Painting - Photoworks/Autumn 2016
Painting - Photoworks/Autumn 2016 Works produced by third year students in Painting, Kayleigh Ryall, Naoise Somers, Lauren Connors, Lauren Egan, SinĂŠad Gavigan, Anna Gormley, Stephen Griffen, Siobhan Hehir, Maeve Hitchen, Rachel Maloney, Evie Mc Grath, Maria Mc Inerney, Ellen McMahon, Rachel Murphy, RoisĂn O'Sullivan, in response to photographic assignments. Autumn Semester 2016. Tutor - Martina Cleary.
RoisĂn O'Sullivan
RoisĂn O'Sullivan My work is centered around capturing body movements through the use of light. Experimenting with slow shutter speeds has been a key element to creating this work. Images were shot at night in a dark room using glow sticks as a light source to map out the figure. For some photographs these were used as a drawing tool to trace the outlines of figures in different poses. In other images light was taped directly onto the figure to mark out the impression of the body. Color is also an important aspect of the work and none of the images are altered digitally. The only minor changes were increasing contrast and brightness. These photographs have a painterly style with sweeps and strokes of light, related to my main studio practice.
Evie McGrath The main concept for these photographs is the culture of dependency. I began to capture candid photographs of my friends and surroundings on nights out. Paradoxically, these images convey both a sense of beauty and despair. I wanted to highlight the ritual of devoting hours before the mirror before you even leave the house. The dependency on cosmetics and clothes which usually become tattered and ruined. Dramatic lighting is a strong feature and I opted for the black and white effect of a ‘film noir’ aesthetic. I was influenced by the work of American photographer, Nan Goldin. Her work contains intensely personal snapshots of her friends, family and lovers. As I work behind a bar every weekend, I also explored the idea of the pub itself. The pub becomes a place of ritual where people come to seek oblivion as they sit alone. They become dependent on me for company and a drink. I become a surveyor as the night slowly starts to deteriorate around me.
Maeve Hitchen These photographs are from a collection I took myself, from buildings I found interesting in Chicago and New York, where I spent a lot of time over the past months. I have combined modern ways of photographing major buildings or tourist attractions, by todays youth, with classic black and white film processing. Traditional methods are contrasted with digital techniques. The element of surprise from working in the darkroom adds to the thrill of development. This collection of photographs follows the story of a photographer and friend traveling around the city. The girl in the images is seen to be leading the photographer, but you never see the face of either.
SinĂŠad Gavigan For this project, I decided to collaborate with my youngest sister, Orla. I felt that getting her involved would offer an interesting insight into how a nine year old spends their day, and how they interpret the world. Getting Orla to capture the moments she deemed interesting or exciting in her everyday life and using them as my body of work, enables other viewers and myself to understand what it is like to be a child in the present. It was interesting to edit and respond to these photographs, as I discovered that Orla would sometimes photograph parts of our home that I had never taken much notice of. Technology is a major part of today's world, and she took all the photographs on her i Pod. The work of Annie Leibovitz and Jay Maisel inspired me to work with my sister. I hope to continue this collaboration, but possibly open it up to all members of my family.
Ellen Mc Mahon My photographic work for this project has emerged from my family farm in county Clare. I collaborated with family members so they had the chance to also take photos of their surroundings. By doing this, it enabled me to view what they see in the everyday. On each occasion, we would either go for an impromptu walk, or set up a scene in which to take the photo. On these walks I would ask family members to take pictures as we traveled along. I guided them on the technical aspects pf photography, however I did not walk to influence them on subjects to capture. I wanted the result to be their own inspiration.
Maria Mc Inerney Working in a team of two, we decided to organise an improvised studio to create varied lighting effects on the objects we are using in our studio work. For the tripod, we used a table to steady ourselves. We had three lights: a projector light, a stage flood light and a desk reading lamp. Hard light spilled illumination onto the background creating fantastic shadows. We used shallow, greater depth of field, and different angles to find the hidden detail, which would become the material for painting.
Naoise Somers I used the darkroom to create photograms for my assignment. All of my photographs are on light sensitive, resin coated paper and they are chemically processed in the darkroom. The subject of my work for photography relates to my studio practice. I have been researching value in relation to animals, and using birds to express this. All of my pieces contain birds, sometimes line drawings or even just silhouettes. All began with a set of digital images I made using traditional drawing techniques, which were then transformed through chemical photographic processes.
