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artist journal - Evidence
from the Religion of Technology - a series of colour photogram works - © Lloyd Godman - 1993-94
Evidence
from the Religion of Technology evolved from a previous layer of work "Codes of Survival" based on the Subantartic Islands of New Zealand. The black and white
photographs that were part of this multi disciplinary work, ( it incorporated
sound, text, photographs and sculpture) were designed with traditional
landscape photograph printed in the centre of the paper and surrounded
by a boarder of photograms. The photo-images focused on the isolated,
harsh environment of the Auckland Islands which are rich with a history
from failed human endeavors and extraordinary accounts of human survival.
The
images often features the dead remains of creatures that live there
as a poignant symbol: a set of codes for future survival. The ideas
for the work came from an expedition that I conceived, helped organize
and took part in where 11 artists visited the islands, experienced the
environment, created works that formed the basis of an exhibition that
toured New Zealand from 1990-92.
For me the experience was rewarding, insightful. Among the various experiences
were two that were seminal in developing the work. I had wrongly believed
that the Islands were a pristine environment, a last bastion of wilderness,
and while there is some truth in this (Adams Island at the southern
end of the group is the largest island in the world with no introduced
species) they are islands and the very isolation that protects their
wilderness status undermines them in another way.
Along
the coastline we found rubbish washed up on the shore, detritus dating
back to a time when the island where first discovered but also reaching
to the present. So while the Southland Museum and Art Gallery asked
if we could retrieve any useful artifacts from the past, the Department
of Conservation asked if we could collect rubbish to either burn or
bring back to New Zealand. When we asked for a distinction between artifact
and rubbish the explanation was not clear.
We
had brought the inorganic rubbish aboard for our return journey aboard
the RNZN ship Southland, but during the first night at sea, this was
dumped into the ocean along with the rubbish from the Frigate.
It
was from here I became interested in the notion of artifact, detritus
and the effects on the environment.
Photograms,
which were used to create the surrounding boarder, are made not by enlarging
onto the photographic paper via a film negative, in the regular manner,
but by using real objects laid in contact with the paper during the
exposure to light. In a sense, the objects become the negative with
the resulting image bearing a direst relationship to the nature of the
object, its form, its shape, texture and transparency. It is the refraction,
transmission, reflection, deflection and absorption of light by the
object that causes a modulation of light to reach the photographic paper
and determines the visual effect of the final image. Because of the
instinctive and random placement of the objects on the paper, each print
is a unique image.
Through
the diversity of objects used for the photograms, the Codes of Survival images reflects the intriguing human activity in these Subantarctic
Islands. The objects become visually over-laid and inter-laced, in a
manner where often they lose the representational qualities we recognize
from traditional photography, referencing a mysterious archaeological
site where only fragments appear and one must dig through the items.
All manner of objects were used to create the images: bottles, springs,
nails, gears, tools, jewelry, plastic wrappings, containers, electronic
components, toys, utensils etc. any object from the past to the present
that could be associated either directly or symbolically with the islands.
With due discussion and approval, some of the older and pertinent objects
were sourced for the project from the Settlers Museum in Dunedin, and
I thank them for their support and enthusiasm.
Following
the Codes of Survival work, I continued to use the photogram
in a series of works titled Adze to Coda where I became interested
in tools and how we use them to shape and alter environments. Again
the images were combination photographs/photograms.
During
this series of work I was fortunate to receive a donation of surplus
colour paper from Agfa which sparked an interest in using the photogram
with colour negative paper. During the initial experiments I discovered
that by using the extreme ends of the filter controls on the enlarger
it was possible to produce extraordinary colour combinations. The work
grew into a linea series of 16"x20" prints that reelected a colour spectrum,
and from here I introduced the intersecting verticals of the figures.
The
new work in this project is an extension from these monochromatic images;
again it is about archaeology, but it only uses the photogram method,
it is in colour, it is large (the largest work is over 20m long), and
it also includes full-scale figures. The definitive work consists of
50, 16"x20" C type colour prints arranged as a continuing horizontal
broken by three intersecting verticals at predetermined spacings. These
verticals are full-scale photogram human figures, arms outstretched
in a cruciform, one female, one male, and the other of a skeleton. It
is through the outstretched arm of the figures that the other prints
are connected into a single continuum. Colour Application
Usually
colour photographs are made with small increments of colour filtration
to correct the image for realistic colour and the image is a positive,
but with this work the image is negative and maximum spectrum of colour
available is used to extenuate the false colour of the prints. As
the photograms are exposed twice, not only are the objects moved between
each exposure to extend the visual layering, but the filtration is
also changed, and it is this over layering with radical changes in
filtration that produces the intense colour's creating the visual
abstraction within the images. Another aspect that played a part in
this abstraction was the random impromptus nature of making the colour
photograms. Unlike the black and white photograms where a safe light
can be used to assist in the placement of the objects on the photosensitive
paper, colour paper has to be handled in total darkness and the objects
were laid only with a sense of touch.
Installation
To
augment the horizontal movement of the work and the idea of progression,
the over all colour of each adjacent print changes subtly so that over
the full 20m length of the work a considerable colour variance is marked.
Towards one end where the vertical of the skeleton intersects the horizon,
the colour ranges through magenta, purple and reds, while towards the
other end where the human figures are it is distinctly green and gold.
Projecting from the first print in the horizontal line through the skeleton
and the human figures, to the last print the colour alters slowly back
so that the colour of the final print matches that of the first. This
creates a complete cycle of colour, enabling the work not only to be
hung in a linear form but in a circular format with the two ends meeting.
Also as the work is a visual continuum, it has the flexibility of being
broken at any point along the continuum to fit into a wide range of
spaces and sites, and the differences in the installation allows different
readings of the work. For instance, the work can be hung with the human
figures (green coloured prints) on the left and the skeleton (purple
prints) on the right or visa versa.
To
accommodate the work in a wide range of exhibition environments, the
format can easily be extended with the inclusion of more prints or
even related objects or conversely reduced with the depletion of some
prints.
Colour photocopy sketch
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