The Cure

Introduction to The Cure.

Exploring what may be the cause of Isoloneliness through relics of abandonments and voids must conclude a cure. What is it we objects use to escape loneliness? Sex, Technologies, Interactions are some of our utopia’s. This part of the project will explore what we do as humans to evade the feelings we hate. One of my ideas is about one night stands, our cravings for contact, flesh on flesh. Our most primal needs against our primal fears. Those who sanction in relationships, or in wed lock may not feel the same as one who is single. I know that this project will be theoretically complicated, because everyone feels different towards sex, so I am not going to get too technical about this, and just experiment.

My first idea to represent sex is the use of condoms. Condoms are used to prevent things such as STI’s or the creation of life, obviously, you don’t need a sex education, but I want to focus on the prevention of creating another life, another vessel to become infected by Isoloneliness.

I have experimented with condoms by putting objects inside them that don’t necessarily relate to loneliness, but have implications of a negative lifestyle. As condoms are used to ‘capture’ life, I wanted to use them to capture things in life. The things we use as a cure.

Experiment 1; Cigarette Butts

Experiment 2; Pills

Experiment 3; needles

Experiment 4; phone/technologies

Experiment 5; nothingness

Analysis of objects in a condom

I chose objects that I think people turn to when suffering from Isoloneliness, yet I don’t know why I put them in condoms. I could have used the objects in their own context, and feel like that it doesn’t work by putting them in condoms. My focus for this project was to illustrate sex and one night stands as a cure, not other cures. If I am to return to this project, I will extract the objects from the condom and use them in another way.

RISK ASSESMENT; The hypodermic syringe I used was brand new, and free from sharps. A friend who uses insulin provided the needle, and he handled it at all times, including putting it in the condom. It was disposed of in his sharp box carefully and responsibly.

Artist research

Artist research

Looking for artists to help inspire me so early on in the project is hard, as I am unsure of my foundations, or where this project will be going. One artist, however, that I was introduced to by a friend, had some very interesting images. I don’t think that his subjects were specialized in loneliness, but some of the methods and styles in his work remind me of the project I am doing. One of his images is a gritty picture of trees and the ground from an ariel view. The camera angle alone gives the place a feeling of isolation, allowing the viewer to see the amount of empty space in the photograph. What appears to be mist consumes the clear vision of the viewer, giving it a claustrophobic atmosphere, conflicting with the ariel shots intention of space. The black and white tones create a lingering feeling of eeriness.

http://www.we-find-wildness.com/2010/12/lukas-wassmann/

I wouldn’t compare it to The Ghosts of Spurn Point, however, I feel that if I had seen this image before I took the photographs, they would have turned out different. When taking my pictures, black and white photography didn’t even occur to me. This image has inspired me to experiment with different techniques when using photography in this project, and camera angle is an important tool.  

Moving forward; return to the living

Moving forward; return to the living

It might be a while before I return to Spurn Point, so I need to try out different experiments to represent Isoloneliness. I feel that I can move on from my last experiment with an understanding that my work could become clique, predictable or completely contradictory of my aims. I have had several ideas of what I want to do next. I am still unsure of the path I want to take, i.e. making it a personal or collective project, so for the time begin, I am going to explore both.

The Ghosts of Spurn Point

Source of picture; http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/geography/spurn_head/050905_cbrown_mp_geo_with1.jpg

Ghosts Of Spurn Point

As a child, my parents took me to a place called Spurn Point. An isolated part of the Yorkshire coast, built with sand banks and shingle banks, overlooking the ocean. The Victorians built their sea defences on the banks, which are maintained by the Ministry Of Defence, which are now abandoned. From the mainland, it is a 3 mile drive to get to the point, then the road ends. You can walk around the whole point on the beach, where the old war bunkers decay, and traces of its history barley remain.



 

The place is a congealment of beauty and loneliness. This week, I returned to capture the tension and vibes of Spurn Point. It’s hard to explain the emotions you pick up from there, even through photography. There’s a physical magic that can only be experience when you walk onto the beach. It’s a strange sensation when you walk around the point, passing the abandoned war bunks. A spirit of the past latches on to you, the living, begging for interaction, for it to be remembered. The lighthouse, a ghost within its own rights, seems to wait, overlooking the sea, ready to warn the dangers of the rocks below. You pick up a tragic sense of loss, as the only interaction it gets is one way. The boats receive the signal of danger, and then sail away, not replying to the lighthouse. It now has been out of use since 1986.

The pictures I took all have a story which I feel like I need to tell you.

