#assessmentthree

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Above Images: Experiment Six Documentation, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018 (1/3)

Experiment 6 - In Class Chance Score Generator

This week we were challenged to create a random score generator with links to assessment two. I wanted to continue off from my last experimentation of placing my physically cut photographs in front of different patterns and images.

I had continued research and found a young artist, Ben Stainton, who edited pictures with patterns and images beneath. These yielded similar results to some of my stacking of images in my last experiment although not physically stacked but rather edited. I was particularly interested in his works of older images with bright contrasting images below. Examples are below

I wanted to use this experiment to attempt to recreate this in a way with the resources available in class. My laptop, phone and the cut out photos from my experiment 2.

Above Image: Superma-rilyn, Ben Stainton, 2018

Above Image: Consumption, Ben Stainton, 2018 

I created a rule that I would photograph each cut photo a total of 5 times sitting atop of a random image from google search. These images behind the photos are the results from ‘landscape’ search and I selected every 9th photo. I chose landscape as I thought it was a very vibrant but neutral topic to utilise that would add no other conceptual layer to my piece.

Above Image: Experiment Six Examples of Landscapes (screenshot), Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

Surprisingly a lot of  the 9th images were blue (skies or water) and greenery. This reflected well through majority of the photographs with an exception to the one of the child on a merry-go-round. The combination of multiple colours in the photograph paired with similar colours beneath creates a poor quality contrast for the cutout.

Interestingly I think by placing images behind the photographs it can add an additional layer to the story but still does not make up for the loss of the figure from the image. If I were to continue this method of presenting the images, I believe a random image generator would not be effective all the time but could become a method for selecting the images behind. By going through a process of random images and selecting those that work well, could produce a well developed result. Also there would need to be a more effective method of capturing the results, or perhaps just editing images in. 

Although this was a fun task, Filling in the space of the figures draws away from my purpose of removing them. However I liked the attention placed on the background in this experiment. I think utilising the remaining context after the people have been removed could create a solid final work idea.

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Development of Final Work

From my copious amounts of experimentation revolving around various methods of removing the people from an image and what to do with the image once they have been taken out and what can the people do has lead me strongly back to the context of the photos I had chosen. That although the people were missing, there was still a very strong story attached to the images, and yes these were vague because the audience did not hold the full story but it did not leave full interpretation to each individual viewer. 

Pia suggested in week 12 that perhaps removing the significant features that lay in the background could be worthwhile. 

I thought on this and how again my experiments lead to the features other than the people and how these could spark interest and imagination for the viewer and this is where I sparked my final work idea. 

I utilised photoshop to create the piece and enjoyed the process immensely. I worked with each image I had selected for any of the experiments along the way and drew elements from the background, completely ignoring the figures in the pictures. These elements in themselves hold significance in the images, and in the memories associated to me with the time in which the photos were snapped. Drawing on inspiration from Ben Stainton (used for experiment six, blog of work found here) I wanted to create a piece of graphic work that was engaging to look at, but with each element put together created a jumbled context. That the audience no longer has the figures in the work but rather an organised jumble of each context that no longer can be pieced together in one logical way. Each viewer can create their own stories and associate memories with different pieces and elements. 

The process was long and a learning curve, but I am really happy with the final piece. I can very accurately tell where each element has been drawn from and associate them with their figures, but it really does create a contextless context with no figures. 

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Above Images: Experiment Six Documentation, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018 (2/3)

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Experiment 5 - Playing with Photos

After creating the images that had the figures cut out of in experiment three, I like the result and wanted to see how I could utilise the photos now they had figure shaped holes in them. 

I began researching for artists that utilised family photographs in other pieces of art and found Laura Lancaster who painted scenes from family photographs. Her works through the use of oil paints vaguely recreated these photographs and captured very well the notions of nostalgia in a new medium. The work showcases family’s that held no significance to me and yet the images felt familiar and homey. I continued looking into her work. An example is below

Above Image: Untitled work, Laura Lancaster, 2015

Whilst googling online for Laura related works, i found an article that a teacher had posted of works students had completed inspired by Lancaster. These included cut outs of photographs similar to mine and possibilities for playing with this and using these “ruined” photos in a new piece of art. I drew on this work and decided to play around with my images expecting nothing in particular to emerge. 

Article: Tampering with History, PinkyBinks, November 10, 2013

I noticed as soon as holding it up to the light that the contrast between the photos and the sky beyond my balcony looked very cool. I attempted to capture some ideas for how I could use these images with photography. 

Firstly I used one image against differing backgrounds and lights. In the first image I love the play with the light coming behind the image and how clearly the cut out figure is displayed. It really forces emphasis on the figure and the fact that it is missing and not on the background of the photo. The second image is against a busier backdrop, a building. This allows the photograph the really be considered by the viewer and the cutout is not so apparent due to the colours behind it. The glare from one of the buildings catches your attention which was not the intention.  The third image has the busiest backdrop of the three, but unlike the second the colours coming through the cutout are not contrasting with the ones in the image. It creates a strong sense of harmony between the photograph and what is coming through the cutout. It was interesting to see how these photos could easily have the emphasis changed depending on how and where they are shown. 

Above 3 Images: Experiment Five Highchair in Light, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

I attempted to use another image with a group of figures but I found the fact the a large amount of the picture was missing did not work as well. Although once again when placed with the sky really accentuated the missing figures, and against a busy background emphasised the photograph’s background. 

