings.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert, every creative person needs to see this, right now. Spirituality (of which I have no time for) aside, the pressures put on artists to produce, produce, produce, are ridiculous. This isn't to say that a beautiful piece of writing is not born of a clever, incredible creative mind; only that creative ideas are not 'products' which can be stamped out on a production line. An artist is not a machine!

The Body

In theory we've been discussing 'The Body' in relation to Eva Hesse's modernist sculptures, and how images which directly or indirectly reference skin, muscle, organs etc often make a very direct emotional connection with the viewer. While critics such as Michael Fried criticize Hesse's work because the impact of such purely physical, gory images makes them feel uncomfortable, it is obvious that references to the human body are powerful and perhaps even more so on a massive photographic scale.