As I mentioned in previous blog posts, assessment two had its difficulties. I felt as though my images reflected a narrowed perception of my home environment and perhaps there was room to explore my prompts further. Overall, the cohesiveness between particular photos and recurring ideas perhaps demonstrates my struggle to break out of observing very specific or particular things around my home. However, I am happy with how most of my images turned out and the way they reflect my exploration of ideas of involving space.

With ‘reflection’, I did attempt to explore the space between, and through the class feedback I believe this came across in the images. Through the prompt ‘harsh’, I tried to capture a harsh type of energy, using light to do so. I liked how these photos turned out, particularly the one with the owl figure, as the shadow gave the image a kind of sinister feeling, despite all the light in the photo. In this way, there was two types of ‘harsh’ present; harsh lighting and harsh energy. With the prompt ‘curiosity’, I realised that the best way to capture curiosity would be to invoke curiosity in the viewer. I am glad this also came across in the presentation. The images for the prompt ‘warmth’ are the ones I am least proud of, as I feel I could have gone further with the prompt instead of just using light and colour. Now that I am not in the observing state of mind I feel that there is a lot more in my home environment I could have explored that evokes the feeling of warmth.

For my video, I didn’t want to produce something overly edited or make it too obvious which sounds and clips correlated with which prompts, and this is evident in the final product. Most of the clips are plays on the elements I used in my photos: the light, shadows, the mirror, the wasp’s nest. During the capturing process, I gathered a number of sounds along the way but still found myself struggling to find a few towards the end, and some sounds came out much stronger than others.

Seeing my classmates work was also eyeopening, and allowed me to realise how unique each of our takes on our home environment was, as well as the way some students used post-production effects. Some students had set-up their images quite deliberately, by arranging objects in a particular way. During my process of capturing, I was reluctant to arrange my images too purposefully, as I did not want to disrupt the original space. However, in every photograph and video there is always an element of deliberateness or interference. Similarly, the presentations demonstrated how the arrangement of the images on the wall can effect our impression of them. Overall, I think there is a lot I have taken away from this assignment which will help me as I move further into the course.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut7znlVrBNc&feature=youtu.be

Blog posts:

Home in the world #1

Home in the world #2

In reflecting on the first assessment, I realised that my observations of home shared a commonality in terms of the aspects of space I was observing; light, shadows, reflections. These are all things that can’t help but capture my attention. Thus, in building off of these observations, I’ve found myself stuck in an observation rut. It seems that all my words are becoming linked to each other. When I see a large amount of light coming through a window, I think of harsh lighting, and also warmth. Shadows are often accompanied by warmth, but shadows are also a form of reflection. And the idea of curiosity permeates all my observing. I was recently reading Susan Sontag’s On Photography, and thinking about the quote ‘…essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.’ This lead me to wonder about the extent to which our perception of the home environment is altered when we pick up a camera. When I read Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, I identified with the way he describes the house as ‘a large cradle’ and ‘one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind’. There is a poetic element to space, however, when I look at home through the lens of a camera, and through it’s association with specific words, I wonder how I can capture the sacredness of space without narrowing my perception.

The words I have decided upon are: harsh, curiosity, reflection and warmth. I’ve been gradually expanding on each word, drawing out associations and synonyms that I can use to help with my observations. Robbie has made it clear he wants us to perform an in-depth exploration of our home environment and these words, and to jump into the process of recording. Over the past couple of days, I’ve finally started to record bits and pieces. I have struggled somewhat in deciding what format I’ll use for certain observations, and what word is best associated with the subject/area I am recording. One of my words is reflection. Unexpectedly, this word keeps coming up in my observations. I have explored the reflection in the form of a shadow, in water, in sound, and today through the use of mirrors. Robbie suggested I explore the space between two mirrors. This has led me to think about how mirrors do more than just reflecting. They capture the space between physical things, another dimension, and provide another side to something. The photos I have taken today demonstrate this notion.

