...'Showtime'

Contortion of Body and Mind

 These are a few photographs I took of a contortionist pefoming outside of the National Gallery. It was most interesting to me the way in which the performer embodied the role of both the puppet and the puppetier with such violence.

Visit to... The National Gallery April 2015

As the Final Major Project approaches, I thought it best to observe some of the classical Renaissance paintings featured in the National Gallery. Interestingly, I gained the most inspiration in travelling to and from the gallery, and took the opportunity to document what took place between the gallery visit. I came across many street performers, where a hard reality was sharply contrasted to the humour which laid the foundation of the entertainment. What caught my attention however, was an experience on a bus returning from the gallery. Sitting at the front of the  bus was a man in deep conversation with the empty space beside him. The absolute clarity of his delusion was not only poignant, but strikingly beautiful; he sounded as if he was reciting a lyrical verse of poetry. Having been so lucky as to have witnessed this, I began to think about the clarity in madness, and the projection of the inner voice onto the outside world.

I Sat Smiling. Untitled

I Sat Smiling. Negatives

In this photographs, I really like how the usually illegible text has become blasted with a startling clarity.

I Sat Smiling.

Using Photoshop, I inverted the positive tone of the photograph to a achieve a negative capture. In doing this, the positive memory trapped in the glass test tube becomes visually amplified, which contrasts against the cold darkness of the context. I would very much like to blow up some of the photographs from the series to the size of a poster, and perhaps plaster that poster into a public, where my memories were visible to all.

Fragility of Memory; I Sat Smiling.

While exploring the 'Romance of the Fragment', I embarked on a highly experimental continuation of my work with memory, and making it physical. Progressing from working with metal, I began to write sections of my memories from the layered text onto kitchen towel, and immersed the strips into water and ink. I chose to photograph the memories being immersed in ink so as to symbolise the ink as embodying the meaning of the text. In exploring this, I came across the idea of using ambiguity as a material, rather than solely as a notion. Thus, the photographs and films I produced all have in common materials and fixtures that communicate a weird ambiguity; stripped of all context.