Here are some new images from my on-going series 'Cage'. This long term project first began approximately two years ago and I have only added images occasionally, when the opportunity has arisen. Including these new photographs the edit presently stands at 25 and it is still very much a work in progress.
Below is a quote from a previous post about the exploration of these cages and other 'internal landscapes':
"For a while now I have had a fascination with internal and artificial landscapes. It is a theme which has threaded it's way through much of the work I have made so far in the USA and whenever I am lucky enough to see and be in one, I always feel strongly compelled to photograph them.
I am interested in the illusion and the fantasy these places attempt to create and sometimes (in terms of my Cage series) their grim reality too. I love the theatre and suspension of disbelief which goes with standing in a themed museum for example. I always find that these artificial landscapes jar heavily with my own dreams, ideals and experiences and they are always, ultimately, strange, floored and sadly human.
These artificial and internal landscapes often force me to consider my own real life experience of landscapes which I have stood or lived in and questions what I have done with them myself, psychically. I think we are all filled with a lifetime - a history of landscapes, which have themselves, in turn, become a part of who we are as individuals. They become part of our own mental geography, full of archetypes, symbols and markers - integrating themselves inside, with special and personal significance. I always find it interesting and amazing, for example, when a landscape I have recently (or not recently) experienced suddenly becomes the location of a dream I have had. Why has this particular landscape or place been chosen to play out the drama of this dreams events at this time? It is something I find endlessly fascinating.."
Simon, this project is coming along well. There are some very compelling images here. Interesting to read how this work seems to have permeated your subconscious to influence your dreaming.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to Eli Reed give a talk last week. He said he has one project that he's been working on for 17 years! So take comfort you're under no time pressure.
best Jan
This is a great project Simon and very interesting to accompany. I arrived in the USA at a different time but also with preconceived ideas. I also come from the UK but have lived in other countries too. Life is a project from beginning to end and photographing it makes the journey more interesting. Thank you for sharing your views and talent and I look forward to seeing more!
ReplyDeleteThank you both for taking a look at this and taking time to comment on it. Jan, yes that does bring me some comfort.. I've got more writing on this work which I'll post in time as I need to work on it a little more and get my thoughts straight. Writing about ones work is not easy. Like the Overland park project, this one is a slow burner. There are still several places I'd like to visit before I start seriously editing it. Hopefully over the summer I will get this chance.
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