Mike Hunter
(27 years old. Born in United Kingdom. Lives in: Edinburgh)
edinburgh college of art
My name is Michael and I have recently graduated from my college with a first class degree in photography. The work I am submitting was shot on large format negative and makes use of a miniaturizing technique called ‘tilt shift photography’. These photographs were achieved by placing actors dressed as toy soldiers into real locations which I had chosen due to their already artificial quality. I received an overwhelming response to this work from the general public, as well as gallery owners who have shown interest in exhibiting it.
|
|
|
Work of art I would like to make
If chosen as one of the 4 New Sensations, I would like to continue this project by choosing more locations and including more army men. This work is aimed at outlining the increasing artificiality of the world surrounding us. With the lines between the real and the unreal being rapidly blurred, I feel like our very understanding of reality is becoming obscured. This is a direct response to my own environment, as I find myself surrounded with the man-made - the straight lines and right angles of modern architecture. Even the few areas of vegetation are designated and carefully trimmed, their natural growth abstracted in favor of their resulting aesthetic. In a carefully constructed habitat, we become desentised even towards imagery associated with warfare – the soldiers appear to us no more threatening than toys in a scale model.
The process used to create these images is a complicated and expensive one, as each actor has to be dressed in a costume that is painted with a thick coat of emulsion paint and covers every inch of the actor’s body. The complications can arise during transportation, communication between me and the subjects, accessing the location and the task of photographing itself – as the film format is an unforgiving one. This competition provides me with the chance to expand this idea, allowing me to further illustrate my aims.
|
|
My Artworks (5)
Click on the images to enlarge
|
|
|
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
Become a member
Follow us on Google+
Follow us on Twitter