As humans in our familiar environments, we become somewhat unobservant of the world around us. The past two weeks, the exercises we have done in Sacred Place have shed new light on the spaces we inhabit, and have given me a different perspective on sound and on visual observation. As evident in my blog post, after our sound observing session, the exercise opened up my ears to all the sounds around me. In our discussions in class, it became apparent through the first and last sound locations we went to, that there is a continuous natural orchestration of sound around us. Trams come and go on their schedules, people move about quickly when class starts/ends, and traffic is louder at certain times of the day. I thought that starting these exercises, there would not be as much to hear as there was. When we tune in, we notice all the sounds we have learned to block out. This was the same in my home environment, when I realised how much I tune out the sound of the traffic nearby, and I rarely listen to the birds chirping or the crunching of leaves in the bushes. This process is reflected in another blog post. I enjoyed hearing a few of my classmates discuss what they heard through their observations and little details such as the ‘bubble tink’ of a car. I received some feedback on my own observations from a classmate, who found it interesting that in my sound observations I recognised that different birds have different chirps, not one universal sound. She also thought it my words used to describe the traffic were interesting adjectives and power words.

In approaching the visual observation process, I noticed I began to look for more interesting visuals and ways to describe them. My observations perhaps reflected a sudden obsession with light and shadows which was largely due to seeing the work of James Turrell prior to the exercise, as I discussed in this blog post. The visuals that change through the day are perhaps even more on schedule than the sounds we observe.  This is due to the nature of light. By doing observations in my living room in the late afternoon, when the sun comes through the windows very strongly, this particular time of day provided me with lots of beautiful spots of light and shadows that I could observe. After seeing my mind map of living area visuals, a classmate commented that it was interesting that I grouped reflections in one section, however had reflections in every place. She also liked that I mentioned the warmth of the light, recognising more than just visual senses, and that I described the light as ‘dancing’, so to personify it.

Coming back to the studio title ‘sacred places’, there is a certain sacredness in every environment we frequent. This project has made clear some of the little details that make places sacred.

In the beginning of Tuesday’s workshop, we were shown some of the works of James Turrell. As Turell’s work is often focused on light, and giving people a different perspective on light, the idea of light was on my mind as we set out to make visual observations. Inside building 12 of RMIT, the majority of observations I was making were concerned with shadows and light. Often when we thinking of space in a visual context, we simply focus on the static structures and objects that fill the space. It was interesting to open up to looking at the way in which the design of windows, lights, glass surfaces affects the spread of light and creation of shadows.

When we then entered into the Reading Room at the State Library, I was marvelled by the design of the ceiling and windows, despite that I had been there before. The octagon shaped ceiling with windows circling inside makes use of the natural light to give the room a very open and bright feel, and to add to the grandiose nature of the space. The placement of the rows of the desks mimics the round shaped ceiling. I looked for shadows, and the only ones I could see were very soft outlines on the balconies above.

After the visual observation workshop, later at home, sitting inside my living area, I could not stop myself from again analysing the space in terms of the contrasting light and shadows. I observed that a lot of light comes into the room during this time. There are shadows on the floor from the trees outside, and when there is a breeze, the movement of the trees cause the shadows to move. Light reflects across a glass on the table, on the television and the ceiling fan. You can see clearly where there is dust and cobwebs etc.

Similarly in the other living area, sun comes in from the upper shutter windows onto the floor, creating shadows on the rug. When light comes into these spaces, there is always a contrast of soft and hard, and dark and light, through the creation of shadows and brightness across certain surfaces.

Outside, I observed the different textures that exist in our front garden. The soft grass, versus the brick pavement, and the pebbled garden bed against the wooden fence. Light creates shadows across the fence of the gate and flowers. The water in the bird bath reflects light.

Following our second workshop, where we observed sounds in various places around RMIT, I went home and could not block out anything I was hearing. On late Friday afternoon, I went out to the front garden, where my dad was reading his newspaper and drinking beer on the porch. In any part of my house, the first thing you notice when you tune in is the continuous hum of traffic on the main road and nearby freeway. This changes in volume, often in the early morning and late afternoon it is a constant hum, as people make their way to and from the freeway. As usual, there is the occasional motorbike revving past, as well as trucks. Other sounds I observed included birds chirping, the crunching of leaves in the bushes (a bird was there), a bee flying right past my ear, dad’s newspaper as he turned the pages, his glass setting down on the wooden table, and car doors closing.

