One street back

Generally, photography is seen as two dimensional. I am interested in exploring the possibilities of the photograph as a three-dimensional object. Using an inkjet printer and collage techniques I am able to craft works that explore photography within three dimensions. The series of images that I have chosen for PhMuseum 2022 are all products of this experimentation and development. The same printing and collage techniques were used to explore aspects involved within the two-dimensional realm. Through the dissection and reconstruction of the photographic image, my project has enabled me to better understand what contributes to a photograph that captures me aesthetically and emotionally. Whether I am basing the experimental image on colour, light and shadow or composition each new work gives me something new to ponder and explore. Finally, the poem works use aspects involved within the printing process for photography, choosing to swap out the camera lens for the scanning bed to capture the images. All of these works were completed within my bedroom during one of the world’s longest lockdowns in Melbourne, Australia.

Limited to a 5km radius and a minimal income during the lockdown, I was very restricted within my creative possibilities. When venturing outside for our allowed exercise time each day, I was often stuck seeing the same streets over and over. Due to this, each photo walk instead became an opportunity to explore my local suburbs and forced me to see them in ways that I hadn’t previously. Back alleys and empty streets started to influence my style and I started looking shooting scenes that represented this gritty, urban, and dirty world that I was finding myself within. Within my limited budget, I started to experiment with my inkjet home printer as a way of bringing my photos into a more tangible form. This process allowed for subject matter that I had found mundane and boring to be something fresh and stimulating. Throughout this three-dimensional process I was also able to understand the photos from a more technical perspective.

The ‘landscape’ duo and individual works use distressing, collage, and printing techniques to add texture and depth to each work. The ‘colour’ and ‘abstract’ series experiment with colour, texture, and contrast through the printing process. Both series explore printing repetition and enable me to investigate texture and colour throughout the different works. The ‘negative’ series plays with the idea of creating negative and positive images using photography shot with film. The collage of both the original and inverted images gives an insight into the analogue film process as well as how light and shadows are used to create each image.

I believe photography, in relation to other art forms such as painting, sculpture or music, is still within its infancy. My continuing project is one that uses photography in both a traditional sense but also explores new and exciting possibilities within the art-form. I hope to contribute to pushing photography further and allow it to grow in new and exciting directions.

I would also love to express my interest and excitement for the Residency Bursary at Landskrona Foto.

Being able to explore and shoot Landskrona will fit right at home within my current creative practice, and I will be able to continue my ongoing experimental project. I think that my style of photography will lend a unique lens that can highlight a very different Landskrona that locals and visitors alike aren't used to seeing. Specifically, I am excited to shoot the infrastructure and lifestyle surrounding the historic port within Landskrona. One of my favourite photographers is the Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjork. His use of bright colours and hard flash is legendary, and I would love to experiment with both elements within the work I complete during the residency. I would be so excited to combine both the harbour environment and an influence from Tunbjork to create new works during the residency. Finally, the value of the support and artistic connections made by this Residency is highly valuable to me during this time in my career. As a young and emerging artist building a connective web of like-minded creatives is a top priority. Another invaluable aspect of the Landskrona residency is the allocated time and space dedicated to creative art making. As I am without a studio, having dedicated space and time would allow for much artistic and personal growth and I would be so excited to use every meter and minute wisely. I would love to use this amazing experience to continue to explore the potential of photography.

In all honesty, I would be so grateful and excited to be offered this residency and hope that you can feel that through my application.

Thanks!

Finn Goldstraw