un·defined territories AP SP18
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Huazhou Liu
AP SP18 Critic: Prof. Erieta Attali Student: Huazhou Liu // hl2988
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Proj Essay “There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The relationships between photography and time are manifold - the multifaceted
never diminishes its presence. Therefore, the territory seems a desolation - where
images is the illusion of timelessness. The purpose of the dialectical series is to
dimensions of the notion of time grants various ways of capturing time. My interests
human inhabit does not reflect the totality of its context, nor does it have control over
allows for a dynamic perception of architecture - one that is unfixed – a temporary
stemmed from exploring the time-based medium as “slices of time”. The urban
the landscape.
occupant of nature.
environment is in constant juxtaposition of timelessness and temporality. The
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purpose of the construction is to allow temporal events materialized in the symbolic
The photographic project then tries to bring the solitary architecture and the
To complete the project in terms of typology, tonality, and scale, part of the photo
function of the structure itself. The constructed structure itself, on the other hand, is
occupants of the city together. It focuses on establishing harmony in the settlement
selection presents a variety of landscape in New York city – a city not so often
often executed as a temporary act. As the space and people surrounding the urban
of both human and structure in the urban environment, using photograph as a
associated with its natural landscape. When shooting a vast amount of elements
structure alter, there’s an essence embedded within that renders persistent. The
reflection on human beings’ inhabitation - their control, and power over the civilized
in field, the difference between the eyes and the camera lens becomes clear: the
urban construct expresses temporality through orchestrating conversations between
landscape. The shadows and reflections characteristic of the photographs are the
eyes and the brain are naturally capable of filtering the most alluring elements
the change, and the unchanged.
elements that frame a composition indexical of the sublime as a reminder of our own
that we find appealing; yet the camera cannot, thus it requires the photographer
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human limitations. The objective was to record extremely commercialized spaces
to spend plenty of time finding different vantage points, imagining how the scene
One might call it the busiest city that never sleeps, one might call it the city
abstracted, anonymous, and interchangeable.
would look in different kinds of light etc. As such, landscape sets its own rules for
of loneliness; One thing for sure is that NYC is in constant change of state, from
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architectural encroachment. A fully aware architect may draw inspiration from this
congestion to void, joy to desolation. Just like Mark Twain’s remark on New York City:
In the latter half of the semester comes a critical moment at which I discovered my
imposing relationship and translate it into a tribute to the landscape. Given the
a splendid desert—a domed and steepled solitude, where the stranger is lonely in the
ability to inaugurate conversations between the photographed subjects. This series
context of the body of work being about NYC, it’s simultaneously crucial to reflect on
midst of a million of his race. We’d see these people walking in all these different ways
usually involves careful composition of the background and the foreground, creating
the relationship between the landscape and the cityscape. The best photos are the
and at different paces, all of a sudden, they’d be synchronized. The next moment,
a correlation not only in scale, but also in character, light, milieu, and time. It has
ones that communicate the photographer’s connection to the scene, and initiates
they’d be gone, minding their own business. The patterns of people’s movements,
been, admittedly, particularly challenging yet rewarding at the same time to avoid
conversations between the protagonist and the interpreter.
encounters, and rest, recurrently negotiating with natural cycles and architectural
making images that are merely documentary – while it’s important to delineate the
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patterns, merge into expressive bundles of rhythms which give a place its temporal
subjects in all honesty, the photographer’s own voice must also be heard through his
In hindsight, the city and man were never in perfect synchronization; while the former
distinctiveness. By photographing the darkscape’s disassociation with its complex
or her work.
is affiliated to various sensibilities, it isn’t defined by its habitants, not even with the
characteristics, the boundary of human interaction with the land blurs and fades into
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help of a conscious camera. Perhaps the territory is better left, after all, undefined.
the abyss. The value resides in moments in the city in which: voids are exposed to the
My perspective always varies with my position and distance in relation to the subject,
camera and loneness manifests. Absence of any profound identity for its existence
the lighting conditions are constantly changing therefore the silent stillness of the
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