Ann Hamilton: Body/Tech Artist Reflection

 

Observations

Her work often ventures into the impersonal, despite it being sensitive and controversial to traditional art; however, her work in photography breaks this pattern.

Stories
Inspired by contemporary poet Ann Carson “all touch is crises”
In Grad School her first work was covering a men’s grey suit with toothpicks so that it had an porqupine-like hide.
Another video involves her finger, zoomed in on, as it erases watery text.
In speaking of her mouth photograph series, she says one should not walk around in public with an open mouth- reference to mouth breathers?

Themes

Skin & sensory organs have influence over her work. Metaphor and poetry- cites Charles Resnikov.
Movement- many of her works include moving projectors, video art, or installations with falling powders

Opportunities

Using her body in replacement of the camera body,
taking intimate portraits from the Point of View of her mouth,
having a gentle, symbolic oval shape as the boundary, the frame of the photo
(shape of mouth= shape of eye = shape of labia)

Solutions

Despite the strange shape of the active canvas, the image, centered, becomes the pupil of the photograph.  (The pupil is a hole in the eye, the photograph sees/records the subject through a pinhole)

Prototypes

Ann takes many images in a row in case the first come out blurry. If she smiles at all or changes the shape of her mouth the framing of the image is altered.

Implementation

Visualizes images, artworks in her head, but they stay foggy until one day you can see it and “it bites you”, and then you go to all ends to make it a reality, however often these visions deviate from their birthimage.