Untitled Thinking, Dan Dayment
201 Proposal
The Brief of “Weird and Wonderful” has inspired me to connect some of my philosophy to my visual practice. After quickly scrapping the literal idea of escaping, my mind opened up to the connection that I can make between photography and how I see the world. The times that we are currently living in are like no other that I have experienced in my lifetime. The Coronna Virus pandemic has forced us to change the way in which we live our lives physically and mentally. An unconscious thought has been brewing inside me for quite a few years and coincidently I am choosing to express it during these times. I feel like a disconnection from the system that we live in is needed in my life. A form of escapism, however, one that is not comprehendible in many ways of living. A sense of peace and silence within, from which truths and happiness are collected from the natural space our world holds.
This project explores a new idea that I am trying to solidify from inside. People from the outside may find this weird, but the wonderful thing about being human is the ability to think, philosophies and direct the way in which you hold yourself. My inspiration comes from the natural world and the individuals that have shared their experiences in it. “Silence In The Age of Noise” by Erling Kagge managed to aline some of my feelings into words which enabled me to begin to think about how I am going to express this in a visual way. From this, I decided that my aim for this body of work is to make my viewer feel a sense of inner peace. A meditative stimulus that reaches deeper than the visual aesthetic and connects the viewer with some of the ideas that I hold within.
I have experimented with a few idea and techniques already. One of the first ones being long exposure on a focusing point at the beach. I did not feel like these images could connect a line of thought as they were too aesthetically pleasing. This is when I figured that I needed to capture large spaces that the viewer could get lost in. I also think that capturing big spaces creates an isolated feeling for the viewer which may trigger and enable a connection with my thought. After capturing my photographs, I then needed to work out how the editing process was going to affect the aesthetic and mental stimulus of my images. Turning to black and white photography has simplified the aesthetic of my photographs which I think gives a stronger emphasis on the mental stimulus of finding inner peace in the landscape.
Going forward with image-making, I will continue to explore the feelings that can be created by being in different landscapes. Once I have taken all of the photographs for this body of work, my plan is to make a book for my viewer. I want the book to connect my audience with the places, thoughts and feelings that I acquire when I am in the natural landscape with a camera. My plan is to have all the photographs ready at the beginning of January in order to give me enough time to create the book for this project.