Ruinous Recollections has provided me with the opportunity to explore the work of W.G Sebald and the relationship between text, image and location as explored in 'The Immigrants'.
A brief background to my work as an artist is necessary here as I completed a Master of Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University in October 2007 and my practice involved the exploration and documentation of sites in a state of abandonment. Sites I explored in Manchester included Barnes Hospital and the Old Police & Fire Station at Piccadilly as well as sites in Leeds my town of residence.
It is with this background that I felt I could relate to Sebald and his relationship with Manchester as it would be a place he would 'inhabit' 'abandon' and 'return' to on a number of occasions. It is this very notion of repeat visits that I will use as the basis of my work as I live and work in Leeds so will need to continually abandon and return to Manchester.
The nature of my documentations of sites of memory is primarily photographic but the techniques I adopt emphasize the notion of 'trace' as I often use Pin Hole photography to capture the light that animates these places.
Through this exploration I will uncover the traces of existence and
ghostly remnants of preserved memory. Formulating methods of practice,
which represent the experience and atmosphere of these sites. Often adding
extra layers of palimpsestuous reading to my artefacts by using time-
based pinhole camera techniques and by producing spectral fragmented screen
prints of the images she captures.
Previous sites of exploration include Barnes Hospital and the former police
and fire station at Piccadilly, Manchester.
“As an image-maker I am able to control the documented 'encounters' whilst
allowing the space to be the overall controlling factor of my experience”.
Re-tracing the footsteps of Sebald, I will add my own memories and
fictions to the city. The relationship between author, text and reader been
exposed through the work and experiences produced.
3 comments:
I found your work when I did a google search on Sebald The Immigrants for a paper I will give this month for a creative writing conference in Hamilton New Zealand. I am very impressed by what you are doing with abandoned spaces, Sebald's ideas of memory and immigration. May I use one of your images in my paper please. I would acknowledge you of course. It would work well to illustrate my points. If you would like to know more, please let me know. Regards
Gaby Esser-Hall
Lecturer in Art Theory
Waikato Institute of Technology
Hamilton New Zealand
I found your work when I did a google search on Sebald The Immigrants for a paper I will give this month for a creative writing conference in Hamilton New Zealand. I am very impressed by what you are doing with abandoned spaces, Sebald's ideas of memory and immigration. May I use one of your images in my paper please. I would acknowledge you of course. It would work well to illustrate my points. If you would like to know more, please let me know. Regards
Gaby Esser-Hall
Lecturer in Art Theory
Waikato Institute of Technology
Hamilton New Zealand
Hi Gaby
Thank you for the comments, you are most welcome to use an image.
Kind Regards
Vic
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