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Collaborators II
Project leading to
exhibition in Signal Arts Centre, Bray in May 2007.
All the work you see here has been the product of at least
two people working closely together. I approached people for this
project who grabbed my attention through their stories, their passions,
their unusual world outlook or their ways of expressing themselves. In
most cases we met face to face for long intensive explorations of the
things in our lives where we could not only find common ground, but a
shared passion. I have found in everyone a wonderful openness and a
taste for mystery. We often began the process with a simple invitation,
“Tell me something important about yourself.” The results of our
sojourns are here before you. The work with Marc Moss and to Aaron Ross
was done long distance. For this work it was necessary to give the
process a long time to work its magic. The intensive explorations had
necessarily to give way to a slow absorption of ideas and intuitive
responses.
Typically,
the process worked something like this. We would meet two or three times
and, swap important stories, explore themes and reveal our passions.
Most of this was noted with words and stick figure drawings. In between
our meetings, I believe most of the real work took place. Ideas, dreams,
symbols and narratives were activated in these intervals. At our third
or fourth meeting the language would cease to be verbal and became
largely visual and symbolic. Only then would we set about executing the
work. The costume, make-up, props and settings were co-created. I
did most of the camera work. At later sessions we would sit together at
the computer, choosing the elements for each picture, deciding on mood,
colour, etc. and frequently surprizing ourselves with the appearance of
new elements from our collective imagination. In most cases, the
development of the concept, the photo shoot and the editing were done
collaboratively. In addition, Nina Ayoub, Audrey Keane, Maria Montanes,
Marc Moss and Aaron Ross bought their own specific artistic skills into
the execution of the work.
For me this has been a very exciting journey and one that has bought me
into enriching contact with a remarkable group of people. It is my
intention to continue working collaboratively. There is a significant
amount of work that I expect will further develop from the work we have
already done together. In addition I would welcome exploring the
possibilities of working with anyone who finds deep resonances in any of
this work and would like to take part in a creative collaboration.
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