I also observed sounds one morning in my backyard. Standing on my verandah, you can see over into the reserve next door and to the main road heading onto the freeway. The traffic noise is slightly louder here. I noted the sound of an ambulance siren, which passed by, as well as pigeons, the old mini fridge which is plugged in outside, the rustling of trees on the reserve.

The third location was my room, in which I observed a number of sounds one evening (perhaps due to the thin walls of my house). I heard the washing machine, bugs flying at my window creating tap/tink sound (there is growing a wasps nest right outside), again the hum of traffic, birds, a gate creaking, my family talking, and a dog barking.

In our first Sacred Place class, Robbie played John Cage’s 4’33” without an explanation of what we were about to witness. Although I had not seen the piece before, after a short time, I understood that we were not going to hear him play the piano. Instead my ears began to take in all the sounds in a room that one might describe as being ‘silent’. There were loud noises from people talking and bustling about outside the room. Someone’s ancient laptop hummed violently next to me, and there were unidentifiable noises which could have been a mix of an aircon, a generator, and the lights. Cage’s piece was the perfect introduction to the week, in which we focused on observing sounds in different spaces.

In Thursday’s class, we all turned into John Travolta from Blow Out (minus the cool equipment) and went around RMIT observing the sounds around us. The first location was building 12, in the common area off Swanston street. At first, I heard all the dominant noises, such as the trams, and a person talking on the phone nearby. As Robbie later pointed out, it felt as though it was all orchestrated. There were build ups of sound, such as the wheeled carts coming closer, at first sounding like a mechanical static noise, and then upon sight realising that it was just the sound the rubber makes with the floor. There were alarms that grew louder and eventually stopped, machines that revved, people coming and going, and the contained but loud rush of the hairdryer in a nearby bathroom.

In the next location outside, during the busy atmosphere of RMIT Clubs Day, there was a blur of bass from different ends of the lane, unidentifiable music, and the mixed chatter of the crowds. I struggled at first to find another sounds, but soon felt myself zoning the dominant sounds out. I could then hear the footsteps on the wet pavement, making a scuffing noise, a trolley cart going by, and the rustle of people’s plastic ponchos. I even saw a person about to take a photo, and tuned myself in to hear the camera clicking as they snapped the shot.

In the third location, a little lane between RMIT buildings, we listened as we walked down the lane. An air conditioner stood out, as its volume grew and decreased as I moved past it. There was the dripping of water, getting louder and softer, faster and slower. There were drops of water falling on the pavement every once in a while. The sounds here were contrastingly soft in comparison to the previous locations, the secluded area creating a calming soundscape.

This exercise has changed the way I observe sounds. Now I am constantly noticing and listening to everything around me, from a dog that’s barking far away, to the hum of traffic, the creaking of the floor at home, or the rustle of birds in the bushes. It is nice to be so observant of sounds, but hearing so intently the ambulance sirens or roar of motorbikes on the main road near my house may possibly drive me insane.

Sacred Place caught my eye on the list of studios, as I have always felt I become extremely attached to places. The vague description of the studio did cause some apprehensiveness towards our first class, however, this soon turned into excitement for the semester that lies ahead.

As the class took turns explaining our reasoning for choosing Sacred Place, and shared our earliest memories of space, it became clear from these reflections that humans are all strongly attached to certain spaces, and to the objects, sounds, and smells that inhibit them.

My earliest memory of space is probably from about the age of 2. I woke up from a nap and heard music playing in the room across the hallway. I toddled into the room to turn off the music as it was bothering me. I remember going across the hardwood floors and into the room, and seeing the cassette player sitting on the floor. The space was a living area/computer room at the time, and I remember it being comparatively empty and cold compared to the rest of the house. My parents were out of sight, and I grabbed the cassette from the slot and I believe I attempted to pull out the actual tape.

Like a lot of early childhood memories, I cannot be sure this memory isn’t largely comprised of more recent memories of the room and later recollections of what happened by my parents. However, when I was a few years older, my parents played the same song, which turned out to be Nina Simone’s ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’. I recognised the jazzy piano playing as the music that had disturbed me during my nap years before.