ARTIST STATEMENT: The black and white prints, more specifically “Portraits - A Life Work”, and the photo-text pieces, are saturated images from my personal narrative. They are friends and family doing banal activities where at any given moment I could enter the subjectivity and become the subject myself. Each image is not unlike the one frame of a cinematic sequence that seems to capsulize the essence of an entire movie. The images appear compressed, both spatially and in the time they represent, for the following reasons. Firstly, the exposures are shot through lenses that are slightly foreshortened and each exposure is a direct result of how its compositionally framed in the camera. The subjects are not directed in front of the camera; however, it is the distance from the lens to the subject that is crucial. The distance is dictated by the subject and is essential to achieve the optimum potential for each photograph. Secondly, the shoot is planned like a much anticipated hunting or fishing trip. Although this is the sort of activity that provides many of the images, the experience gained from such an outing is more important than the reward of the photograph. In these works there is no guilt from a sense of obligation to produce an image: the circumstances of the event will dictate if and how the exposure will be made. Editing in the camera and meticulous and repeated observation of each event culminate in the ultimate portrayal of the subject. This is how and why the images are saturated. Although the artists can imbue meaning into an art work and set up a platform for meaning to occur, it is the viewer who ultimately brings the meaning to the work. The simple but effective use of framing in the black and white portraits and photo-text works presents a controlled and neutral closure for the images to exist in. This method of isolating each image and the use of serial relationships are formal aspects of documentary photography. My intention is to encourage the audience to access each image through this documentary genre of the family album. Both serial works remind the audience of their family album - everyone has one, however, the photographs I retain are usually the kind most people discard. DESCRIPTION: Black and white photograph (silver gelatin print) of a smiling baby lying on the floor of a carpeted living room. A woman, wearing a bath-robe and slippers, looks at the baby while drinking from a mug on a nearby chair.
