Caroline Blackburn

Beauty seems to me to have become a thing that is greatly undervalued. Sometime in the twentieth century it became associated with a wealthy elite, a rarefied posturing that did not speak to ordinary people. I think the reverse it true. Beauty is the most egalitarian thing there is. Everybody can appreciate it regardless of age, sex, education, colour, religion, or status. Everyone has their own idea of what is beautiful and nothing can change that. But beauty also serves a vital function. It can uplift or transform the viewer. It gives faith and strength in a world which is ridden with ugliness that it is worth struggling on. Those moments that each of us occasionally have when we are momentarily lifted into a purer world are moments we treasure. And my work hopes to reflect that. All the pictures I do are meticulously constructed whether it be a very complex work such as one of the figures from folklore and mythology, or a relatively simple one such as a flower. Everything is studio based and photographed in black and white. I then process and print the film myself before hand colouring each print with special photographic dyes. This means that I can control the colour and feel of each picture precisely as well as making each final image totally unique. For the Mythological figures and the opera pictures I make a lot of the costumes and props myself. The cloak for the "Swan Maiden" took two months to make from collecting the feathers from a farm to the final product. I build the sets myself and add as much metaphorical detail as I can. I always have a strong sense of the layered themes in each picture long before I start construction. The whole process is a long slow one but I keep my edition runs small so that I don't become stale and mass produce work. The craft that underlies the work is all real, there are no digital techniques involved - what you see is what I made. I have a BA and MA in English Literature. I originally intended to become a lecturer but after my first degree began to develop my interest in art. To learn about photography I went and did a technical course which basically taught me everything I ever needed to know about the craft of photography. I discovered the technique of hand-colouring fairly early on and was instantly entranced by the effect. I continued to develop my art skills. I started with still life and then moved on to the more complicated sets of collections such as the British Mythology. I have always had a strong interest in mythology both for the childlike elements of mystery and magic and the allegorical themes which run through them, telling us so much about who we are. Photography is an art form which does not seem to me to have been fully exploited. It is mainly documentary or digital imaging, but there is still plenty to be done using traditional techniques. I intend to continue using the allegorical themes in a meticulously controlled environment and push back the current boundaries of what photography is. Contact : Caroline Blackburn For more details about previous shows and commisions see Caroline's CV.

 

All images and text Copyright © 2003 Caroline Blackburn.