RELEASE YOURSELF

Artist statement March 2011

These two bodies of work deal with isolation, captured through still and moving images. Single figures hover between the real and imagined world of the frame I have recorded them in.

Moving image work:

ELATION, video installation over two screens. Bodies:5min 48, Head: 55s on loops with sound (2010)

RELEASE YOURSELF: 3min 30s single screen video montage with sound (2010)

Raves, clubs and festivals are conducive to a type of non-partnered dancing which acquire aspects of personal and communal rituals. Since the early days of 1970's Disco, many critics have perceived this form of dancing as a hollow and individualistic form of enjoyment for 'young people who don't want to have contact with anyone and who couldn't anyway' (Lawrence quoting Borovik, p.318 in Lawrence, T (2003) Love saves the day, a history of american dance music culture 1970-1979, London and Durham, Duke University Press). In 2010, Dance music has grown and mutated into a plethora of different genres, and represents a large section of the music industry. Release yourself depicts three club dancers expressing their physical appreciation of a repetitive beat. With a more conceptual approach, Elation looks at the role of dancing within today's society, by focussing on the physical reactions of different dancers to the same beat.

Photographic work:

ARRESTED REALITY: C-Type prints (2009)

CEMENT WORKS, THE MIRROR, THE WILD THINGS, A RED BALOON, THE GREENHOUSE

These single images are inspired by the fantastical elements within ordinary life found in children’s tales old and new. Within these intricate settings, a lone figure hovers in a frame rich with suggestion and mystery. The confined surroundings are an ambiguous stage in which the isolated characters are a visual trigger for a plethora of possible stories.