84 Square Metres, Floating, 2020-2023
84 Square Metres, Floating ( 2023)
https://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/invited/9891484/4fc827059985dc82dc9e42742526b9f1ea7152d3
“The view through the lens may be blurred or defined-focused or unfocused-depending on what you think you know; what you imagine you see; what you learn to look for; what you are told is visible”
Lis Rhodes 1979
We live on a houseboat, the boat moves up and down with the changing water levels and is buffeted by the wind. Floating on water echoes the feeling of being unsettled during the first weeks of lockdown in March 2020. I woke up early, before sunrise, with a feeling of dread and despair. I saw moments of light and shadow in my home and photographed shapes created daily by the unpredictable natural light. The unreality of this dystopian spring and summer was hard to process, it continued throughout autumn and winter.
The daily search for images in my home developed into a ritual, into a project lasting for more than a year. The images where shared as a time piece on Instagram throughout the pandemic and are the base for the piece Take It On the Chin ( 2020/21).
For the first weeks I waited in silence for the light to illuminate the 84 square metres space of our home. Each morning the sun highlighted new details, later the evening sun illuminated shapes in different parts of the boat. The quality of light changed, in winter and early spring the sun is low and streams through the windows filling the boat with dancing reflections, in summer and autumn the light needed to make its way through the leaves of the surrounding trees and was much softer.
I was absorbed in the timeless process of photographing shapes and forms revealing a beauty that is only there for a brief moment, resulting in a feeling of contentment.
The photographs show little of the space we occupy rather a view of the colour and shapes of the surfaces. The search for something quiet enabled me to withdraw.
Taking images, sharing them on social media and connecting with friends and strangers helped me to deal with the contradiction of the threat of the virus and the normality of experiencing the seasons at home.
Sitting in the same space in February 2023, now voluntary, and revisiting these images, I am still surrounded by the same objects I photographed illuminating details: my grandfathers paintings, framed photographs, kitchen utensils, chairs, curtains, marks on walls and the floor. The light is still highlighting details but I am unable to continue photographing them.
Looking through my vast Lockdown archive of images instead, I look for associations of line, plain colour, light and shadows. A closer look exposes familiar objects. I create visual connections of theses multiple shapes overlapping in the frame, exploring what these moments have in common. This process acts as an catalyst for triggering memories which go beyond the pandemic. The images play with perspective, distortion, colour and distance, creating unexpected beauty through the shift of context.
Each image is 15.5cm high and 11.6 cm wide, Giclée ink jet print on INNOVA White Matte 285g; window mounted in 25cmX20cm black frames. 84 framed photographs are organised in an interrupted grid with 6 rows and 18 columns with equal sized gutters, the installation size is at least 165cm high and 400 cm wide.
https://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/invited/9891484/4fc827059985dc82dc9e42742526b9f1ea7152d3
“The view through the lens may be blurred or defined-focused or unfocused-depending on what you think you know; what you imagine you see; what you learn to look for; what you are told is visible”
Lis Rhodes 1979
We live on a houseboat, the boat moves up and down with the changing water levels and is buffeted by the wind. Floating on water echoes the feeling of being unsettled during the first weeks of lockdown in March 2020. I woke up early, before sunrise, with a feeling of dread and despair. I saw moments of light and shadow in my home and photographed shapes created daily by the unpredictable natural light. The unreality of this dystopian spring and summer was hard to process, it continued throughout autumn and winter.
The daily search for images in my home developed into a ritual, into a project lasting for more than a year. The images where shared as a time piece on Instagram throughout the pandemic and are the base for the piece Take It On the Chin ( 2020/21).
For the first weeks I waited in silence for the light to illuminate the 84 square metres space of our home. Each morning the sun highlighted new details, later the evening sun illuminated shapes in different parts of the boat. The quality of light changed, in winter and early spring the sun is low and streams through the windows filling the boat with dancing reflections, in summer and autumn the light needed to make its way through the leaves of the surrounding trees and was much softer.
I was absorbed in the timeless process of photographing shapes and forms revealing a beauty that is only there for a brief moment, resulting in a feeling of contentment.
The photographs show little of the space we occupy rather a view of the colour and shapes of the surfaces. The search for something quiet enabled me to withdraw.
Taking images, sharing them on social media and connecting with friends and strangers helped me to deal with the contradiction of the threat of the virus and the normality of experiencing the seasons at home.
Sitting in the same space in February 2023, now voluntary, and revisiting these images, I am still surrounded by the same objects I photographed illuminating details: my grandfathers paintings, framed photographs, kitchen utensils, chairs, curtains, marks on walls and the floor. The light is still highlighting details but I am unable to continue photographing them.
Looking through my vast Lockdown archive of images instead, I look for associations of line, plain colour, light and shadows. A closer look exposes familiar objects. I create visual connections of theses multiple shapes overlapping in the frame, exploring what these moments have in common. This process acts as an catalyst for triggering memories which go beyond the pandemic. The images play with perspective, distortion, colour and distance, creating unexpected beauty through the shift of context.
Each image is 15.5cm high and 11.6 cm wide, Giclée ink jet print on INNOVA White Matte 285g; window mounted in 25cmX20cm black frames. 84 framed photographs are organised in an interrupted grid with 6 rows and 18 columns with equal sized gutters, the installation size is at least 165cm high and 400 cm wide.
