Gestalt

Made with grant assistance from the Arts Council this piece takes the form of four large format prints which are intended to face each other (see right) with a central video tower. Although the layout in my visual is an 'ideal' scenario, I anticipate other spaces could dictate a different orientation.

This piece revolves around the theme of war/conflict reportage. The same actors take differing roles in the four scenarios, questioning aspects of what we bring to our viewing of the piece, and how we subsequently perceive them. I initially saw these as tableau - cross referencing themselves and referring to a mass media framework. I later decided that there needed to be aspects of the 'real life' actors present too... and hence the video tower came into being.










Print sizes Sizes: 350 x 120 cm

















Although Gestalt appears to be specifically about our contemporary media desensitisation to conflict, its subject matter was arrived at primarily because I saw the gun (and explosion) as a motif for near instant, powerful change. They create tension and hopefully makes us question the nature of each actors narrative. For some characters the urgency of the situation implies time may be stretched/held in an everlasting moment, whilst others are more relaxed and linear.

For the viewer the nature of examining these images, frozen as they are, also references back to painting and all those issues associated with editing and artifact. Closer inspection reveals objects 'buried' in the picture. These are personal items brought by the participants, put there to add an element of intrigue into who these people really are.