Exhibitions 2010
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Familiar Fable by Lauren Hewitt
Familiar Fable: Dwell
Lauren Hewitt
Artist Statement
The landscape provokes imagination, rumour, fable.
With slight voyeuristic curiosity, I am interested in what goes on behind the backlit curtain, the shut door at night or the transient, temporary inhabitation of public places. With my camera, I have tried to capture that desperation, that quiet tension, that exists in the suburban surrounds.
This series is an exploration of how our responses to the elusive light and landscape of night can shape our imagination. Drawing from the traditions of film noir, these images represent the shift in mood that occur as daylight slips into dusk. Suburbia, under the shadow of darkness, metamorphoses into another world far from its daytime ideals. With the coming of night, familiar sights become unfamiliar settings, and narrative possibilities begin to emerge. From the corner of our eyes, we catch a glimpse of the emptiness and desolation that gives rise to a brief fable, short lived, yet lingering.
Working alone in the obscurity of a street-lit night, I seek to capture the urban after dark – an evocative space of strange glows and subtle shadows that impels the imagination. This atmosphere heightens the senses, instilling a sense of urgency and vulnerability. These nightscapes are not grand; rather they are still, silent and suggestive. They consider how personal histories and memories inform our responses to the inhabited landscape. We often do not choose our broader surroundings; they occur as a consequence to the places in which we choose to dwell.
Lauren Hewitt
Artist Statement
The landscape provokes imagination, rumour, fable.
With slight voyeuristic curiosity, I am interested in what goes on behind the backlit curtain, the shut door at night or the transient, temporary inhabitation of public places. With my camera, I have tried to capture that desperation, that quiet tension, that exists in the suburban surrounds.
This series is an exploration of how our responses to the elusive light and landscape of night can shape our imagination. Drawing from the traditions of film noir, these images represent the shift in mood that occur as daylight slips into dusk. Suburbia, under the shadow of darkness, metamorphoses into another world far from its daytime ideals. With the coming of night, familiar sights become unfamiliar settings, and narrative possibilities begin to emerge. From the corner of our eyes, we catch a glimpse of the emptiness and desolation that gives rise to a brief fable, short lived, yet lingering.
Working alone in the obscurity of a street-lit night, I seek to capture the urban after dark – an evocative space of strange glows and subtle shadows that impels the imagination. This atmosphere heightens the senses, instilling a sense of urgency and vulnerability. These nightscapes are not grand; rather they are still, silent and suggestive. They consider how personal histories and memories inform our responses to the inhabited landscape. We often do not choose our broader surroundings; they occur as a consequence to the places in which we choose to dwell.
