Human Presence through film
- llatham222
- Jan 17
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 28
I wrote these notes in my sketchbook prior to a tutorial:
The print is a relic
There is touch/human presence
The reliquary contains
I want there to be an obvious human presence in my work, something that is suggestive of the living body and touch. Also, as a reminder to myself that my body is present and important. There is something also about the object (print) being activated by human presence/human interaction.
In my samples of coloured perspex, I chose a frosted grey which seemed to transform anything behind it into a diffused and dissolving shadow.
I began to photograph and film my hand moving behind the perspex, and I loved the way it dissolved into shadow and then nothingness. A clear and sharp shadow was only seen when the hand/object was touching the surface of the perspex.
Hand behind perspex, photographs
I started testing a short-range projector at home and in the studio, using stencils to create an oval cast, and projecting my films onto different surfaces of paper. I particularly liked the transparency of Shoji paper (traditionally used in Japanese screens) and I found that I was able to project the film through the back of the paper.
Projector tests at home
Projector tests in the studio
I began to sketch out how the film might be displayed in an exhibition, cast upwards through a plinth. The lid of the plinth would be the grey perspex and the film would project upwards as if contained within the plinth.
At home, I made a mock-up of the sketch using a cardboard box as the plinth, and books to prop up the projector. I propped the perspex sheet on the open top of the box and tested the projection through a variety of materials.
Mock-up of plinth projection
The first photograph of the yellow
relic window worked best in these tests; when the hand plays about the yellow sequins it suggests a manual device with buttons. There is some interaction between the movement of the hand and the arrangement of the relic components.
Because I was concerned about not having enough time to construct a good quality plinth, I began to consider a shelf in which I could embed the sheet of perspex.
I sourced a piece of plywood which had the right size and thickness, as well as a lovely light streak running through its grain. I was shown how to input the dimensions of the shelf into the laser cutter, as well as the cut out 'window' which I was to embed my perspex.
The perspex fit the window but was about 0.5cm thinner than the shelf, so to make the perspex sit flat inside the frame I glued some tiny pieces of ply to the corner of each window on the back of the shelf. It worked! This was on the day of the pop up show install, so I raced back to assemble the shelf in my exhibition space.
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