Nostalgia, Hollis Frampton.

This film depicts a series of still photographs, most of them taken by the artist Hollis Frampton, slowly burning one at a time on a hotplate. On the soundtrack, we hear Frampton's comments and reminiscences about the photographs. As we watch each photograph burn, we hear the reminiscence referring to the following photograph. The sound and image are on two different time schedules. At any moment, we are listening to a commentary about a photograph that we shall be seeing in the future and looking at a photograph that we have just heard about. We are pulled between anticipation and memory. The nature of the commentary reinforces the complexity; it arouses our sense of anticipation by referring to the future; it also reminisces about the past, about the time and conditions under which the photographs were made. The burning of the photographs or memories seem to also emphasize the sometimes temporary and fleeting qualities of a memory.

The Rings of Saturn. W. G. Sebald

'Memories lie slumbering within us for months and years, quietly proliferating, until they are woken by some trifle and in some strange way blind us to life. How often this has caused me to feel that my memories, and the labours expended in writing them down are all part of the same humiliating and, at bottom, contemptible business! And yet, what would we be without memory? We would not be capable of ordering even the simplest thoughts, the most sensitive heart would lose the ability to show affection, our existence would be a mere neverending chain of meaningless moments, and there would not be the faintest trace of a past.' W. G. Sebald, The rings of Saturn.

I have started reading The rings of Saturn written by Sebald in which he records a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. This journey that he took is wonderfully similar to the one I took not that long ago along the Norfolk coast and the memories and emotions evoked for Sebald resonate with many that I had on my journey.

I had visited Norfolk as a child with the same people I set out on this walk with so it seemed to unconsciously become a pilgrimage; the nostalgic atmosphere encapsulated and emphasized by the mysterious landscape of the past.

On the Hill

I was recently involved in the making of a short film called 'On the Hill' which was filmed in East Sussex on the South Downs. The film explored the tension between a couple and how the tense atmosphere and narrative could be shown through subtle gestures and human body language. I documented the day and plan to use some of the photographs as inspiration for paintings as the landscape and atmospheric qualities of the shots as well as the ambiguity are perfect for my work. 

Norfolk coast on film.

On my walk along the Norfolk coast as well as using a harinezumi to document the landscape i used my medium format film camera in black and white. These photographs seem timeless and the strong contrasts and blurred patches resonate a strong sense of the past and even ones memories. Im pleased with the way they turned out and plan to take them into the dark room, to blow them up and play with them using the practical dark room processes that i have enjoyed so much before.

Painting.

After looking at the Claude Glass device i decided to communicate one of my photographs of the norfolk landscape into a painting that resonates with the images prouduced by claude glasses. I undertook the daunting task of making a circular canvas which i found a feat in itself and then started to experiment with techniques that i have been formulating. 

Norfolk coast on Harinezumi.

I recently spent four days walking the north Norfolk coast and along the way i documented the surrounding landscapes. Other than being spectacularly beautiful it was also wonderfully untouched and wild, the vast expansions of wilderness felt timeless and shockingly different to anything one usually experiences. I used an old film camera to photograph the walk as well as a Japanese device a Harinezumi, this tiny digital camera  mimics the aesthetics of a super 8 through the gritty quality and sepia tones. 

Encapsulating my ideals of rural idyll  with the wild landscapes and look back in time to the untouched land, using the Harinezumi only emphasized this and even recreated the old photographs which i collect and use for my paintings. 

Claude Glass

My recent paintings of landscapes taken from old black and white photographs seem to recollect the images bought to life through the old devices 'claude glasses'. These small black mirrors were used by artists, travellers and connoisseurs of landscape and reflected the surroundings transforming them into dark simplified painterly depictions of the reflections. They became a way to frame a landscape before images could be fixed with photography. 

The photographer Emma Weislander produced a series of photographs based around the concept of Claude Glasses, depicting dark landscapes of the lake district.The darkness and circular frames recreate the technique of the Claude Glass.

William Gilpin an artist and user of the Claude Glass wrote about the images created by these contraptions saying 'they are like the visions of the imagination; or the brilliant landscapes of a dream. Forms and colours, of the brightest array fleet before us.'                                                                                      

Mass Observation.

The Whitechapel gallerys exhibition titled 'nothing beautiful unless useless' celebrates works in public collections across the North west of England and poses the question - what role should art play in social change. Amongst works from the pre raphaelites and Lowry there was a group of photographs and a video which introduced me to the radical social research organisation that came about in the 1930s and 40s;  Mass observation. 

Headed by anthropologist Tom Harrison, poet Charles Madge and filmmaker Humprey Jennings, the organisation aimed to create a new kind of realism in response to the econnomic and political conditions leading up to World War II, striving to prouduce an 'anthropology of ourselves' through artistic means and collecting anecdotal evidence from peoples everyday lives and experiences. 

These photographs strike up strong similarity's with the photographs of Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones down to the honesty and motive of pure documentation. The work for me seems nostalgic; glimpses into the past of my personal culture and life that i have never actually experienced. 

Deimantas Narkevicus - The Role of a lifetime.

This film ' The Role of a lifetime' hidden within the maze at The Tate Modern explores the complex task of representing history, combining the memories of film maker Peter Watkins with images from diverse sources. Narkevicus's work addresses the relationship between personal memory and political history, so employing archival footage, voice overs, interviews, re-enactments and found photographs his films reinterpret historical events by playing with different narrative structures. Commissioned to create something for a church in Brighton, a place unfamiliar to him, Narkevicus borrowed the experiences of others.

The images that contrive the film contain amateur footage of 1960s Brighton with a series of landscapes drawn by lithuanian artist Mindaques Lukosaitis and the films soundtrack is derived from an interview of the controverisal British film maker Peter Watkins. The juxtopsition of incongruous elements enriches the reading of each image, yet remains enigmatic. 

The familiarity of the amateur footage is not surprising as many English documentary photographers of film makers turn to this leisure life on the south coast. Although I found a complete disconnect between the images and the impersonal and emotionless soundtrack.