It is my pleasures to be reviewing a fellow Masters Students
work, Claire Elyce Wiedman, now in her second year I have witnessed Claire’s
Photography work develop from what can be considered a “normal” topic that is
landscape – to present where she is trying to uncover the unconscious state
using experimental techniques on film.
Beginning her thesis focusing her work on the issue that is
the “commodification of nature” taking a stance at the snap happy tourists that
replace the experience of nature with a photograph, condemning their experience
to be something that can be hung on a wall at a later date.
To achieve this Clair used her photography that was taken
over a seven month road trip, traveling across the country to the National
state parks; meticulously curating and then splicing her imagery together; creating
seamless landscapes that no longer represent any one singular place, but humans
inability to not just sit back and really smell the roses.
To further this feeling of detraction from the original
imagery, Claire experimented printed her work on transparent material, hanging
the finished work in skewed shapes and shocking the viewer by blasting powerful
light across the face of the imagery, adding yet another level of obscurity to
this work.
It is my pleasure to say that Claire’s experimenting days are not over – a mixture of photographer, curator and experimental scientists have been evolving and progressing together.
It is my pleasure to say that Claire’s experimenting days are not over – a mixture of photographer, curator and experimental scientists have been evolving and progressing together.
Clair’s next body of work / experiment was to capture the
Sublime, but with a twist Claire relinquished her hand from the camera, instead
using a mounted go pro, and her own
dogs, experimented to see if they would be able to unwittingly pull back the
curtain on the “real” world as we experience it and expose the sublime.
Experimenting with the equipment settings Claire was able to take the
experiences of the dogs and their everyday movements developing what could have
been an ordinary image, and expose a new layer we could call the sublime.
The end result was a set of five images none altered from
their original, that have an air of the moment and altered reality – shot in
black and white – and feeling like an unreplaceable experience captured on
camera.
I am extremely excited by Claire’s current body of work
emerging; setting the scene Claire is experimenting shooting multiple images
over expired film whilst in the moment of unconscious being between sleep and
being awake; attempting to shoot the unconscious state.
Claire’s work normally stems from vast topics and ends with
a form of experimentation and I am glad to see that this time the two have
begun in tangent, allowing her work to constantly evolve as both an experiment and
an art piece.
This tangent has allowed me and other MFA students to glimpse the befginings of the end product; which seems to be producing beautiful imagery ranging from landscapes – sill life’s and everything inbetween.
This tangent has allowed me and other MFA students to glimpse the befginings of the end product; which seems to be producing beautiful imagery ranging from landscapes – sill life’s and everything inbetween.
This looks to be a truly stunning exhibition of both camera
experimentations and a view of the sublime and I urge everyone to come to the
CCAD MFA Show to find out how this photographer / experimenters work ends
up.
