Photograph 6 This is a collage or overlay of two photographs placed within the rectangular frame of a larger white background. I am fascinated by the sizes of the photographs and their relationship to the white background. The way they have been positioned: the images bleed off the frame to the right, the top photograph overlays the bottom one and the elongated shape of the page, creates an uncanny feel of something manipulable, something I could touch. This transports me straight into an object world and I see the white page as an A4 sheet of paper and the images as actual 6 x4” prints loosely piled up, with the potential to shift position. The photographer has settled on this exact composition whilst at the same time involving the viewer in the complex relationship between elements within that empty space. At almost the same time the viewer senses empowerment she also feels pleasure in allowing the photographer to do the work for her and there is a release in just looking and laughing and untangling the threads generated by the pairing of these two images. Interestingly there is a powerful command to ‘LOOK’ on the road in the lower photograph which is quickly imploded in the unseeing, cartoon eyes of the rubber penguin turned skyward in the top photograph. The whole setting and grouping of the penguin figures is a mystery to me. I wonder if the photograph was taken in the UK or if it has a more exotic birth because I have never seen anything like it before. The handles that poke sideways off the penguins faces and the grouping of the bird models make me think it is some kind of fairground ride and yet the setting, close to buildings and a fence make this scenario unlikely. The whole scene is captured from behind glass, it is obviously raining and there are spots of water on the outer surface of the glass and a sense of spray or wet mist that lends the scene an overall greyness. It really reminds me of a car wash: the temporary architecture of the glazed fence behind could be on a petrol station forecourt and the water on the window, part of the cleaning process, but it is clearly not a car wash. The penguins are close to the glass and we see them from the waist up only. In the photograph below the rain has stopped but the road is still wet with puddles in places. It seems as if excess water from the top picture is seeping down into the one below. A man, second to the right in a group of five waiting to cross the road, has his umbrella open but held by the handle upside down with the point on the ground. Perhaps he is in the process of closing it up. The people are cut in half by the overlay of the top image but seem physically rationalised by their penguin top halves. There is pathos in the connection of the dumb birds to their human counterparts whilst the alien glamour of the bird figures further enhances the dreariness of the weather and the familiarity of the humdrum scene below.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:39:12 +0000
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