Underpinned by conceptual ideologies, my practice uses text, photography and video to map and recount an experience. Utilising text to suggest memory and geographical locations, the viewer is led to question my depiction of a journey. This, in relation to a history of artists such as Richard Long and Hamish Fulton; explores the idea of an Artist as a traveller.
By investigating travel beyond a walk, I wish to show how cars have become a fast, conventional means of exploration. Despite this, we perhaps learn less about our environment, as we travel the terrain at a quicker pace. Consequently we absorb less information, focusing on a singular perspective. My work replicates this by using a camera and video device mounted within my car; therefore demonstrating one view point, giving a limited impression of the surroundings. This use of a car to map a journey concentrates on how we explore the world through technologies such as Google Maps. This emphasises the barrier between terrain and viewer, a distancing from the landscape. Through the installation of images or video, I wish to impress on the viewer the experience of a journey.
Whilst considering the placement of my work, it is notable that Michel de Certeau stated ‘The ordinary practitioners of the city live ‘down below’ the thresholds at which visibility begins’[1]. This referenced the idea of being elevated above the city, suggesting that in viewing the world for an aerial perspective our visibility is awakened; meaning we take in more information. As a direct result of this, my work is placed so that the viewer will have to look upon it from an aerial perspective. This is in the hope that they are placed in a position to fully absorb information regarding my practice.
[1] Michel de Certeau. The Practice of Everyday Life: University of California Press Ltd., 1988, 93
By investigating travel beyond a walk, I wish to show how cars have become a fast, conventional means of exploration. Despite this, we perhaps learn less about our environment, as we travel the terrain at a quicker pace. Consequently we absorb less information, focusing on a singular perspective. My work replicates this by using a camera and video device mounted within my car; therefore demonstrating one view point, giving a limited impression of the surroundings. This use of a car to map a journey concentrates on how we explore the world through technologies such as Google Maps. This emphasises the barrier between terrain and viewer, a distancing from the landscape. Through the installation of images or video, I wish to impress on the viewer the experience of a journey.
Whilst considering the placement of my work, it is notable that Michel de Certeau stated ‘The ordinary practitioners of the city live ‘down below’ the thresholds at which visibility begins’[1]. This referenced the idea of being elevated above the city, suggesting that in viewing the world for an aerial perspective our visibility is awakened; meaning we take in more information. As a direct result of this, my work is placed so that the viewer will have to look upon it from an aerial perspective. This is in the hope that they are placed in a position to fully absorb information regarding my practice.
[1] Michel de Certeau. The Practice of Everyday Life: University of California Press Ltd., 1988, 93