Assignment Four: Major Project Edit

Make another submission of work in progress as a tightly edited, sequenced series. You may have continued to shoot; you may have changed direction since your last feedback report. However your project has developed, make the development clear in the image selection.

Pay particular attention to how you will use words alongside your images (captions, titles or additional ‘relay’ type text) and re-frame your images accordingly.

As in previous assignments, include a short commentary outlining the development of your ideas during your work on this part of the course.

Artist statement

This work is a continuation of my photography within an ancient woodland. It serves as a photographic celebration of cooperation and harmony within the community, along with a submerged representation of my internal discomfort on the divisions in my local community. “What lies beneath” is a visual exploration of a diverse harmonious woodland community, that in contrast to a divided and malcontented nearby human community.

What lies beneath

What lies here beneath the abundant enveloping eiderdown, slumbering peacefully together? What lies elsewhere beneath structural facades, sheltering but murmuring malice?

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What lies here beneath the verdant creeping coverlet, collectively sharing comfort? What lies elsewhere beneath community spirit, concealed but festering?  

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What lies here beneath the luminescent selfless sheath, accepting mutual benefit? What lies beneath shared need, acknowledged but resented?

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What lies here beneath the softest downy dress, sharing nourishment contentedly? What lies elsewhere beneath mans’ disguised demeanor, civil but deliberately divisive?

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What lies here beneath the soothing snaking sleeve, insulated from harm by another? What lies elsewhere beneath deceitful welcomes, smiling but spewing spite?

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What lies here beneath the willing emerald wrapping, acknowledging their collective realm? What lies elsewhere beneath acceptable appearances, charming but prejudiced?

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Commentary

This series of work was a progression from my previous series. Still with the overarching theme of harmony, set against the antithesis of the disharmony in the local community, which is the driver for portraying the ancient woodlands as a visual metaphor for a harmonious community.

Working with a natural subject through natures cycles, caused me to reassess my photographic intention at the outset, which had been to develop the story of harmony in a musical sense as a collective of choral parts. It was December and the woods were bare, except for the prolific moss, which covered and protected the more dormant species hidden below itself. This is a time of nurture, acceptance and sleep in the woodlands, against a continuing backdrop in local village life of festering resentments and division. I reassessed how I could use this as a metaphor to communicate my concept.

So, I photographed moss in its various guises, accentuating it’s vibrant, abundant blanket and it’s welcome benefit and mutual exchange and respect to the rest of the diverse woodland community.

Having discounted my original intention to experiment with musical terms as descriptors and context for the woodland elements, I searched for a way to signpost my work, to add some context, but not too much. My research led me to experiment with combining my images with poetry.  Could poetry bring something else into being? Could my images made up of visual nouns represent something else? Would words in a form of poetry give more clarity and depth without being too restrictive to the meaning?

Experimenting with words led me to connect my visual representations to the local community beyond the woodlands; this the original trigger for my visual work. Would combining poetry develop these images in another dimension, bringing “a third creative personality”? (Hurn and Fuller, 2010:11). After some experimentation I have added my own poetry to unravel the images a little, amplify my internal dialogue, whilst not giving too much directional context – this I hope will create third personalities, beyond the images and the poetry.

Reference:

Hurn, D. and Fuller, J. (2010) Writing the Picture. Bridgend Wale: Seren.

Contact sheets