A Second Attempt at Video and a Series of Collage 'Journey' Pieces.

In response to my first attempt at video-documentation of my artistic process this week I have completed another filmed walk, this time in much better quality to more professionally and clearly showcase my process. This walk was the same route as the previous videoed walk, though I walked slightly further on along the coast this time, going down to Sunny Cove, a small, rocky beach between Swanpool and Maenporth. I used a much higher quality camera allowing me to shoot in 4k, as well as working with Joe, a film student, for an improved outcome in this second attempt at video documentation.

Note: to watch video in 4K, select 2160p 4K quality on settings on video, or alternatively watch in any high quality mode.

My Second Attempt at Video Documentation. Shot in 4K by Joe Morgan.

The higher quality visual in this video also worked effectively to highlight and showcase the natural environment shown throughout the video, which is important as I intend for the viewer to be able to perceive the landscape I am in in the most realistic way.

This video worked very well to showcase not only the natural landscape but my process too; during a crit of my work this week I received positive feedback on my videos from my peers stating that my process is ‘very clear’ and really ‘showed the journey’ effectively.

Though the obvious disparity between the two video works is the quality of the visual, another more subtle variation is the style of film: the second video works more as a documentary of my process, whereas my first video was more of a fly on the wall type of documentation. Though these two different outcomes were not planned it is interesting to note the slight difference in the perspective given to the viewer of my process through each outcome.

Some Stills From My Second Video

Following on from the completion of the editing of this second video I will repeat the same walk again on Tuesday, this time not recording visuals but sound. I muted the sound on both videos due to its poor quality and my editing method, which would have caused the audio to become disjointed and would have also included sections of cut off dialogue which I felt would have distracted the viewer from my main focus, the visuals. Though to make the viewer’s perception of the outdoor environment more tangible, I will add ambient sounds from Tuesday’s walk through the same locations over the video to further immerse the viewer in the landscape. This would work effectively as an installation view of the work, with one blank canvas on a wall with the video projected onto it, then a stretched canvas piece next to this using work completed on location from the walk shown in the video, and speakers around the work with the ambient landscape sounds in order to almost recreate the outdoor landscape indoors.

Sketch of Potential Installation Idea

I also revisited the canvas rubbings/pieces completed from my walk along the South West Coast Path earlier from a few weeks ago, compiling them into 2 main collage ‘Journey’ pieces, one smaller initial exploration of stretched collage, and one solo location stretched piece form Maenporth beach. The ‘Journey’ pieces are called ‘Journey’ pieces and not just location works as they consist of sections of rubbings and rock pigment taken from different locations along the journey from Falmouth to Durgan beach (Swanpool, Swanpool Headland, Maenporth and Durgan). I chose a long, thin landscape format for these two main canvases both to imply landscape and to also imply a narrative or ‘Journey’ for the viewer to follow, which I feel works very well, even visually referencing film strips, which themselves clearly equal narrative. I also chose to join the sections of the collage together with stitching, a reference to Michelle Stuart’s Niagara Gorge Path Relocated where she stitched together pieces of paper to create a piece 460 feet long, and also a nod to traditional women’s work and craft. The stitching was left on show not done on the reverse of the canvas in order to highlight the process aspect of these works in a similar, but more subtle way to how my video works to document my process. This effectively works both to showcase my process and also as an aesthetic feature. The smaller collage piece has more of a patchwork aesthetic to it, which though it less explicitly shows a journey narrative it still works well to combine multiple locations within one piece.

'South West Coast Path #1' Stretched Collage

'South West Coast Path #2' Stretched Collage

'South West Coast Path #3' Stretched Collage

South West Coast Path #4' (Maenporth)

I also intend to further develop these collage ‘journey’ pieces by completing some with one of the collage patches empty, leaving a window through the canvas. I will then take this piece to the location in which the canvas bits were created and photograph the piece with the landscape visible through the ‘window’, incorporating the landscape literally into my collage. I will use the patchwork style for these window pieces in order to cover the wood of the stretcher.

Sketch of 'Window' Collage Idea

The contemporary precedent my practice takes most inspiration from is understandably Land Art: I study the natural landscape, make site-specific work, and use the walk itself as a key part of my process, in a similar way to Land Artist Richard Long. However, in contrast to a lot of the Land Art movement, my work, highlighted by these canvas collage pieces, aims to translate the outdoor, natural environment into gallery-friendly works for people to view – I am the medium between the landscape and the gallery. This makes my work an anti-Land Art of sorts, opposing the common almost ‘rule’ amongst Land Artists to leave their work in the landscape to mark their mark there, making their work less accessible in order to challenge the conventions of the gallery and therefore the commodification of art.