ABSENCE/PRESENCE - SUBMISSION

Untitled Absence-Presence
Critical Reflection 2009

The 31 photos in the first class in October were inspiring. I had split absence and presence in meaning but the presentation completely changed my ideology that contradicted concepts can be embodied in the same situation and can create a strong inter-related engagement. I undertook an initial research and concluded that photographically representational absence is a form of presence.

I searched for any images with absence presence theme but images found mainly include traces of the past and some formalist fine art work.

I then brainstormed and shortlisted 4 concepts: human/nature, surveillance, billboard and manikin. I evaluated trial shootings myself and consulted with Ulrike Leyens whose comments enlightened my concept greatly. Finally I decided to shoot manikin with a theme on the ambiguity of realness and artificialness.

I visited all major high streets in London and shot with formulated layout to keep visual coherence. I used wide aperture in shooting and high contrast in printing to to convey the realness of these manikins. I reinforced the visual coherence in editing and finalised with five frames. In the post production stage, Rachel Cunningham introduced some manikin works by Roger Mavity and Valerie Belin. Their works strengthened my committment to the concept of this project - ambiguity.

(Scanned from Fibre Prints)