Term 3 continuation…

OK, so I have been having a bit of a break from the blog after feeling a bit wiped out after the second term of the MA and went back to actually writing a physical journal for a bit just to have a little bit of a change, but never fear, it’s back to hopefully daily updates on here again for a while letting people know what I am up to in this great endeavour that is doing an MA in China….

A few weeks back I was all set to continue on with my project on the growth of suburbia within China as an extension of the Thames Town work but the more I looked at my work and what i was becoming interested in lately the more I am pulled towards my Landscape of leisure series.  The Thames Town work sits nicely as a piece by itself at the moment and whilst I would like to continue it to be a piece about the land and invoking themes of imitation as well as suburbanisation, I feel to do this project justice will take a lot longer than the time frame I have for the Masters.

The elements of the Landscape of Leisure series that have interested me are referencing the relationship between the natural and the artificial space and how we as humans feel the need to modify the natural world for our own purposes -in this case focusing on leisure space in order to keep the imagery focused -without this focus the project would take a lifetime or in need many lifetimes to allow me to coherently understand how thoroughly we both exist in harmony with and also abuse the natural world for our own purposes.

Looking back at the term 2 multimedia I produced on this theme I am interested in continuing to experiment with multimedia but perhaps in much less of a narrative way because I do not think this suits the subject outside of documenting change in a specific area and time frame.  As my timeframe is limited a stronger strategy is to address the issues of balance between the natural and the artificial within my imagery.  The primary result of this body of work will now be a book as opposed to a multimedia piece, although I will continue my experiments in linking landscape imagery with multimedia as an tool to reach a different audience than the typical buyers of photography books.

The style of the imagery will continue along the lines of the stronger images within the multimedia -those alluding to my message more than those direct and blatant representations of the landscape.  To my mind the real power of still photography moving forward in an increasingly multimedia age is the power of abstraction and making the viewer really think to derive the message from a body of work.  More literal narrative work is perhaps best left for alternative medias such as video.

The location of the work remains China, but not always obviously so.  The work alludes to a global phenomenon, not a local one and I am using elements in China as metaphor for how we as a race manipulate the landscape.  Currently China, with it’s huge economic growth and rapid development, shows an interesting juxtaposition of various elements of the artificial and the natural.  By remaining fairly oblique about the location of the images I will allow the work to speak of issues of the globalisation of culture alongside the more obvious environmental sensibilities more apparent in the work.

I should also mention that I am somewhat expanding my definition of leisure in regards to this body of work.  The Oxford English Dictonary defines Leisure thusly: Time that is spent doing what you enjoy when you are not working or studying. Along with the obvious subject matter around tourist areas, I am also taking this to include anything that supposedly beautifies or sanitises the natural or urban environment in order to make it appear ‘better’ for observers, and therefore supposedly enhancing and helping them to enjoy their time spent when they are not at work or study.  This is inspired in particular by the phenomenon I have noticed in China of often trying to make the mundane blend with the natural within urban environments to lead to a better sense of well being for the masses.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Killing Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.