As my work becomes increasingly about deterioration in line with how remembering can be flawed, I have begun to take this further and consider complete absence of memories.
From the start of my project, from when I presented my project proposal, I was already interested in how the family photo album is set out and what images were included. What I found even more interesting, however, were the blank spaces where photos should have been. I felt that these empty spaces said more about the realities of family life than the actual photos which endeavour to depict it.
What I, therefore, decided to do was document these empty spaces through photography. At first I attempted to capture only the blank space and not the surrounding environment. After taking a few photographs, however, I found that it was much more interesting to give the viewer a better idea of the context of this space, giving little hints of other photographs that brought a greater sense of intrigue to the image.
In one particular album (one of the older ones) the photographs were concealed within square plastic pouches. At first this format seemed a bit of a barrier in my documenting of the empty spaces as I was able to just see the photograph from the next page through the plastic. When lifting the page and holding it at an angle, however, I was able to achieve an image which acknowledged the empty plastic pouches whilst at the same time presenting a blurred representation of photographs on the previous page. I find this particular photograph very visually pleasing due to its intriguing composition.
There is something quite poetic about creating photographs out of the empty spaces where photographs should already reside. I believe what this does is to question both the use of the family album and photography itself. I find the empty spaces in the album quite disconcerting. It is as though the memory has been lost and all that remains is a blank space where it used to be.
I guess most people would not give a second thought to this gap as they are too busy concerning themselves with the images still within the album. I suppose it is the same with memory too. We forget things from the past every day but our mind is too preoccupied with everything else to notice.
Over the past few weeks I have been so focused on my seaside etchings that I have admittedly neglected my blog.
With the Degree Show looming I am starting to panic slightly that I have no concrete ideas about what exactly my exhibition space will look like.
Whilst I have done a fair amount of contextual research over the course of this project, I think the best course of action now would be to acknowledge the way various artists exhibit their work with particular attention to ideas and processes similar to my own.
I hope that by doing this I will be able to have a clearer idea of how to present my work in order to best communicate my concept.
Although my project has encompassed various processes, I find myself of late more focused on the photographic side of things. In regards to the Degree Show I am doubtful that my final pieces shall be a painting in any form.
I have still had difficulty acquiring photo frames for my earlier 22 series and so far only have 7. I have placed some of the prints in the frames to see how they would look and at present I am not entirely convinced. I am beginning to think that certain prints may suit certain frames and so I think I need to find the 15 remaining frames needed and to then play around with some different combinations.
I sit here and can easily imagine a wall covered in framed prints for my Degree Show piece. I think I must get out of the mindset that what I show should be the most aesthetcially pleasing piece of work I have ever created. I guess I feel that much of my work for this project has been produced in black and white.
Perhaps what I must question is what is most important to me. The process? A final piece? Or maybe the concept is most integral to this project. These are questions I constantly need to be asking myself as I further develop my work for the Degree Show.
The first time I projected my etchings in the white space I only had my phone camera. Here I have re-photographed all my etching projections using my bridge camera. There are a lot so I’ve had to make a slideshow/movie in order to fit them all into one post.
I have tried to include images which illustrate the effect of the projection as well as acknowledging the various mark-making techniques I have used on the etching plate.
It must be mentioned that the images in this movie are of every single etching plate I have done so far. This includes the plates from my ongoing seaside series which are yet to be printed. It is surprising how clear these unprinted plates still come out without the remnants of ink.
I now need to think about how I can move forward from this point in terms of my prints, projections, paintings and my want to utilise photo negatives in my work. I think it goes without saying that there will be some nod towards photographical theory within my final show, no matter how subtle it may be.
The projection element of my work is very interesting and I think this is something I need to experiment with more before I can make the decision to include this in my Degree Show piece. There is still plenty of scope for development with each avenue of my current work and I feel more exploration is definitely needed. As my work is I think becoming more photographic, I must seek knowledge of other potential processes which could help my ideas develop in this way.
I would say currently I feel most fond of my anaglypta prints and I am excited to get them framed and put up in my studio space. I think once I have done this I will be able to take a step back and acknowledge how I feel about them as a finished piece. I also still need to make a decision regarding how to print my seaside images. Given the theme I think they should be vibrant and encompass the sense of fun and happiness that children experience at the seaside.
With this in mind I need to start conducting some colour experiments with the anaglypta to print my plates onto. I am excited to see the outcome from this process. It will be refreshing to inject some colour into my prints which have so far been black and white.
Projecting my etching plates in the white space.
Today I have been completing the next stage of my process in bringing together mixed media, painting, projection and etching.
After completing a mixed media background and letting it dry, today I was able to project my chosen etching plate onto the canvas and trace the image onto the canvas using a graphite pencil.
Once I had the canvas positioned with the projection on it (as seen in the top image in this post) I was slightly reluctant to start drawing. Given the added texture on the canvas in relationship to the marks on the etching plate, I think it looked really interesting as it was.
With this said I decided I needed to progress with this experiment to see where it took me. If need be I can always reproduce the mixed media background if I decide this is the better outcome.
The bottom image in this post illustrates the canvas once the drawing had been completed. I actually quite like the marks made by the graphite pencil, specifically the more abstract marks within the background of the image. When I begin to apply paint to this piece I think I shall first start with the figure and see how it looks after completing that stage. I may consider leaving some pencil marks as they are as opposed to reinforcing them with paint.
I had every intention, when I came up with the idea for this piece, to paint the lines of this image black in relation to the original etching print. After the process of printing and then projecting the etching plate, however, I was more interested in how this colouring had become more subdued and appeared more grey than black. In the spirit of representing the etching plate as opposed to the etching print, therefore, I think a grey tone would be better for this painting. I will reflect upon this point again once the painting stage has commenced.
As has been previously mentioned within this blog, my use of family photography throughout this project has meant that I have produced all of my prints in a 6×4 format to match that of the original image.
Whilst producing my prints in this scale is still an important element for me, I am beginning to think that I have perhaps confined myself to this scale too much. Through the projections of my etching plates I have been able to acknowledge the prominence of the mark-making upon the plate when the size is increased.
With this in mind I decided to print off a scaled up version of an original family photograph to try to decipher the effect this creates in relation to my smaller pieces.
At this scale the renounced quality reflects the lessened capability of photography in the early 90’s, although I am surprised it came out as well as it did. I am quite fond of the slight pixilation which is evident which I feel illustrates once more the blurriness of past memories.
As I think over the majority of work I have produced for this project, I am beginning to understand in more depth why I have produced my work in certain ways. In the attempt to not over think my work too much, I guess I have let it flow in many directions and only now am I fully comprehending the common thread.
I would say that my initial ideas were much more weighted in me wanting to remember the past and the little things that have made my life unique to any other.
Through the development of this project, however, I feel that my work has become much more about that loss of memory and the distance between the past and present. In my paintings, prints and even my projections, through each process the original image has been distorted more and more.
I guess through everything my trying to remember has become more an acknowledgement that remembering is not possible. After all if it weren’t for my family photographs I would not be representing these times in my life at all.