The Ghosts of Spurn Point

#1. Clouds and Towers. When I approached the main part of the point, the first thing I saw was the old radio tower. The picture is in sepia, because I mistakenly pressed the wrong setting on my camera, but I feel that it mimics the physical feeling that the place emits when you are present. The clouds are parted above the tower allowing the light to brighten the grounds. The strong winds agitate the vast spaces of grass, like the waves of the ocean. In the background, the old keeper’s cottages can be seen, but no sign of life is detected.

#2. Still Vibrations. As I approached the shore, I saw wooden beams stuck into the sand. The beams have no use now, so they stand alone, neglected, and battered by the cold North Sea when the tide comes in. These ghosts appear to be waiting for interaction, like many of the objects on the point. When I look at them for a while, I can imagine a row of people standing on the beach, awaiting a boat. The rough texture of the sea contrasts with the smoothness of the sand, creating tenseness between the two subjects.

#3. Abandoned to the sea. Once a storage for explosives, this metal structure is now empty, constantly whipped by the sea. Rust all over the structure indicates disregard from human communication. As it is not in use anymore, there is no need for repair. This ghost will remain in limbo until the sea erodes its foundations.

#4. Water’s edge. The light house that stands alone is the most haunting ghost of Spurn Point. Its only interaction was one way, warning boats of mortal danger. It never received communication back. Now, out of use, its light remains off. The vibes that I got from this ghost was a tragic sadness. Loneliness and decay has taken its toll on the paint, and the strong north winds have damaged its windows. It seems to stand there, alone, waiting for boats to warn away from the Point.

#5. Protruding sea. As I walked further away from the lighthouse, it seemed to call me back. I turned around to see the sea draw closer to it. The empty sky shows the isolation on the Point. The beach seems welcoming of the sea, yet the lighthouse seems scared, frozen still in fear.

#6. Empty shells. A small trail on the beach is made up of the sea’s rejects. Empty shells that once contained life. As I walked over them, the crunching sound echoed across the beach. The trail takes me past an over grown war bunker. Foliage has taken root, breaking away at the bricks. It crumbles as life grows. Its the only life on the Point, yet it is destructive and dull. It eats away at the history, and the tide salvages what is left.

#7. Empty shells – bunker. sea shells are not the only empty shells on the Point. One of a few on the Point, the bunker stands alone, still serving the Point as defence, yet neglected by its very creators. The lighthouse watches the bunker in silence when the tide drowned it, helpless. The bunker watches back, in awe as it is submerged by the sea.

#8. Ladders in the sea. Accapella, the sea beats in one drone. The ladders represent loneliness to me as they appear to go nowhere. Surrounded by the sea, it would be off putting to climb, leaving the ladders abandoned. It also represents escapism, for the ghosts of Spurn Point, yet they cannot use it. Perhaps, in this limbo, this is a form of twisted torment for the ghosts.

#9. Rotten texture. On the point, there is alot of texture, which contributes to the story of neglect, isolation and abandonment. In this photo, I captures the rust on the wood. Damaged from exposure to the elements, it looks like the wood is crying over its wrinkled face. Is it crying from loneliness?

#10. Rope. This bundle of rope is the most colourful ghost on the Point. Its tied against the rotting wood, yet remains bright and vibrant. Is this a beacon of hope that colour can remain in such desolated and dystopic place? The pebbles in the back ground and foreground eliminate the smoothness of the beach, creating an unsure atmosphere. They were placed randomly by the tide that battered the wood.

#11. Replacement. As the weather lightens, more of the Point can be seen more clearly, yet it seems the magic of it is fading. More wear and tear is visible to the human eye. Rotting wood and sea defences consumed by nature become more irrelevant. Bricks that cry crimson rust have no more significance to me. The electricity has dissolved when the clouds broke away. My time on this Point is over. For today. The ghosts have gone back into hiding, away from prying eyes. Is the light a saviour from the loneliness, and the darkness a vessel of fear? The darkness brings out the ghosts in this Point. It brings it out in all of us.

The forgotten footsteps of the dead

 We forget the dead. Our footprints pass without care, without love, and the footprints are destined to be eaten by the sea, leaving no trace of our trail. History eats away into the lonely bodies and brittle bones.

These two photographs are different to the others. They are not ghosts, but carcasses. Empty shells of the living. The first is of a dead crab. This is not my focus. The foot prints behind are more interesting. They show ignorance of the humans the walk past. The fail to acknowledge the presence of the crab. They just walk by as if the past doesn’t matter. It died in vain, ignored by man.

 The second is the bones that are been hidden by the sand. The wind blows the grains over the bones, erasing the evidence that history once lived. Decay is also hiding history. When rigor mortis is complete, and the sands have consumed the bones, no one else will know what once was. With this photograph, I have immortalized it. You know about the dead seagull of Spurn Point.

