Tales of an Idiom

Author/Artist Name

Catherine D. Alexander, Murray State UniversityFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Senior

Date of Creation

Spring 5-7-2019

Artist Statement

Idioms are word combinations that have a different figurative meaning than the literal meanings of each word or phrase. With the figurative and literal opportunities of these idioms, I have created new narratives with size and scale, allowing my viewer to interact with my art.

Compositionally, when I was creating these photos I wanted the viewer to feel as if they were part of the stories told within them. I chose to use black and white 4x5 film photography, which is a large format camera that would allow me to achieve a life size scale in my photos and create an immersive scene for my viewer to feel a part of. I also selected the 4x5 camera for the level of detail it would allow me to capture within my photos. Another quality I liked about the 4x5 is the contrast of the black and white film. The film itself makes my photos feel dated or historic, much like the idioms I used as inspiration.

The phrase “See no evil, Hear no evil and Speak no evil” is often associated with the idiom turning a blind eye, which means to ignore or to pretend not to notice the things happening around you. For this piece, I combined the processes of screen printing and quilting. I chose to sew a quilt for this piece because most people will cover their faces with a blanket or hide under the covers when confronted with something they don’t want to see. It is the same as ignoring or turning a blind eye.

With the series of framed photos, I was inspired by the idiom a little birdie told me. While thinking of ways to create this series, I drew inspiration from the Norse myth of Odin’s ravens, Huginn and Muninn, and how they would come to earth to steal thoughts and secrets and return to tell them to Odin. In creating my photos I used both 35 millimeter black and white film as well as digital photography to give the photos an old-fashioned look. I created a narrative about these “gatherers” or birds that would search the world for secrets and return to their master or “keeper” to tell her their stories. The frames help to create an environment that would be in the keeper’s home.

Lastly, I was inspired by the phrases the more you let go, the higher you will rise and let go of your baggage. I made this photo rise from the floor to the ceiling to emphasize height and to use the space to create a sense of weightlessness, as though the figure in the piece were floating. The size forces the viewer to look up and down in order to see the full image, almost mimicking the motions of falling or rising. The background is a picture of clouds repeated over and over again, forming a kaleidoscope-like sense of space in full color while the figure and objects are black and white to contrast the busy background and seem as if they are floating off the image.

Advisor/Mentor

Kristin Reeves; Nicole Hand; Chris Lavery

Description

'digital photography and 35mm film, 5x7s, 8x10s, and 17x11'

'relief print and silkscreen, 18x24'

'silkscreen printed on fabric with quilting, 50x50'

'18x24 relief print and silkscreen collage'

'50x65 relief and silkscreen print collage'

'digital photography 32x 20'

'digital photography 12ft x 24in'

'4x5 film photography 50x20'

Photo Credit

Catherine Alexander

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Alexander, Catherine D., "Tales of an Idiom" (2019). B.F.A. Practicum Exhibition (ART 498). 39.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/39