LOW FOCUS (35mm slide projected at 140x100cm) ONGOING

 

Working with caustic soda (painted onto 35mm colour reversal film) I have been making slide compositions for projection that take the form of up to four layers of film which are then dissolved in part to form one image. The work in LOW FOCUS is an attempt to convey the reflective / pre-reflective intertwined and sliding moment of perception and the layering of memory onto the present as a visual and physical process.
 

"When we undertake a phenomenology we peel away the high-focus and spend some time engaging in low-focus data retrieval"

Kozel, S. Closer (MIT: 2007)

 

The single photographic layers represent low-focus data which can take the form of raw sensory data, memories and imaginative contsucts. The work questions the transitory and unpredictable elements of this low-focus state with the process of corrosion/degradation mirroring the instability.

 

Exploring the idea of movement in the still image

LOW FOCUS is an investigation into movement within still images. The first LOW FOCUS compositions were somewhat controlled within the formative process where I would conscioulsy decide how much of an image to corrode/dissolve leaving me with a fixed static image at the end. In order to convey the fluidity of the process I started to experiment with live projection. The heat of the projector bulb was now fast-tracking the chemical reaction between the caustic soda and the film. Now I could leave the corrosive process working until the images were completely washed or fluid in their presentation. At this point in my practice I was being recommended the works of Stan Brakhage and Bill Morrison (Decasia). Moving image was now beginning to creep into my process as an aesthetic but also more as a requirement for documenting the performative element of the corrosion and my physical interaction with the media.