ralph eugene meatyard
The relationship between photography, movement, and sound in both natural and urban settings is a distinctive hallmark of Ralph Eugene Meatyard work. His work harnesses the dynamic elements of these environments to create images that invite viewers to reflect on the intricate interplay of movement, sound, and the stillness captured within each frame. This approach infuses the visual medium with a sense of life and energy, blurring the lines between static imagery and the sensory experience of being in those settings.
artist response
saatchi gallary and V&A VISIT
My trips to the Saatchi Gallery and the V&A left me inspired by the inventive presentation of images. These visits underscored the significance of experimenting with the presentation of my own work to infuse it with greater creativity and captivation.
EXPERIMENTING with DIPTYCHs and triptychs
summer recap
visiting the CENTRE FOR british photography
The "Landscape Trauma" exhibition was my primary motivation for visiting the gallery as it was recommended by my teacher that I visit it due to the way I started out my personal investigation. Surprisingly, this piece became my favourite part of the exhibition due to its captivating textures. It's inspired me to explore overlaying textures in my photography to alter its meaning and perception.
However, many photographs outside of "Landscape Trauma" also greatly inspired me, particularly in their presentation style. I believe this inspiration will help merge the direction I aim to take in my personal investigation with my initial experiments. In particular, the combination of disrupted landscape backgrounds into portrait photography stood out as a fascinating concept to explore.
I was also deeply inspired by the idea of allowing people to freely express their thoughts on climate change, turning others' opinions into a unique art piece. It's a concept I'm eager to try implement in my own work.
MORE experimenting with diptychs and triptychs
My favourite diptych AND TRIPTYCH
This is my favourite triptych because the middle image serves as the primary focal point. The image on the right directs attention towards the colour palette of the two men and how the white and red hues in their clothing mix. Meanwhile, the left image accentuates the composition of the overall picture, with the two vertical stripes descending down the building mirroring the two men standing side by side.The other shapes in the composition mirror the out-of-focus individuals and miscellaneous elements in the background. Also the line from the top of the washing line alines with where the gaze of the men are going and then to the edge of one of the blocks.
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PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
This is the initial draft of my film, where I've combined various audio snippets gathered from my daily experiences at church, home, school, and everything in between. The diverse sounds and pictures, coupled with the lack of correspondence between them, aims to replicate the sensation of overstimulation as I personally perceive it as an autistic person.
This is a revised edition of the film where I experimented with filters, adjusted picture durations, and overlapped audio and visuals. I believe this version is superior as it effectively conveys the stress and panic one experiences, capturing the heightened sensitivity to every surrounding sound and the frantic movement of the eyes. I take pride in successfully portraying the emotional intensity and depicting the actions I take when so overwhelmed. When watching this film, I personally experience a strong sense of nausea, dizziness, and immediate headaches, indicating to me that the sound and photography together effectively capture my experience of sensory overload.
This film captures my reaction to its audio while the images are projected onto me. It presented an opportunity for extensive experimentation with editing to ensure clear visibility of the background images, requiring thoughtful execution. Reflecting on this process, I find it ironic that I used headphones during filming to intensify the sound, considering that headphones typically serve as a means of escaping overwhelming sounds for me. What usually provides me with escapism and relief now was delivering waves of varying levels of overwhelm.