Things I’ve been reading on how archaeologists might interpret the things they dig up in the future:
https://eidolon.pub/what-will-far-future-archaeologists-think-of-our-papyri-8b391052f08d
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151127-how-will-future-archaeologists-study-us
Press announcement about the discovery of the Roman Mithras temple under the streets of London (there must be so much more that we’ll never find):
Photos from the opening night of ‘Magical Woman’ at the Paper Mountain Gallery in Perth. The exhibition examines ideas of gender and queerness
Top row: Natsumi de Dianous, Slime fantasy grrl, 2018
Middle row: Astro Francis, What do you think, 2018
Bottom left: Amy McGivern, Fembedded series [detail], 2018
Bottom right: Madonna figurine by unknown artist (left behind from previous exhibition), the artists elected to keep it as it fit within the concept
Photos I took whilst filming in the Pinnacles (WA), a desert filled with naturally formed sandstone pillars. I believe that they were once larger sections of stone submerged in sand, which at some point was blown/washed away leaving the stone exposed, the wind then did the rest of the erosion.
Like I said in the previous post, it feels strange being there and its a very alien place. Some of the pillars appear so deliberate, looking animalistic (bottom-middle), or like a deliberate circle/cluster (bottom-right).
I set out the shots I wanted and then my dad would film whilst I wore the costume.
After we finished filming and I reviewed the footage. I made the decision to limit the setting of the poem to just the Pinnacles as that seemed to make sense from a narrative perspective. The place is so otherworldly that it felt wrong to me to then teleport the god into Fremantle harbour, or a suburban riverfront. I decided to use other types of footage (including found) in the green screen instead of the setting
Some photos from Cottesloe beach, that I’ve used as base images for the green screen (in between key motifs)
The whole of the beach is on top of a fossilised forest, as the ocean rose it submerged the forest which then became encrusted with centuries worth of corals, until the ocean retreated again. It’s been very stormy recently which has removed a lot of sand, exposing the whole forest floor (top right). You can also see bisections of the ancient trees as you walk along the beach (bottom row)
This is something really interesting to have incorporated into my work, the natural forces of climate change and the layers of history that surround us. I think it’s a good reference in a work that considers the spiritual impact of the anthropocene. A lot of the imagery I’ve used is of natural formations that have echoes of man made religious sites (e.g. standing stones). This to me feels like a beacon from the past offering a glimpse of the future
I’ve been looking at possible locations for filming on google maps as it’s a long drive to some of these places.
I’m trying to keep a mix of landscapes so I have as much to edit with as possible. There’s Fremantle port (top) and Kings Park (left) which are fairly local and I can scout out a bit more myself. Kings Park is a botanical garden with some bush area that could be ideal. There’s also the Pinnacles and some landscapes on the way (last 3 images), but that is a very long journey so I would need to give it a lot of thought. Filming there would definitely help with the setting though.
Saw this in the window of an artistic cooperative, I’m 99% sure it’s by Perth artist Tarryn Gill
Really like the use of material, texture and shape
Saya Woolfalk
Saya Woolfalk (Japan, 1979) is a New York based artist who uses science fiction and fantasy to re-imagine the world in multiple dimensions. … Woolfalk has created the world of the Empathics, a fictional race of women who are able to alter their genetic make-up and fuse with plants. With each body of work, Woolfalk continues to build the narrative of these women’s lives, and questions the utopian possibilities of cultural hybridity. -from her bio
Top 2 rows: The Empathics, video stills, 2012
3rd row: ChimaTEK Life Products, Virtual Chimeric Space, 2015
4th and 5th rows: ChimaTEK Beta Launch, Installation shot from exhibition, 2014
source: http://www.sayawoolfalk.com/
Works that caught my eye when I went to see the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, curated by Grayson Perry
Rammellzee, artist and musician – pioneered ‘Gothic Futurism’, appeared in public in home made ‘armour’ and also created “cosmic characters” (times), inspired by Samurai warriors
“Rammellzee was an elusive, self-mythologizing figure who was rarely photographed without wearing one of his elaborate science-fiction-inspired masks and costumes” … “He cast himself as an urban philosopher whose overarching theory, which he called Gothic Futurism, posited that graffiti writers were trying to liberate the mystical power of letters from the strictures of modern alphabetical standardization and that they had inherited this mission from medieval monks” – Times
Top: http://radicalpresenceny.org/?page_id=1790
Bottom: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/arts/design/rammellzee-exhibition-new-york.html
LFlynn Research Blog 