“Guise is my sleeve” is a photographic exhibition of stills from my 2013 multi screen video, in which I alluded to our use of guises in describing personality. The fast moving video documented a character as she negotiated her way through the world dressed in 6 different costumes, each made from materials which held historic or useful value to me. Her ability and character were affected by the space she inhabited, and each costume caused her to behave in a different way due to the material it was made from and the style of dress.

My children’s Slip and slide became a 50’s afternoon dress in which the character enjoyed running, diving and sitting, one of my grandmothers old bed covers (mouldy through mismanagement) became a 17th Century hooded cloak in which the character took long walks on forlorn hills and navigated rocky streams. A 15th Century dress was recreated with some of the structural drawings I have made in my work as a draftsman. That character wearing a large and unflappable paper dress found herself in increasingly tight spots. She wasn’t agoraphobic, but she wanted to explore places from which she was excluded based on the nature of her costume.

The colour and brightness of the tin-type photographs face-mounted on acrylic change in different light and can have an almost three dimensional feel. This style of printing has the closest visual relationship I have found to watching the moving images of my video. 

Paired with these images of a character in space are four theatrically set photographs which use objects and landscape to tell some untold story, describing moments from the life of an unseen imaginary character.

As individuals we might occasionally wear our hearts on our sleeves, however with luck our situation at any given moment does not fully describe us.

 

"Guise is my Sleeve"

August 2015

 

2013 ACSA Graduate catalogue

 

The image of self that we outwardly present differs slightly for each person with whom we interact. Our social guises, the fictions we create and the 'facts' we attempt to organise, help us to form an understanding of one another's identity. We often play at being detectives in the relationships of which we are a part. 

I use photographic portraits, digital GIF presentations and an installation of multiple videos and intermingling soundscapes to question our ability to completely understand any person's identity. The videos I make use my own body, urban settings, voice and costumes. I wear dresses made from materials which describe parts of my personal history: a slip 'n slide, building blueprints, an old mouldy blanket and more. Sound is used to reflect forms of social interaction; group singing around a piano, a radio play or an argument. 

These collections of absurd actions and sounds inevitably result in a mass of conflicting information, offering more questions by way of an answer. 

RW - 2013