Lying in my files there are a number of images that are waiting to be processed, or re-processed and added to In Flux. Each image can take between two hours and three days work to bring to fruition in a combination of manual and automated digital processes, hence they take much more time to construct than they do to gather (I would spend up to two hours making a single work on site). The role, or effects, of these pauses in the working processes are increasingly becoming a source of interest in this project, as each temporal aspect is analyzed it is becoming apparent that many different states of awareness and intensity come into play in the making of works.
The most obvious temporal gap is that between visits to a site. In the interim I have almost always made the work I am about to remake and when I return do not feel that I am revisiting old ground, but that the temporal shift makes the space a different space in time. This difference shapes the repeated works in In Flux. The processing of work after a visit fixes the result in my memory. A memory I use to make the new works on subsequent visits.
The first visit
I have found that often it is the first visit I make, with the intention of making work, that often achieves strong pieces. This is partially as a result of the new potentials encountered adding new elements and broadening the content of the body of work. I am also aware that the experience of a new place is perceptually novel. I have open perceptual expectations and a higher degree of anticipation that is no longer as intense on the second, or third visit. By visiting a new site I am inducing a heightened awareness and an active effort to seek out something of interest is easier to maintain in the unknown space.
This is the piece that typifies a successful work made on a first encounter. On the same visit I made a further work;
Initially, at least, I was not satisfied with this piece and decided to do it again on my next visit. Subsequent re-working from the original files may of resolved this, but the experiences on the later visits prompted this re-working.
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| Blue Land #1 Version #1 |
This is the piece that typifies a successful work made on a first encounter. On the same visit I made a further work;
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| Earthwork #1 |
The second visit
I have known places to be hostile on a second visit, as this one was when in another season I was attacked by mosquitoes and bitten 14 times.The effort to make work in those circumstances was doomed to failure. In the end the works could not be processed satisfactorily - largely due to being attacked persistently, I could not concentrate or get in the right mindset, but I definitely felt a mind, body and environment connection and was painfully reminded that connections to land are not always pleasant. I learnt to not go against the experiences I was having in an environment on that occasion. Hence the second visit was valuable, even if no work was successful.
The third visit
The beginning of the autumn saw the end of clouds of mosquitoes and the site allowed me back. Only now have I managed to process it from the archive. In book or exhibition these images would not be displayed on the same page or side by side. Rather I would guide the viewer to use his or her memory, or re-look at the images in their locations, mirroring my temporal and spatial experiences of the site in the sites of discourse.
In the case of Blue Land #1, the third visit yielded a reasonable second rendition of the scene, building on what went on before, but again, Earthwork #1 was not successful. I have subsequently left this effort for the moment, allow further time to resolve this, or to abandon the attempt in the context of the overall work.
Over time and with successive visits better knowledge and experience begins to build on what went on before. To encounter again builds up layers of memory. Remembering past encounters and particularly actions helps to build a complex matrix of movements around a site, I cross or repeat earlier walks along animal paths or through dense vegetation. Access changes with seasonal change and climatic change, in the case of this site I have learnt to abandon hopes of access through the summer months due to the high density of mosquitoes and have had further difficulties, or altered intentions, due to flooding.
By re-visiting sites a matrix of spots of interest is built upon, I may pass one spot on the way to another, contemplate it and leave it for another time to make a work. These spots are the sites of action in a location, they offer elements to head to, as well as providing structure to the work. They are play a key role in the formation of my connection to and understanding of the site as a place. It is a process of place making for me, the individual involved.
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| Blue Land #1 Version #2 |
In the case of Blue Land #1, the third visit yielded a reasonable second rendition of the scene, building on what went on before, but again, Earthwork #1 was not successful. I have subsequently left this effort for the moment, allow further time to resolve this, or to abandon the attempt in the context of the overall work.
Over time and with successive visits better knowledge and experience begins to build on what went on before. To encounter again builds up layers of memory. Remembering past encounters and particularly actions helps to build a complex matrix of movements around a site, I cross or repeat earlier walks along animal paths or through dense vegetation. Access changes with seasonal change and climatic change, in the case of this site I have learnt to abandon hopes of access through the summer months due to the high density of mosquitoes and have had further difficulties, or altered intentions, due to flooding.
By re-visiting sites a matrix of spots of interest is built upon, I may pass one spot on the way to another, contemplate it and leave it for another time to make a work. These spots are the sites of action in a location, they offer elements to head to, as well as providing structure to the work. They are play a key role in the formation of my connection to and understanding of the site as a place. It is a process of place making for me, the individual involved.
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