Les Archives Du Coeur

While in Tasmania recently, the Count and I stumbled upon Mona Foma a contemporary art festival head annually in Hobart. I was so excited that our trip coincided with it as I had heard a great interview on the radio with Brian Ritchie the curator (and also Violet Femmes member). We didn't get to see much while we were there, but we did get to take part in Christian Boltanksi's 'Archives Du Coeur' project!

The Count getting his heartbeat recorded for Christian Boltanksi's 'Les Archives Du Coeur'

Since 2005 Christian Boltanski seeks to collect heartbeat recordings around the world, to bring together all the hearts of mankind. A truly universal project, these Archives du coeur will be kept sheltered from the effects of time on the Japanese island of Teshima, in the Inland Seto Sea, made available by a philanthropist 

I now have a CD recording of my heartbeat, all the proceeds of the recordings - (the charge $5 for the CD), were going to disaster relief in Haiti. But I can be safe in the knowledge that even if I lose this said CD my heartbeat is locked up in some vault on the Japanese island of Teshima. Which thus far seems to be famous for illegal waste dumping.

 

Rozelle

Cute work in progress covering an electricty meter box near Darling St Rozelle. Wonder how it's going to end up? I think it's by Chris Whelan (that's if I've spelt his name right) He left a note on the top with his name and website details saying that the work had been comissioned by Leichhardt council. 

My Rozelle meandering also led me to Atereal a gallery that represents my old amazing photo media tutor Simone Douglas. They've got a really nice exhibition there at the moment showcasing Claude Jones and Rhonda Dee. Rhonda Dee's work really seemed to sum up my mood today!

Who needs a light meter?

Blackheath

New Year's for us was spent at Blackheath at this fantastic guesthouse. We bushwalked, ate and slept and fantasised about leaving the big smoke and living up in the Mountains. I think this is always a good indicator of a great holiday - when you start to entertain notions of de-camping from the day to day and moving into your holiday full time!...or maybe it just means we need more holidays!

Blackheath
 

I shot these images during our last (misty) morning up in the mountains, and only just received the film back. There is something great about having to wait for your images in the digital age! Towards the end of the filming I realised I hadn't turned my light meter on! D'oh! So I was extremely trepidatious about whether anything would turn out. When I got the film back I gingerly eased out a few feet of it, hoping to see something...but as far as I could see it was a blank, then I eased out a few more feet, and a few legible frames appeared! Hooray!

Untitled?

Untitled - Type C print

 

Mmm, the title of no title. I've always kind of poked fun at it a bit, but sometimes it can be the right thing to do. Not sure it would be the right thing to do with this image. But I have yet to discover where exactly this series is going, so it will remained untitled for now, but not 'Untitled' you see...

 

Untitled - Type C print

I've often dreamed up titles for works before they are created. In fact, I currently have a one particular project that I've been ruminating on for quite some time now, which has a kick ass title. But here, with this work, I feel as if I'm still working it out. With a lot of my work being quite abstract and yet deliberately suggestive of form or narrative, I often feel that my titles are clues. They function for me as breadcrumbs, to attempt to coax the viewer into a deeper interaction with the work.

Untitled - Type C print

My Trusty Boots Projector

 

                                              the zoom master 200

This is my trusty super 8 film projector, my knight in shining armour bought it for me when we were living in London. It came complete with a fantastic and invaluable instruction booklet, that I still need to consult most times it gets dragged out! There's something very special to me inherent in the qualities of images created through film. Something that I feel is lost in the digital capture.

When I print photos from negative, the printing process most often becomes more important than the image capture itself. Using my super 8 at home is my way of creating my very own home darkroom.

New website

www.aether-art.com

Well, my technological knight in shining armour has been working overtime, and I now have a shiny new website. It still needs a bit of work, just a few tweaks, a bit of updating etc but it's there!
It's an interesting process to have a whole bunch of work from over the years sitting right next to each other in a gallery page. It's a birds-eye view that helps me to see a pattern behind the stuff that I make. I find that when I'm immersed in each different project, it often doesn't feel very linked to the previous one.

Work in Progress

                                                 Untitled film still 
An exciting development! My super 8 film, that I was assured wouldn't be ready until after Christmas, surprisingly was ready for collection today! I'm playing around with perception patterns, narrative and mystery...some things don't change. These themes have been bounding around for me for ages. I'm unsure how this work will play out, I don't like to reveal too much of the process behind my images/films, as it's all part of the sense of mystery that I like to create. But suffice to say, I'm so thankful for my in-house technological knight in shining armour, he's proven that he can make both analogue and digital technology bend to his will!