The actual act of photographing an object transforms it into something else. It gives it importance, marks it as something worthy of note. It can also provide a fresh look at previously familiar objects.
This is a chair in my backyard that I see most days. I’ve never given it a second thought until taking this photo of it. In the photo, the unusual qualities and formal construction of this object becomes apparent. I have never looked at it the same since.
This can be the pleasure of photography – it has the power to defamiliarise the previously familiar, and provide it with a new significance.
To continue this, I photographed the rest of the yard to form an almost 360 degree view. I then joined these photographs together to represent the whole space within one image.
Although the perspective is not accurate, the uneven flow of the images provides a sense of the contours of the actual space.
In this culture, we read left to right and this is also true of how we ‘read’ a set of images. This means we begin to read a sequence such as this the same way in which we’d read a sentence. On top of this, the sequence automatically begins to suggest a timeline. Because this images were taken separately, that begins to denote a certain amount of time passing in the image, and also the time it takes to fully scan the image.
This sequence also presents certain sculptural qualities which add to its intrigue; the repetition of the brooms, the chair within a chair. The repetition of certain areas or objects begins to create a sense of the unreal; this is not a ‘true’ image – this is something stitched together which does not exist in this view in ‘real’ life. The gaps and more jarring aspects of the image also add to this; we know things are out of kilter and continue beyond the frame where they are cut off, but this begins to leave space for the viewer to ‘finish off’ the image in their own mind.
There are a number of features in the image which point to a presence, and the places function as part of a living space; the chairs, bikes, bins, but the lack of any physical presence allows the viewer to form their own narratives about what goes on here/who lives here etc.
To further these ideas I need to do more. But is it relevant that this is a domestic space or would a public space serve the same kind of functions? Would manipulating a public space (i.e putting the chairs on a street) work or become too contrived? Is it necessary to work around ‘found’ scenes? And what would happen if you did have people in the image? Is there any way to get them within the gaps/overlaps in the image, so they exist in a non-space?