 

Analysis of the Ghosts of Spurn Point

To go back to where it all began, to understand the poetry of Spurn Point would be beneficial to this experiment. There is a lot to learn from this place. Its beauty and its betrayal. To understand the ‘sad magic’ of its history and abandonment would help me represent a place of Isoloneliness. The photographs I took, represents Isoloneliness, but on a personal scale. I wanted to create a documented case of isolation that the viewer could relate to. Fair enough, the images could be identified to my intentions by a viewer, but the isolation is on more of a personal journey. At the moment, I can’t think of a way to allow this experiment to become more accessible to the viewer. All I know is, that the viewer needs to go to Spurn Point to understand the loneliness for themselves, to feel its textures, to see its loneliness and to hear its voice.

I am pleased with the images, if I was to take them as aesthetical, but this isn’t what this year is about. As it is my first experiment of Isoloneliness, I expected to make mistakes such as depth and story within the photographs. I aimed to capture texture, but only caught a glimpse. Looking back at the lighthouse pictures, I could have gone closer and photographed the peeling paint, which would have represented the neglected aspect of Spurn Point. However, I felt pressurised by the fear of becoming clique, creating a set of photographs that would look amateurish and predictable. One part of the experiment that I thought was clique was the photographs that were taken in sepia. Baring in mind, this was purely accidental (a conflict between finger and camera), it looks like I have done this for effect. I think that using sepia to create a ‘haunting’ effect is over used and expected by a viewer. I think if I used a more gritty approach, for example, using an original SLR, with a grainy film roll. This is something I could consider when I return to Spurn Point.

project ISOLONELINESS

ISOLONELINESS

This year, I thought of a project that would allow me to include all of my key words as there is many things I can explore within it.

Isoloneliness is a concept that is within human nature, a fear of loneliness and isolation. For some humans, they embrace it. It could be used as an escape from modern civilization. For the rest of us, its a concept, created by modern civilization.

I want to investigate the things we conceive to be associated with loneliness. Some of this work will be personal to me, as I want to uncover my own demons hidden in my Isoloneliness. My aims are to travel through places, people and times, allowing me to represent themes through art. The meaning behind my work is to answer questions.

What is loneliness?

Why do we feel it, when there are over 6 billion people in the world?

Do you fear loneliness?

Is it a disease, A virus that infects us all?

Is it contagious?

Is there a cure?

Possible mediums that I want to look at are, as I said, places, people and time. This could involve symbolic factors of loneliness such as abandond buildings. Is it only humans that can feel loneliness, or can places and buildings? A place with history, now derelict, would hold memories that are fading through generations, and with no one to remember them by, the buildings would be lonely. Other things, that affect humans, is technology. With mobile phones, internet chat rooms and emails, we live in a civilization where we can interact with other people, without even seeing them. We can chat to thousands of people, but be alone in our bedrooms. Uses of technologies can temporally cure us, but who do we have when we log off. Other items I can explore is the cures people use, such as sex, a physical interaction that lasts for the night, then in the morning, we are back to ourselves.

I want to look at as many things as I can with the time that I have, and obviously narrow my interests. My ideas are sketchy at the moment, so will have to look into artists for inspirations.

Welcome to oblivion.

My oblivion.

Your oblivion.

The plan for this year

First, before this year’s idea’s start to develop, I must reflect briefly on last years mistakes. Prior, my work was based on fashion photography, which was based on aesthetics. One of my flaws as an artist is to aim to create work that would please the viewers, or to be pleasing on the eyes. My work contained no contextual underlines and had no sense of feeling, emotion or reality. I create ‘pretty little pictures’.

This year, my first aim is to become more assertive in my work, allowing myself to express what I think, against the thought of what other people what to see. I think that this will be difficult because my whole life works have been based on pleasing. I feel that if I can break out of this routine, it will allow me, as an artist, to develop.

I want to explore physical and emotional boundaries that affect us all in different ways. I want to be able to produce work with texture and intensity so that the viewer can relate, yet not fully understand the concept of what they are looking at. By leaving a little suspense into my work, I hope that it will allow the time for thought and reflection, not just a glance and move on. If I can achieve this, I can widen the possibilities to the way I work.

Photography seems to be a popular choice for me last year as a medium, but this year I intend to broaden the tools I work with. Admittedly, my drawing isn’t a medium I have a choice to work with as I struggle with it, and feel like I won’t have time this year to practice. I would like to look into using different methods of expressing my intentions, so we will see what the year brings. As photography is one of my stronger points, I will still use it, but try to use less of it.

I think that it would be easier to sum up what my aims are this year in a few words.

Exploring

Experimenting

Trial and error

Texture

Emotion

Rawness

Messy

Random

Devastating

Fearing

Now it is time to take the plunge..........