Studio

Finally starting to develop a cohesive folio, I've found that printing images - regardless of how refined/relevant they are to my final concept, helps me get a grip on which stage of development my work is at, and in which direction I feel I should lean as I go. Note to future self: Stop thinking about it and just print it! Pin it up and move it around and tear it down in frustration if it helps... just get it out of your head and onto paper so you can hold something real in your hand!

DIS2601 artist statement Project 2

My video for project two explores childhood memory and ritual, the scenes and senses which are familiar to us through repetition and déjà vu. I returned to the area where I was raised and filmed familiar places such as my first house and its surrounding bush land, the walk to school from the train station, shelves of books I was raised on and scenes such as my grandparents sitting on their veranda or my mother’s hands slicing a mango. I chose scenes like these because I wanted the resulting video montage to be both personal to my own memories and universally nostalgic, so the viewer could also take a trip down memory lane. The presentation of this video montage, as a projection onto my own body, makes a comment on the way in which early life experiences can shape us as people. I am intrigued by the question of nature versus nurture and this project examines the latter, conveying the idea that we become the stories that we tell and the memories that we hold. Inspired by Chris Marker’s Le Jetee and Everynone’s video montages, I have used an aesthetic style which reflects the fragmented and broken nature of memory, and the feeling that comes when you can’t quite place a feeling of nostalgia or yearning. The abstraction of the original footage once they were projected onto my body is reminiscent of this sensation.

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.

Image Selection

Here are some photographs I've been taking in the studio, there are hundreds of them so I've only chosen a small selection. For my finals I will be choosing 12 to print: 6 people and 6 objects which will be paired but them shuffled around like our memories often are. I want the connections between each pair to be unclear to the viewer - they may try to guess at which memory belongs to which face but in the end a photography can only tell us so much about a person's emotion, history, thoughts etc. This is what I wish to outline.

Some photos like the two shown here (headphones and dvd) are very clearly photographed with quite a high exposure compared to some others. Though these are perhaps better photos is the formal sense, I think they lose a lot of the nostalgia and mystery which some other objects hold in their shadows and the dropping out of focus which sometimes occurs as objects disappear into the black. I probably won't be using these two photos for this reason and also because although they were chosen by two models I photographed, their associations with technology and the future might overwhelm the nostalgic mood I am trying to create, diverting the themes of my final series down an unintended path!

This photo exemplifies the fading into darkness I was speaking of - though the features which are lit are clearly that of a face, you lose a lot of the person to darkness and I think this is reminiscent of the confusion often associated with memory: we can never remember the entire thing but only fragments. To create this effect I have used a few light sources: window light and tungsten as this was not shot in the studio. However all light sources were positioned on the one side of the model's face and so although there is dimension in the lighting there is also that blacking out of the left side.

Fragmentation and Nostalgia

Two photos I have taken for photomedia Project 2 (a and possibly b)
looking at the brokenness of memory, the impossibility of truth in memory, and in photography. Difficulties in language and art to fully capture the essence of a memory or a thought. The assumptions we make of objects' surfaces, of the photographic 'mask'.
I want to test the 'truth' of photographic reality by encouraging the viewer to connect each fragmented portrait with a fragmented memory - which memory belongs to which person? How can we possibly know that?

Edited Footage for Projection

This is a cut from the finished footage I plan to project onto my body - it would have taken ages to upload the whole half hour of video, but you get the idea re: editing, style etc. excuse the terrible web quality!

Memory and Familiarity

These are a selection of stills from the footage I've taken of things that are familiar to me from either my childhood or from mundane repetition/ritual. The footage will be edited fairly simply in final cut pro to overlap and mix together (i will set opacity at about 50%) to create a sort of dreamlike montage of disjointed memories and sensations.

Doug Aitken

Sleepwalkers, 2007

Pop Culture Overload

Some examples of youtube footage (click see more, below) I might like to rip into a very quick montage, as a sort of bombardment of pop culture/media influence. I could either project this onto a wall behind the performer, or onto the performer's body. I'm inclined toward the former because I'd like to identify the differences gap between these influences and the real world/person. I'm thinking of shooting my own footage of things directly familiar to me, like a close up of my bedsheets or the hands of my mother, and projecting these onto the performer's (my) body.
The pop culture montage could easily be a separate project to this, I'm not sure how much would be too much for a single video performance piece. But I intend to confuse and overload the audience with footage to some extent, as this is what I believe the media does.

Chunky Move

Assembly 2011

Went to see the world premiere of Gideon Obarzanek's final work with Chunky Move. I'll let him do the talking! (it was brilliant, hypnotising)

Rod McNicol

Discovered Rod McNicol's photography after completing Project 1, but the similarities are too obvious to let lie! These two people were suffering terminal illness at the time of the photograph, and died 2 weeks later. They hold a photograph of themselves as children, as my models did for my sequence on generation and age. The composition of the childhood photo has been mimicked in the more recent one.

All in a Day

A study of colour temperature and light throughout the day, I've taken photographs on the same camera (white balance) settings, every hour for 12 hours in a day. You can see a gradual change in colour temperature: growing colder toward the evening. Obviously exposure, shadows and the angle of light alter as well.

morning

midday

afternoon

evening

Project 1 finals

I'm going to print these a little bigger than A3, at 12" x 18" on gloss. The reason for the gloss is to mimic the shine on the original photos held my the models, I want to replicate that original asthetic (without resorting to the nostalgia of 'retro' stylising), Irena Werning style.
The order will go from Grandma, to Mum, to Me. I considered displaying them vertically (like below) to imply a family tree format, but this symbolism would perhaps be a little obvious and I'm so pleased with the identical complosition of the three shots that I'd really like to bring this out by lining them up horizontally - when I do all the models heads, shou;lders and hands line up beautifully!

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!

Everynone

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.
 beautiful, simple art videos by Everynone - I especially appreciate the combo of music and real recorded sounds - the clips selected are genius, too!

Breakdown

Final video piece for digital audio/video project

An exploration of social pressures and expectation, freedom and self realisation.

Special thanks to Kate Haysom and my other helpers/support!

audio track by Frou Frou

Marian Drew

These are just beautiful. I'm not a massive sucker for still life but the fragility in both the subject matter and photographic technique of Drew's work is hypnotising - and so much more than a straight shot. Her commentary on Australian colonisation is gentle, but clear - and the mood of these endearing images reminds me of illustrator Shaun Tan, who I also love to pieces.

 

Wrapping up Kate

In the filming studio for my first ever short film - which involved way more mess than had been anticipated but which was also a lot of fun! Pictured is Kate Haysom, my lovely, mess-friendly performer, who's tolerance was outstanding as we wrapped her up in layer upon layer of glue, glitter, paint, paper, fluorescent netting, gutter guard, cellophane and the like.