Self Directed Statement.

Self Directed Statement

This work is focused on light and how it can change a photograph, even slightly from something innocent into something creepy. I decided to look into light as it is all around us from natural light, the sun to the artificial light, a lamp post, each light is different to a degree and I wanted to understand the variety of ways that light can be portrayed in a photograph. I have chosen the media of photography as it is easy to capture light, especially light that doesn’t last very long such as sparklers and fireworks. I printed my photographs on acetate as it changes the perceptive and there are multiple different ways to layer and portray the images, instead of just a standard photograph. I find that photography produces something realistic but by mixing it with photographed acetate it distorts and changes the realism into something surreal and creepy. I started to take photographs of my local environment, as it is easily accessible and after taking a series of photographs I noticed how the sun can distort an image, then this lead me on the journey to look at different lights from sparklers to the moon.

The artist Nobuhiro Nakanishi has influenced my work as he uses photographed acetate to make a series of layered images to form one piece. Since looking at Nakanishi I have understood the effects of using acetate and the different ways to use it such as layering as it distorts but still able to see some aspects of the image underneath or behind, it adds depth to a photography piece. Another artist is Ciaran Tully who looks at layering images on top of one another to create sort of a 3D image. At first glance it looks like there is something wrong with the image as the layering isn’t direct, it is slightly altered and this creates a distorted, fast moving paced city, he is trying to reveal. Tully made me look at changing the way I put acetate on an image and how by changing it, it can alter the response from the viewer.

This series of work is aimed at local people dominantly to see the way they perceive local areas that have been altered. I want people to see a normal street that anyone can walk down but made creepy due to the way I have overlaid the acetate. I wanted to show that the normal can change and be distorted.