Exhibitions 2010

Creating a photographic image requires the utilization of an established photographic process. Photographers have always re-arranged established processes, and have created their own processes in order to produce experimental photographic results and unique visual aesthetics.

Patricia Casey applies a self-initiated process developed through an emotive response to photographic portraits and family history. Casey prints a photographic portrait, which is then submerged in water, frozen, and re-photographed through textured ice. The methodology for this process is a symptom known as Echolalia which is an involuntary reflex echoing a spoken word or phrase said by another person. Responding to this symptom through photography reinforces the aspect of the echo, since a portrait is only a representation, or more poetically an echo of someone. Family stories and histories are passed on to relatives through the retelling of knowledge and passing down of photographs, Casey’s exploration demonstrates this by acting not only as a memento mori, but also as a reference to Echolalia itself.

How does a photographer produce a portrait of an idolized infamous character without having access to the subject? Ria Tierney achieves this successfully by constructing an abstract portrait by accumulating several pieces of referential materials and pre-existing connotations that we all share, and re-constructs this information through photography, assemblage, drawing, documentation and appropriation.

Tierney’s result is not only informed solely by the masses of imagery, trinkets, memorabilia and souvenirs generated, it also contributes to it, as a sensitive insightful study that surpasses biography and fan obsession. With its very personal and unique aesthetic we are shown a posthumous portrait devoid of nostalgia and sentiment, instead we are given the opportunity to revaluate our need to idolize, and how this need seems to create pseudo characterizations.

The camera in its most basic form is a simple machine, allowing controlled light into a dark space to form an image on light sensitive material. What can be quite complex are the images that this apparatus produces. The camera swallows every piece of detailed information that sits in front of the lens. A photographer’s constant dilemma is how to control this information in order to create a unique point of view.

The images of Luke Jaaniste experiment with this idea by producing playful visual abstractions. By allowing the camera to expose images for long periods of time, Jaaniste constructs sweeping movements of swishing colours that are unique due to the time of the exposures. The aspect of time is what is crucial to these abstractions, because fluid emotive motions can be slowly built up and layered to create textures that would otherwise be invisible. The resulting images are devoid of structured space and perspective, instead allowing for a precise visual focus for our attention. The camera has swallowed the specific invisible elements that Jaaniste has been able to create and control.

Judy Anderson’s video installation explores ways to evoke the sensation of touch, through a rich sensual imagery that shifts between altered representations of objects and voids. Intimate body sounds such as whispering, and breathing, are contrasted with delicate conceptual actions of the body such as opening, folding, and fluidity, which resonate haptic visuals. These elements weave together to evoke a tactile desire, brought on solely by sounds and looking.

When seeing Yvonne Wright’s succulent images for the first time one cannot help be invoked by a mixture of connotations as to what we are looking at. Are these expansive alien landscapes? Are they microscopic studies from a laboratory? Or are they the visual results one sees on mind-altering chemicals? The conscious act of denying the viewer of information pertaining to scale, place, and reason, and heightening the effect of abstraction, form, and colour, creates a conceptual space for imagination and intrigue. Photography’s capacity to encapsulate different sections of our world and present them as a different version of our reality is one of its most important attributes. The photographs edge dissects the visual information outside the frame, which allows unobstructed contemplation of a specific subject. Wright’s images utilize this method to the point of viewer inquiry, are these three-dimensional forms meticulous constructions? Or are they serendipitous happenings observed and captured by an inquisitive trained eye?

Nicole Mitchell’s dark sensual photographs are amassed from the results of deconstruction. By destroying existing photographic materials and imagery, Mitchell is disassembling existing memories, thoughts, and possibly repressed emotion. By sifting through these important portions of debris a new form of stimulating visual expression is created. The methodology used to create this abstract imagery is similar to that of abstract painting, in particular the abstract expressionism movement of the 1950´s. Venturing deeply into ones psyche in order to produce a visual representation for all to see, demonstrates a courageous and insightful tone to the photographs. These images may stir up similar emotional responses as the artist has endured, or they may make us realize the potential of the abstract image.

Nathan Corum
Artist