SPEAKING WITH SPIRITS
https://speakingwithspirits.cargo.site
CREATIVE DIRECTOR + PHOTOGRAPHER- Lucy Colbourne
POSTER DESIGN- Connor Palmer
SOUND DESIGN- Thomas Baker & Lucy Colbourne
VIDEO EDITOR- Thomas Baker
MODELS- Thomas Baker, Stefania Dallami, Chloe Hidden, Taylor Board, Lydia Garley, Sally Colbourne, Mark Colbourne, Joyce Colbourne, Colin Colbourne, Annie Darin, Jacqueline Foxe, Zac Nicholls & Ryan Eyers
ASSISTANTS- Lydia Garley & Mark Colbourne
FILM CAMERA PHOTOGRAPHER- Lucy Colbourne
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS- Myya Senior & Tasnim Khatun
SPECIAL THANKS TO IAN GRIFFITHS & SAINSBURYS CHRISTCHURCH FOR THE LOCATION SETTINGS
BIG THANK YOU TO JOHN HANSARD GALLERY FOR THE EXHIBITON SPACE
“Photography is the medium in which we unconsciously encounter the dead” - Jay Prosser (Light in the dark rooms, 2005)
An abstract sensation, a visual presence or the feeling of being haunted is how we identify that spirits of the past rest along side the living. Speaking with spirits is a project exploring the use of chemical photography to capture spirits through a timeless lens. Chemicals used to develop film negatives seal the past through acid, replicating infinite possible realities which can be passed down years after we pass on. “Life/ death: the paradigm is reduced to a simple click, the one separating the initial pose from the final print”(Barthes, Camera Lucinda, 1981). Playing with the word parody has been the second key aspect of speaking with spirits of creating an impractical yet humorous idea of a ghost haunting where the spirits live along side us and befriend the living to reconnect with their past. Parody combined with film photography has created this hybrid of modern and traditional settings with the timeless film making the images look instantly ancient yet the story being told is much more modern. Speaking with spirits is balancing the candid of photography with the performance of the sheet to create a new take on a potential reality.
Film photography is an out of date style rarely used in modern times which works perfectly for speaking with spirits as it combines the forgotten past of unknown spirits which the modern world has forgotten and brings them into an age where we can respect them by treasuring their presence through an image. Roland Barthes summarised the essence of photography’s history and its true definition perfectly when describing the loss of his mother and how this gave photographs a new meaning. He explained the images as “neither as a photographic performance nor as a living resurrection of the beloved face. If I were ever to show them to friends I could doubt that these photographs would speak” (Barthes, Camera Lucinda, 2005). His language used towards this new meaning of photography. Speaking with spirits is exploring a story behind the images, letting the photography be the language for our eyes to create a picture of where these ghosts are co-existing in the living world.
Parody is the key theme throughout the images displayed within this exhibition, as speaking with spirits is exploring a more comical take on the classic cliché sheet ghost and playing with a throw away gag used since the origins of ghost sightings to create a series of images where we recognise the ghost as more than just a sheet. Twisting the meaning of a simple sheet has lead to an endless narrative of imagining a ghost in more relatable enviroments as when we view the ghost as still a human performing its daily activities we feel a connection and less afraid of what awaits us after life. It’s important to view ghosts in a more light-hearted way as how do we really know if we come back as ghosts after death? And why can’t we just be a sheet ghost for the rest of eternity? The idea of becoming a ghost seems more believable when we view them as a more abstract presence which is speaking with spirits main goal to entertain the audience and present a much more light-hearted take on a the never- ending debate of what is awaiting us in the afterlife.
