Making A Scene

I shared a practice I developed and work on uniquely in residency contexts. I build a scene using the space and objects available to me and I take photographs of myself moving in it, using the automatic timer on my camera. I look at the images, making adjustments and experimenting, until I find one that particularly compels me.

One of the sites we had access to in Parrsboro was a deconsecrated church. I created a scene and an image I liked. I gathered the group in the space I had designed and described my process. Over the course of the morning (intermittently throughout the dance party in the church), I had settled on the mouldy smelling kitchen in the basement, found a lamp, inserted a piano bench adorned a black silk dress, tried some poses and settled on an image where my body was blurred because of movement, lighting and shutter speed. I invited everyone to create their own scenes in the church and surrounding areas.

It wasn’t until I spoke in more detail about the practice with Sasha Kleinplatz and Justin De Luna, that I realized how choreographic it is. You find a spot that interests you, you remove objects that don’t interest you, you add objects that do, you choose a frame with your camera or phone, you set your timer, you enter the frame and, the camera captures you. You look at the photo, you notice what interests you and what doesn’t. You keep changing things and taking photos until you are satisfied... or you run out of time.

These still images were taken by the participants at 8 DAYS 8 JOURS 8 (from top-left: Molly, Peter, Davis, Hannah, Jennifer + Alida, Johanna).