The
brief we have been given is very open ended and has given us a great
deal of personal choice in how to approach the various potential
subjects. As I've written before, there is obviously commonality
between the different areas, in that they are all inversions, binary
in their nature at first glance but upon closer examination any one
of the themes contains infinite amounts of depth for exploration.
They are also allegorical and metaphoric in their nature – any one
of them has a wealth of potential subtext if so desired, and it is in
this subtext that I am most interested. Rather than necessarily take
the themes at face value, and be absolutely literal with them as a
matter of course, I am more interested in twisting their meanings and
applying them to maybe less obvious uses in order to make a statement
of some kind. At this stage I do not know what that statement might
be, and I suspect that I may combine more than one of the themes
together to reinforce them, as they are so closely linked. For
example, LIGHT/DARK and INSIDE/OUTSIDE are linked in
our imaginations when in the context of space, such as with interior
locations and exterior locations, night and day lifestyles
with safety and danger, inside the home and
outside in the world. The theme of invasion and
fortification comes up at this point. We are in our minds
safer indoors at night than we are outdoors, where there are any
number of threats and dangers, both in nature and in other people who
may seek to use the darkness to assist them in nefarious activities.
In
preparaton for the session we were requested to bring in a selecton
of items of various physical qualities, such as reflective and matte
surfaces, transparant and opaque, and so on. The main focus of the
session was to draw basic building blocks for inspiration from what
was in front of us, either by drawing from observation, or taking
photographs, which was the main route that I used. I had them
printed, and attempted to trace elements of the photographs onto
acetate, with mixed results. At the end of the session I wasn't any
clearer on what direction I wanted to take the work in, but felt that
further experimentaton was the key and so I remain optimistic that
further investigation and thought will yield more sophisticated
ideas.
