They say that downing is one of the most peaceful ways to die. Within my work the flowers and the water look tranquil and at peace. The sound linked to these images (can be found in portfolio) may sound innocent and peaceful at first but listening to the dialogue creates an un-nerving atmosphere. My influence came from Gillian wearing’s 2 into 1. Although they are taking pleasantly about each other the atmosphere is slightly un-settling. My photographs go along side a poem being recited by a 6 year old girl.

 

Through researching flowers and what they represent I came a cross a ritual performed at some funerals. Flowers (representing the body) are thrown into the river and left to float down stream allowing the family to move on. Within this series flowers are also representing a body and they way both flowers and a body are living and interact with water. In the series you can see the difference between the flowers floating gracefully on top of the water and the struggle when they are being forcefully submerged under.

 

Other series I have been working on still fall under the theme of beauty in the destroyed but I have been looking at other subjects matters. I have encorporated fire and as you watch the flowers and fruit burn they still look gracefull. It again is the sound that changes the atmosphere. The sound recorded for these videos are edited versions of the naural environmet i was filming in. The people featuring in the sound pieces are unaware of what is happening and the burning which is taking place. 

 

Alongside these images I have experimented with binaural sound and integrated it with moving image.  Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller use this technique and Cardiff states ‘The virtual recorded soundscape has to mimic the real physical one in order to create a new world as a seamless combination of the two.’  This can been seen in their work ‘The murder of crows’ which has 98 speakers mounted around the space and it has layers of sounds you would hear if you were actually at a crow funeral, before they start to add there own sounds over the top. I have started to apply this to my own work to make the experience more personal, realistic and uncanny. This can be seen when viewing my work as an installation.