Diambra Mariani and Maria Teresa Salvati
Diambra Mariani's collaboration with Maria Teresa Salvati “This the only way of love I know” plays a critical role in my approach towards my concept. In her work, she forms an unusual relationship between texts and her images. Usually, images come secondary to texts as "they are in service to a writers' words, rather than possessing a life of their own"1. The work elegantly illustrates Salvati’s poem with Mariani’s visuals as it creates a dialogue for the images giving it an existing meaning. Looking at how they bring their practice to create a richer narrative of pre-existing images, I wanted to explore my concept using aspects of their method of making by building a connection using texts with my images to create a visual narrative of my concept.
Sunil Gupta
Looking at Sunil Gupta, his art practice focuses on race, migration, and queer issues. Although my concept in this brief isn't exploring any of those issues I found his method of making interesting. In his photographs, he uses texts with his images which brings in an unusual relationship between visuals and the context. Similar to this approach I'm trying to explore the unusual relationship between texts and images to develop a clear understanding of my visuals thoughts that my moving images may not produce. Furthermore, the use of texts tends to give a different perspective in how we approach a still image so I'm trying on exploring these elements used by him in my photographs to find ways in how my viewers would approach my concept/ images.
"Exiles" https://www.sunilgupta.net/exiles.html
Rebecca Hilton
Rebecca Hilton is one artist that I have been trying to find as she explores poetry through filmmaking. Her practice unfolds how poetry could be used to create a visual narrative. Building on her work, I'm trying to create a visual representation of thoughts through the use of poetry.
Looking at her work, I read the movements as a brushstroke that's creating an abstract painting of her poetry. She tends to center Us underwater in a swimming pool as she invites us to visualize her words.
A key part of the video that I found intriguing is the frequent breaks between the scenes (shown as a black screen) because it helps me reflect on her words which she narrates in a soothing tone. My video with a subject is mainly driven by her concept of using poetry to draw visual imagery of words.
In my second video with a subject being filmed, I didn't use similar breaks between the scenes as she does but I did go for the approach of having breaks in the narration of my poem. Although my subject tends to be moving from one place to another I could have gone for the approach of having a black screen as a transition to get my viewers to reflect upon what's being said; however, my main focus is to explore how my viewers manage to build that connection of an inner voice with my visual thoughts (which moves from one place to another over time).
"Storm song" https://vimeo.com/333132412
Campell Patterson
Cambell Patterson's practice is driven by everyday experiences. His approach to capturing the passage of time is a key aspect of how I approach his art practice. Moreover, using short videos and sculptures he creates a "fine line between stoic pragmatism and repetitive absurdity". Using these fundamental values into my own concept, I'm working on exploring my own thoughts through the repetitive use of visuals in my moving images. Although, his work "Holding my Mother" doesn’t fall under the same idea as mine, I do find how he documents his journey with his mother using the repetitive setting around him. Reading more about the work I did find that there were some changes in his installation as the years passed. The physical and mental approach changed. In relation to my own concept, looking up at Patterson's work, I did find few ways in how I could have that same approach of using repetition to document or invite my viewers in the journey of my visuals thoughts that go through in my everyday life.
"Holding my Mother" https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/19070/lifting-my-mother-for-as-long-as-i-can-2012
Rebecca Horn
An artist that explores her concepts through performance installations. She tends to deal with "body and physical sensations". Reading about her art practice and her approach to art-making really helped me out with the concept that I'm currently exploring. My work doesn't really deal with body and physical sensations but it's somewhat dealing with the idea of sensations that could be expressed through my thoughts using performance (through moving images). Her work "Dreaming under Water" is a performance-based film enacted by subject/subjects in front of a camera. The main focus in the installation is driven by intervention on the human body. In relation to this installation, I'm trying to my audio pieces to act out as an intervention on my thoughts and sometimes have a subject in front of the camera that enacts the connection that I'm trying to build on with my audio and visuals. Moreover, her installation is filmed on a 16mm film. That 16mm film gives her video a balance between a layer of natural sensations and enacted sensations. Using this approach, I decided to go for a 35mm film look so that I could create that balance between my thoughts ( using it to convey my thoughts as archived memories).
Chris Marker
Chris marker isn't quite like the other artists that I have looked up at in relation to my concept and art practice. Marker works on non-fictional films that engage in the aspects of travel and memory. A filmmaker who's also a writer, he has an interesting approach to his take around the idea of memory. His work "Sans Solie" is significant as it has all the bits of elements that I'm trying to explore in my own work. His film is a collection of footage recorded in various other countries creating a collage- forms like a film that elegantly uses a voice-over narration with music to express a visual narrative on the topic of memory and society.
Two individual footage from the film really influenced me to keep working on finding a way of how I could use my recorded soundtracks to express a similar narrative (collection of my thoughts as memory) to my audience. Both footages uses the voice-over to convey a visual narrative of what's being and how it's in relation to the visuals. Similarly using my audio, I'm working on exploring ways in how I could form a relationship between my audio and visual by focusing the audio as the primary aspect of my moving image.
"San Solie" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGDu7YOlVuE
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean is a musical artist that has a major influence on my art practice and my approach to poetry. Music certainly plays a crucial role in how I present poetry through the lens and follow up on the relationship between texts and images. "Blond" or "Blonde" by Ocean is his sophomore album that inspired me to incorporate poetry in my practice and find ways of expressing my thoughts visually. The album helped me write the poems and develop my work from what it was to what I have installed for my exhibition.
The name "Blond" or "Blonde" has two interpretations as "Blond being the masculine form, and Blonde being the feminine form" this goes hand in hand with the notion that my audience would acknowledge, whether using characters of the same gender or opposite gender speaks of love/ friendship. His album is a collection of songs that "explores heavily on falling in and out of love; themes of self- love and hate, failed relationships, family, drugs and depression"; although, my work doesn't deal with family and drugs; however, it does focus on the rest of the elements. The album helped me focus on how I could build a significant relationship between my poem and visuals that could portray the similar elements that the album explores.
It might be hard to see a connection between the album and my final exhibited work; however, using the influence of this album I took the initiative to portray my vulnerable side to my audience and allowing them to decide how they interpret the bond between the poem and visuals alongside the relationship that the characters share.
"Blond" https://open.spotify.com/album/3mH6qwIy9crq0I9YQbOuDf?si=-JTatUccR2CUHV1k8D8_xg