Tangled in the Web

Ok, we all know how easy it is to get off course while hunting something down on the web.... one interesting image, and I'm chasing down one rabbit hole after another. Anyway, I was looking up stuff by Lygia Clark and found this blog... I don't know how long this post will be there, but you might enjoy it.... I suggest skimming the essay...

http://anziche.blogspot.com/2007/01/functional-fake-objects-concept.html

Thanks for all the wishes of support for installing the show.

k

SF MOMA

At the SF MOMA I found several images to be compelling. However, I came away with questions regarding how imagery, (since we were looking at photography) becomes MOMA worthy art. I greatly enjoyed looking at the "small wars" which was visually compelling. We, here at home, do not know what it is like on the ground in a war zone. This show helped bring the of loneliness and abstraction of war home. However, the more I am exposed to "high" or critically acclaimed art I leave feeling like I missed the point. I don't understand what makes an image MOMA worthy, rather than IKEA worthy? 

~Kate

Project Proposal:

I am interested in the notion of presence through absence, history, and the relationship between place and experience. For this project I will be using my house as a way to begin considering environmental space/structure in relation to psychological space/structure. This will initially involve photographing primarily the structure of interior spaces. Through thinking about perceptual fragmentation, I would consider converting these spaces to various installations. Other sites, domestic and otherwise, may become more relevant to the project. I will present the images as a linear sequence in print form and will use the 4x5 camera and both color and black and white film. I anticipate that the result of the project will challenge it’s initial logic and the production of images will successively encourage more nuanced questions.

Kate's Revised Proposal

After much thinking, I have boiled it down to working on an environmental portrait of my self through my family. I am going to present the project in a book. My plan is to create a portrait of my family, and myself, that is a reflection on family and identity. I don't want to make a "family album" I want the project to be a deeper exploration into family/identity utilizing my family for images. I would like the viewer to be able to feel a connection to the work through reflection. I want to explore the connection with the past, and how it has helped shape the future. The first few images of the book will be of objects and images of past family members, the later part of the book will be image of me. Accompanying the images will be text, probably in the form of poetry. These are the only three objects of my Grandmother's (my namesake) that I own, she died before I was born. However, through my mother I feel a strong connection to her.  ~P. Kate

Revised Proposal

After learning about the waist view-finder medium format cameras, I have decided to take my photos using the Bronica. I am still going to present the finalized photos in a grid format along with short texts that will be type-written on the same sized paper as the photo prints. I will be taking photos that deal purely with the compositional elements, specifically that of the grid, and surreptitiously taken spy photos of people that exude a sense of loneliness, longing, vulnerability, and defense mechanisms.

Revised Project Proposal

After much deliberation, I finally decided to focus on something completely different from the "creating food sculpture" idea.
I was inspired by an assignment from my Digital Imaging class about nostalgia, and got very excited about that project. So I decided to use that assignment as a starting point for this class.

My current project idea is this: I want to create a portrait of a specific day in my past in pictures. I have a photographic memory from a certain day during the summer of 2002 when I was 15. I was in love with someone 11 years my senior. He and I, as well as many of my extended family members, went on a rafting trip on a river together. This day remains nostalgic to me, because although I was very happy at the time, I realize now what the real circumstances were. The day was full of judgement, tension, unspoken things, and negative thoughts hid behind a facade of smiles.
My goal is to recreate various situations that occurred that day, but reshape them according to what went unspoken. I want to expose the feelings that were hidden under the surface in my photos. I plan to use my memory of the day and recreate different scenes from that day, but add the emotions that I feel now and push it to the extreme in my props and set-up...like representing feeling cold with a big pile of ice, and wearing blindfolds to show how I couldn't see the truth that day.
I have concrete ideas drawn out for the different shots already.
I want to work in both black and white as well as color, to see what works best for this project. I am going to switch between digital and medium format cameras, with some 4x5 too. I plan do do mostly self-portraiture with additional models when necessary.
I hope this makes sense...
Lily

Don't miss this show:

Gilbert & George 

de Young Museum

through May 18, 2008.