Anna Gormley I started with old family negatives from childhood. By painting onto the negatives in acrylic oil paint, the photographic material was abstracted, the figures distorted creating a new image. The shapes, bright colors and the idea of painting onto negatives was influenced by Tacita Dean's FILM. By then exploring darkroom techniques, I created photograms of the negatives. Scanning them into Photoshop I cropped and played with different individual frames. I also created photograms of some acetate drawings and combined theses with negatives to create layered pieces. My project explores my connection to places and landscapes from my childhood. While elements of the themes of childhood are in my work, it's not about nostalgia or wanting to be a child again. It's about feeling as though you belong in a place, and having almost a reverence for a landscape that is powerful and wild.
Stephen Griffin I wanted to delve into the aspects of space and structure superimposed with ideas of architecture. The dream-like, parallel universes build, mimic different dimensions, transporting the viewer from one world to the next. I joining maps with different buildings that have relevance to each other. The dark eeriness of the black and white with the map over-lays give a sense of of parallel spaces. Artists of influence include Clare Langan, who also delves into the world of the dreamlike, the location, the post-apocalyptic world, and the work of Michael Kenna on black and white landscapes.
Kayleigh Ryall I am focusing on the history of the college and how it was once a Magdalene Laundry. I have been combining the past and the present through the use of projections, at key sites within the building. I decided to push this concept more by researching the history and finding archive images of the building when it was operating as a Laundry. I focused on materials of an iron staircase and the church in particular. The confession box was also an important place within the building, and I wanted to create the sense of a recessed hidden area inside this, like a doorway through time into what was. Light and shadow projected and distorted through the lens, give a sense of haunting captured and preserved.
Lauren Connors My work explores the meaning of beauty, and how far beauty can be pushed before becoming ugly. I was inspired by Marilyn Minters photographs; the border between attraction and repulsion within them, along with the use of liquids. The testing of beauty products on animals was a strong inspiration in my work, with countries like China only allowing products that were tested on animals to be sold there. The reds and yellows used to create the pieces reference blood and infection. They were created with the intent to inspire conflicting emotions within the viewer; the desire to look deeper, yet also look away; desire and disgust working side by side. There is a sense of time present in the works as they appear to be in movement, inspiring thoughts of a happening; open mouths inspiring thoughts of torture or death, as the tongue hangs out. The light in the backdrop of the pieces, along with the close up shots of certain parts of the body suggest subjects under a microscope or the lights of a surgical table.
Rachel Murphy My idea of the inside out is based on how we look and feel. While teddies are often always soft and comforting, when we go deeper inside they are more complicated with many layers. The layers represent our emotions and this is why I think it is important to see past the cuddly textile surface, and realize how we are more than how we look on the outside. I looked at artists such as Annette Massager and Emile Nolde, who were also influenced by childhood objects having disturbing expressive power, in their work.
Rachel Maloney By looking at how a person or groups of people interact in different social situations, through conversation, facial expression and body manners I have taken a series of photographs that can suggest elements of friendship, college life, different aspects of our culture and how we engage, merge, and communicate with one other. By looking at this I can begin to convey how we appear or display ourselves to others while still keeping our own individuality and identity, while at the same time mixing with groups of friends and associates. I have used smoke to convey the idea of movement and time passing and used dramatic lightening to capture a certain moment in time. The smoke also relates back to the ideas of social situations and attaining conversation and friendship through everyday habits.
Siobhan Hehir My photography is based at home in county Clare. My theme this semester has been photographing the figure in different landscapes. In this process I captured family members, neighbors and friends. I wanted to show the person in their own familiar space e.g. my grandmother in her garden. I found that sometimes in taking the person out of their familiar environment, they became more uneasy, and this was noticeable in the photographs. As many of my images are outdoors, natural lighting was important in my work.
Lauren Egan For this assignment I wanted to explore light and time within the rural landscape setting of the bog, in the midlands of Ireland, and especially Offaly where I'm from. Choosing to photograph the sunrise on a cold winters morning allowed me to really get a sense of color changing through time. The abstraction was created with found objects and movement.
Limited Edition Zine © Students of Third Year Painting, Limerick School of Art & Design, Autumn 2016.
Limited Edition Zine © Students of Third Year Painting, Limerick School of Art & Design, Autumn 2016.