Assignment 5: Preparation location visit – photo shooting

Working Subject:

The Uncanny – deterioration of a residential building and fading memories – human absence 

My unedited series of photo shot on location:

capturing building, close up views, and environment, trying to capture a sense of place and space.

This series of photographs cannot reflect and convey the entire sense of whole embodied experience on site. I decided to bring some structure into them, printed them out (inkjet printer) and places them in some order in a rather free association in my sketchbook.

Work in sketchbook A4:

I concluded that the following aspects do bring together a sense of place:

• Surrounding environment, nature
• Residential building as home and human presence
• Deterioration of building as process
• Human absence as a signifier for uncanny sensations – unhomely
• Windows and doors: in german ‘heimelig’ and ‘heimlich’ – in english  homely and hidden, concealing; transition inside – outside / internal – external
• Signs for human presence and absence, e.g house number, closed shutters, protection fence
• Reflections, my inner perspective

My goal:

• Visualising my personal embodied encounter and the emotional responses
• Leaving space and time for the observer to respond without conveying symbolic meanings
• Conveying a sense of a ‘natural’ process of deterioration
• Conveying a sense of transition: inside-outside / internal-external

Possible visual ideas based on this series of photographs:

• overpainting (context e.g. Gerhard Richter or Andrew Haire) => Photograph overpainting
• documentation (context Cornelia Parker) => collage, process painting
• use as photo reference for painting incl found materials (context e.g. Anselm Kiefer) => index, texture, ground
• Juxtaposition with drawing and painting (context e.g. Craig Donald) => installation, collage, writing
• inspiration for layers, step sequences and not-control (context e.g. Graham Chorlton) => monotype, fluid handling of paint

I have to explore the most successful approaches with my sketchbook work and trying to be less pre-mediated and more focused on the process of the painting-making.