DRIFT - Domestic Oblivion I
This is a time-lapse piece shot on a rail with a motor and controller, to add shifts in both time and space to the work. The Electric Still-Life reflects on our electrical lives, and the history of practical electricity - this formal arrangement of objects in a domestic setting intends to challenge the traditional still-life and reflect on the 'Vanitas' Dutch Still life tradition. The Vanitas works created a tension between the sensuous depiction of the subject and the moralist message - a reflection on transience, vanity and meaninglessness. I am interested in the retention of dysfunctional electric objects for their socio-historic value, and in the absurdity of a still life arrangement of them; also the playfulness of such a futile collection. The layering and shifting of sand over time explores a curious abandonment and highlights the dysfunction of the objects. It also alludes to a future archaeology.
An Endless Loop (Heavy Oblivion)
'An Endless Loop' extends the artist's formal investigation into functional objects, this time examining them in a situation of suspended time and space. Using multiple perspectives, Sam creates these electrical tableaux as lenticular 3D images. The viewer is able to explore the arrangement of forms without the subjectivity of a fixed viewpoint. Sam is interested in challenging the 'remoteness' of the 2-dimensional image in this work, using lenticular imaging to reveal multiple perspectives. She wants to explore beyond the decisive moment, extend it in time and space, inspect it and find a broader 'truth'. 'An Endless Loop' is the artist's exploration of the life cycle of objects, and a curious investigation into form, function, space and time.
The exhibition includes moving image work - where the arrangement of objects is slowly drowned in sand. The film loops, creating a breath in and out of sand building up and then 'evaporating' only to fill up again.
This work was shot with the camera mounted on a 6-ft rail and driven by a motor controller, so that images are shot at slightly different angles. The lenticular images need to be seen in person - single images are displayed in this portfolio to reflect the content of the work.