Above 2 Images: Experiment Five Group in Light, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

Playing on from this test, I had all my pictures stacked on one another and this caught my attention.

Above Image: Experiment Five Stacked Photos, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

Having the background of one of the other pictures underneath the cutout of a different image, this created a contrast not only between two scenes but very personally between two memories and across different stages of life. I explored this further by recreating the stacking and photographing ones I felt layered well. 

Above 4 Images: Experiment Five Overlapped Photos, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

These created images resonated for me a deeper meaning, that I feel I couldn’t share with anybody who did not know the people in these images. The combination of different scenes created these images that crossed different times and stages of my life. Overall these images create interest by having a pattern or shape behind the cutouts, whilst still not drawing attention away from the forefront scene. It allows something to fill the space that still does not allow any upfront meaning about the figures that once stood there. 

My final experimentation was actually not with the photos that had the people removed but rather the people I had removed. I thought they were very cute and like little stickers. Similar to the first photographs shown I wanted to play with positioning within another photo to place these people in a new scene.

In the first image below, i used a group cutout and placed them on my balcony ledge. The focus in this photo is still on the people. This was interesting as I could figured instead of taking away the story from a picture, I could also totally create a new  one with the figures from a photo. It was interesting to play with scale and proportion of my little figures against such large backgrounds but I think looks semi-realistic. 

Above Image: Experiment Five Group Figures, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

The next two images look not as realistic as the one above, one for the fact that the figures are wearing swimwear. Not ideal for cityscape. However in snapping some shots, the focus of the first picture is on the group of people whereas the focus int he second is on the landscape. This is a very interesting contrast of images. The first emphasises the group of people and the obvious relationship between them, which I believe would occur with any backdrop. however when the focus shifts away from the figures and to the background, the figures almost become irrelevant. Even though they have not been removed from the shot, the lack of emphasis creates almost as powerful of an idea. They become invisible in plain sight. Most of the family photographs I found while looking through albums were very close up shots of my family, where nothing in particular stood out in the background. The dynamic of the photograph was to capture the family, and changing the focus away from that felt like I was obscuring the meaning not only in the photo I was taking, but for the group of figures I was holding. In a way to be honest, I felt wrong taking away the emphasis on the group and placing it on the buildings. 

Above 2 Images: Experiment Five Family Figures, Jessie Sucker-Walton,2018

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Experiment 2 - Single figure silhouette

Carrying on from my last experiment, I wanted to get the same result - an image with the figures unrecognisable, yet I wanted each figure to be distinguishable from the other figures around it. I played with photoshop to see the different colours and shapes I could fill the figures in with, and found the gradient. This allowed my to completely fill the shape of each individual separately. I later discovered that this could be coloured in a multitude of ways but I preferred the classic black and white fade, as I felt even the colour communicated a message about the figures. This is something I did not want to do, so I stuck with plain black and white. I really love this effect, it allows the actions of the people to be really be seen whilst still hiding the people that are actually in the photo. Again these images were my own with people that I knew and places that meant something. I think I could further experimentation with images that I have no previous affiliation with, or perhaps moving some of these figures below of people I know into scenes that are not associated (eg moving my family into a picture of the ocean or in front of Eiffel Tower).

The representation of people is obviously very dependant on their features, and in taking that away is very standardising. In a way these photos lose value to me despite myself still knowing what they originally captured. They are still not useless but their value has been altered on a personal basis for myself. However to an external audience these images might hold to same value as before they were altered, or possibly even more as they can now imagine themselves in the images.

The final images are below

Above 4 Images: Experiment Two Black and White Gradient, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

And these are examples of the coloured gradient that I discovered but did not use 

Above 3 Images: Experiment Two Coloured Gradient Effects, Jessie Sucker-Walton, 2018

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final statement

I always find myself reflecting about my past, present, and future. I always found that time had a very cyclical nature, especially due to clocks having a circular rhythm that moulds us to follow a routine day after day. I always question as to whether it is possible to escape the constraints it places on our being, if there is a dimension where we can be somewhere rather than here? Is there a possibility where we can move freely between periods of time and space?

I always found that dreaming has been an escape, where our bodies and our brain rest to allow our subconscious run wild to explore and reveal things we knew, didn’t, and maybe someday will. In my final piece, I wanted to explore time through a means of hallucinations. 

In my pieces, I wanted to explore the depths of time, nightmares, daydreaming, and lucid dreaming. With depths of time, I wanted to interpret how the idea of free falling in a dream can transcend a moment where we feel the rush of the drop come quick, or move slow. Nightmares become a haunting for our being, sometimes we are afraid to sleep knowing that we might perhaps dream of something we try to repress from ever coming up. When it comes to daydreaming, we are completely zoned out, unknowingly drifting into another time and place, exploring fantasies, scenarios that we always wishfully could happen. With lucid dreaming, I wanted to depict the idea of being half awake and half asleep, having the ability to create and fabricate our deepest and wildest imaginations without any consequences. 

Mixed media was used in the entire composition of my final piece, to explore the tactility and senses that occur throughout our dreaming. When it comes to these hallucinations, we are given the ability of knowing that there’s an escape to another dimension, fracturing our understanding of the constraints of time, moving freely between other worlds.

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FINAL PIECE/s

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Experiment 4 - A really rough composition of a collage, I knew I wanted a focal point and wanted clouds in the final piece.