Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of South Wales (joint submission with Cardiff Metropolitan University and University of Wales Trinity Saint David)
“Sightlines”
Jury-selected Exhibition
Number of works: 26
Research Context
This work develops an ongoing exploration into the relationship of lens –based media to the plastic arts and the camouflaging or obscuring of the central subject placed in front of the camera lens. The “monocular” vision of the camera in relation to our human binocular vision is explored and extended through further investigations into senses other than that of sight. The camera prioritizes vision over the other senses and through the introduction of a hand painted surface the sense of touch is brought directly to the surface of the image.
Research Imperatives
The research investigates questions concerning the relationships between the unique object and the replica, both in photographic terms and in relation to mass production in consumer culture. Notions of identity are explored through the obscuring of the face of the model and the gaze of the sitter and the observer.
Project methods
The images depict a portrait of a woman whose face is obscured by a mass-produced, but hand-painted figurine of a bird. The birds are mass produced in the far east and are modelled and painted to depict western bird species. The spectator of the photograph is unable to know the sitter’s identity, in a similar way that she/he can’t know the identity of the person(s) who hand-painted the bird. The two eyes of the sitter are replaced with one painted eye of the china bird. The photograph is altered through the application of several layers of white primer—gesso, the material which is traditionally used under paintings but also contains powdered marble referring to the figurines. The images, then, are also about photographing paint and painting photographs.
Dissemination
National Eisteddfod Wales, Glyn Ebwy (2011)
Klompching Gallery, New York (2012)
