Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes is a photographer whose work spans a wide range of subjects, although he is primarily recognised for his Day to Night series, which he discussed in the TED Talk that we listened to in class.

One of the things that stood out to me during his talk about his process and his work, was  his mention of the fact that he was presenting the “space time continuum as a two-dimensional image” and thus creating a “new metaphysical reality.” I find this to be a very interesting comparison to make and it allows me to gain a better understanding of the real complexity of Wilkes work. As one looks at his photos for the first time, there is an understanding that the artist has presented a transition in time as a single moment, however I have come to realise that this is quite an oversimplification of the real implications of his work. While the visual presented to us as an audience may seem to be of only a single moment as Wilkes intends to present it, what is really represented is a transitional period that collectively generates a narrative through independent occurrences. In this way, he is capturing several independent points in time all at once and showcasing them as parallel phenomena, and doing what he rightly refers to as “collapsing time” and creating a “timeless window into the world,” where we as the audience are able to experience these independent moments as a parallel storyline that moves across the image, in a visual composition that also quite literally distorts space and time. An example that makes this highly evident is in Fig 1, which was one of my favourite photos that Wilkes displayed in his TED Talk, as it simultaneously places significant emphasis on both the fact that he is capturing independent moments as time passes as well as the sum of these moments, wherein every animal pursues its own interests or those of the creatures immediately surrounding it (i.e. its herd / pack) and it is the sum of their collective survival needs that forms this image, rather than some subconscious desire to congregate as is seen in Wilkes photographs capturing humans in public places or at major events, where the intention of the space itself is for people to gather. 

Moreover, Wilkes also goes on to describe the arduousness of the process he undertakes in order to acquire the photographs he needs to construct his Day to Night images, which is also quite an interesting aspect of his work. For example, he mentions that he once had to tape himself to the floor of the crane he was standing in to capture photos of the Obama inauguration, or that he usually needs to stay in a single place, often in quite obscure locations, for several hours at a time. I find this process to contain an intriguing metaphor for the ways in which Wilkes plays with time in his work, as it is indicative of the idea that there is a “larger picture” to be observed in many ways, and that the difficulty and hardship faced over multiple moments in time, often comes together to produce results that are far more appealing and make the trouble worth it. 

Additionally, Wilkes work is powerful also as it depicts human nature and collective consciousness in a very unique way. He himself mentions that his “work is about history” and provides an example of his photography of Sacre Coeur (Fig 2) wherein he notes the disparity between what we believe human experience is evolving into and what it actually is. This example itself to me was enough to illuminate the fact that capturing these extended landscapes of the interactions between people and other creatures in nature provides deep insight into how we engage with each other and the world.

Finally, to me Wilkes’s work is reminiscent of Lucas Zimmerman’s long-exposure photography series Traffic Lights and Traffic Lights 2.0 (Fig 3 – 5). I believe these are similar  to Wilkes work as both photographers capture multiple moments in time, assimilated into one photograph, just that the former layers  them on top of each other, whereas the latter places them side by side (almost like the difference between how Muybride and Marey present their sequential photos). Furthermore, both artists also capture very specific events, like Wilkes photographing migrations and festivals, whereas Zimmerman waits for precise climate phenomena (i.e. low fog) to capture his images. Finally, both convey  a narrative in their stories, Wilkes, as mentioned above, and  Zimmerman, through the dramatic symbolism of bright traffic lights juxtaposed against isolated streets.

Provided References:
Stephen Wilkes Talk

Work from:
28th Oct 2020 – Daily Vitamins Assignment
Time with Professor Mike Rader