On Process: Pt.01
Inventing new ways of creating imagery while exploring and blurring the boundaries where photography and other mediums intersect is one of the most central aspects to my creative practice. I consider myself a visual artist rather than a photographer in order to avoid tired, traditionalist traps built inherently into photography (I think these are even more-so “built-into” photography than other mediums). However, coming from a primarily photography based background, I do typically start out with photo- or lens-based processes. My process is paramount to my practice, allowing me a framework or some loose set of self-imposed rules to work within that still allow for “accidents” and experimentation within that process. This way of creating imagery allows for the use, misuse, and combination of any and all tools, mediums, technologies, etc. necessary.
This brings me to another important aspect of my practice which is the cycle of creation, deconstruction, and repurposing/reconstruction of pieces that would otherwise be considered complete already. For example, the source imagery used to create each new piece in this project comes from deconstructing my older photographs, collages, and/or paintings by manipulating what the scanner is trying to reproduce. By moving the image while it is being scanned (as pictured below), I can intentionally manipulate it in a way that distorts the original according to my specific hand movements, creating a new image that is unrecognizable from the original. This act allows an additional, almost performative aspect to be introduced into the process as well as a push-pull between the physical/analog process and the digital process. The original, as some may argue, does not lose its “aura” as an individual artwork by being reproduced, but manifests as a new piece with its own unique aura that cannot be replicated due to the improvisational manner by which it was created. These scanned images are just one piece of my multi-layered process that form the backbone of what I intend to create.
