Following my most recent interim show I decided to take a brief moment away from shooting to reflect on the work I had produced so far. During this time, I attempted to observe the project from the perspective of the viewer rather than the maker although this had obvious limitations. I observed the three prints and accompanying artist statement I used for the interim show and found it difficult to identify a correlation between what was being stated and what was being shown. I felt this statement invoked confusion rather than clarity, which most likely stemmed from my own uncertainty about the purpose and direction of the project.
To gather a more accurate representation of an outsider perspective I turned to lecturer Richard Higginbottom who provided me with his understanding and thoughts towards the image series and artist statement. This sense of uncertainty was reciprocated through Richard’s feedback who also found the artist statement to fail at effectively summarising the project. After a discussion around the several topics within the statement we decided that the focus of the project would be this apparent resistance to how the city is meant to be used. We identified this resistance within an abundance of my images and I felt this idea resonated most with how I felt whilst making the work. Whilst this would be the primary purpose of the work, this project also functions as a documentation of my experience of the city, which I visualise through this unconventional style of shooting.
To advance on this theory I had attached to the work I am making, I revisited the work of Stephen Keppel although this time I observed the work contextually through a text written by Taco Hidde Bakker titled “Overtones of Motion: Walking New York with Stephan Keppel” which can be read by clicking the hyperlink.
I found this discussion intriguing as it exposes Keppel’s interactions with New York, highlighting his attentiveness to the built environment and the appreciation he has for this place. I found similarities between Keppel’s understanding of the city and my own, as to an extent both our uses of the city do not conform to standard expectations.
This moment of reflection on the project defined a strong sense of direction for the future of my work. From this I feel more confident with how I talk about my images both visually and conceptually and plan to use this insight to further improve my artist statement.
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