Thicket 2008 DVD projection, 9 min 48 sec loop, silent, black and white, projected at the Royal West of England Academy for ‘Night: A Time Between’ April – May 2008
THICKET 2008
DVD projection, 9 min 48 sec loop, silent, black and white, projected at the Royal West of England Academy for ‘Night: A Time Between’ April – May 2008
Using a high contrast DLP projector, Thicket was projected on to a black screen 5 metres wide by 3.75 metres high that filled one end of a large, totally blacked out room. Viewers were completely disorientated on entering the space and had to wait for their eyes to adjust before they could see the projection completely; even then it was hard to locate the surface of the screen.
The work explores the edges of vision, the nature of movement and the act of engagement with the screen. Pushing the relationship between the camera and the source of light, the ‘drawn’ or ‘sculpted’ image moves from a position of distance to one of proximity, revealing tensions between object and field. The physical nature of seeing is revealed by the creation of afterimages on the back of the eye – is this network of light outside or inside the body of the viewer?
‘The Hawthorn in ancient mythology is said to have been created by lightning. Having strong associations with death, the sacred and the afterlife, it also used to be regarded as an entrance to ‘the otherworld’ of the fairies. This piece grew out of the experience of living on the edge of Dartmoor in winter, a time of year when night dominates the day, and the low, raking light of the sun reveals the archaeology of the moor with unexpected clarity; you see forgotten memories in the landscape, the skeleton beneath the surface of the skin. ’ Tabatha Andrews 2008