Uncertainties series
Limited Edition: Large scale edition of 5 & 1 A/P Medium scale edition of 20 & 1 A/P.
Series statement: Taking positive states of not knowing as a starting point, Uncertainties is a series of abstract psychological landscapes with deliberate open ended and multiple readings to invite to our subjective responses. Working with the natural ambiguity inherent in photographic practices such as uncertain scaling and an unclear sense of subject, is crucial for these works as the uncertainty is here reframed as invitational prompts for curiosity and play. These of course, are key positive emotions, that a huge amount psychological research shows when cultivated in our everyday lives can improve our sense of connection with each other, our communities and the bigger, natural world outside ourselves.
It is essential to surrender to the idea that human incoherence, which is always twinned with coherence, is what keeps us curious, furious, confused and vitally alive. Deborah Levy, Writer & Author
Once you know you don’t know, you can begin to explore Elizabeth Fisher, Art Historian
Limited Edition: Large scale edition of 5 & 1 A/P Medium scale edition of 20 & 1 A/P.
Series statement: Taking positive states of not knowing as a starting point, Uncertainties is a series of abstract psychological landscapes with deliberate open ended and multiple readings to invite to our subjective responses. Working with the natural ambiguity inherent in photographic practices such as uncertain scaling and an unclear sense of subject, is crucial for these works as the uncertainty is here reframed as invitational prompts for curiosity and play. These of course, are key positive emotions, that a huge amount psychological research shows when cultivated in our everyday lives can improve our sense of connection with each other, our communities and the bigger, natural world outside ourselves.
It is essential to surrender to the idea that human incoherence, which is always twinned with coherence, is what keeps us curious, furious, confused and vitally alive. Deborah Levy, Writer & Author
Once you know you don’t know, you can begin to explore Elizabeth Fisher, Art Historian
Top row Uncertainties 1,2,13, Next row: 19,4,16, Next row 17,21, 3 Bottom row,5,10,22
The photographs were staged in the studio using medium format film and a close-up lens to explore table-top tableaus made from beauty products and everyday organic materials such as weeds and leaves to mirror the textures and sense of vastness we can find when we connect to the natural world. I used beauty products to make the work for their material stickiness, for art historical and for to reference decades of psychological research. What we find beautiful is obviously completely in the eye of the beholder and determined by our cultures and life experiences and its use in art continues to be debates rigorously. Emerging research by psychologists such as Jai Wei Zhang is now showing that connectedness with nature predicts well-being and greater social connection when individuals are emotionally attuned to nature's beauty. I like to think of the words written by abstract artist Agnes Martin in 1989 who said ‘When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection. We respond to beauty with emotion. Beauty speaks a message to us. We are confused about this message because of distractions. The message is about different kinds of happiness and joy.
Audience Participation: In two Uncertainties solo exhibitions viewers were invited to share with each other where the works took them in their imaginations on ‘post its’ under the work (BPS) or luggage labels (MAC). The shows at British Psychological Society Annual Conference, Dublin in 2008 (curated by Professor Catherine Loveday, University of Westminster University) and Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham in 2005 (curated by Alex Boyd Jones).
Audience Participation: In two Uncertainties solo exhibitions viewers were invited to share with each other where the works took them in their imaginations on ‘post its’ under the work (BPS) or luggage labels (MAC). The shows at British Psychological Society Annual Conference, Dublin in 2008 (curated by Professor Catherine Loveday, University of Westminster University) and Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham in 2005 (curated by Alex Boyd Jones).
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The following invitations to respond were on the gallery walls for both exhibitions
We would like to know your feelings about the images in this exhibition. What does the picture remind you of? How does it make you feel? What does you make you think about? Please fill in a label with your thoughts, ideas and views on one or more image and place it by the work to share with others. |
Above labels from British Psychological Society's Annual Conference, 2008, sharing responses to Uncertainties 22
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Voice Collaboration with Soprano April Fredrick, Transformations 2016
It's the constant, it's the cycle. Its solution, dissolution. Just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay, then transformation.
Walt, Breaking Bad
For two days, artists, musicians, and community art groups came together at St Barnabas Dalston for a multi-faceted art event exploring the theme of transformation. Visual artists showed work exploring formal, aesthetic and ecological aspects of the decay and transformation of both physical sites and materials. Alongside these works, sound artists and musicians explored the amplification and decay of sound using the incredible acoustic qualities of the old church. As part of the 'Transformations' events programme Soprano April Frederick led a vocal workshop where people were invited to sing through the 'landscape' of my Uncertainties 19 photograph and other exhibition artworks.
It's the constant, it's the cycle. Its solution, dissolution. Just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay, then transformation.
Walt, Breaking Bad
For two days, artists, musicians, and community art groups came together at St Barnabas Dalston for a multi-faceted art event exploring the theme of transformation. Visual artists showed work exploring formal, aesthetic and ecological aspects of the decay and transformation of both physical sites and materials. Alongside these works, sound artists and musicians explored the amplification and decay of sound using the incredible acoustic qualities of the old church. As part of the 'Transformations' events programme Soprano April Frederick led a vocal workshop where people were invited to sing through the 'landscape' of my Uncertainties 19 photograph and other exhibition artworks.