The (untitled) Photograms

As my year of vigorous study with master printer Chuck Kelton and gallerist Alison Bradley winds down, my work begins to come into sharp focus. It's been an incredible time of discovery and growth and bloody hard work, and I'm excited to give you a small glimpse of some of the newest work. 

These pieces are one of a kind life-size photograms made with my body and layered with text, words reflecting upon the experience of the human body. They work in conjunction and expand upon the ideas within my previous portfolios "This Is You, This Is Me"(2012) and "I Am Body"(2010) but I feel they are more direct due to there being no camera involved. They speak more to physical presence and the impressions and marks we leave as we make our way forward.

This body of work is not finished,  but I have reached a place at which to pause before moving on to the next chapter. In some ways I feel the story is only beginning, but it is exhilarating to find myself venturing down my path less travelled. Nevertheless, I still have a few loose ends to tie up on those already made. They will be toned in gold and each is to be given a title. This will all be done just in time for our final class presentation at the end of the month.

  All images © Claire Gilliam

Exhibition at Art Factory

I'm very excited to announce that my series "I Am My Body" will be on display at the Art Factory in Patterson, New Jersey as part of a group photography show "Art Factory Photography". The opening reception will be on 9th March 2013 from 2pm to 5pm and will be up for a month. If you are in the NY Metropolitan area, it would be lovely to see you there. There will be tours of the whole centre which is quite amazing for artists of all kinds.

"I Am My Body XIV" in situ

Installing my work

 Instagram images © Claire Gilliam

New Work

Over the autumn months, I embarked on a new body of photographs. I suppose really it is a continuation of the ideas and concepts I've had about the human body and in particular my own disabled body, a deeper exploration of the images I made for the portfolio "This Is You, This Is Me".

I have introduced two new elements to my process: inspired by small photograms I made in college sixteen years ago I have begun to make life sized body photograms which allow me to examine the physical imprint that is left within a space, as well as thoughts of trace, presence and absence. Within these images I am playing with layering and text. These are works very much in progress, forever evolving and in the next few weeks I will post a few for you to see. Here though, is an Instagramed sneak peak to whet your appetite!

I have also taken on a collaborative partner, my husband, who under my direction aims my camera at me. His eye adds a new dimension to the work, extending the experience of being gazed upon and examined through somebody else's eyes and bringing into play the notions of sensuality, physicality and sexuality.

This work is as yet untitled but I thought I'd share with you a few of the new images. All prints are printed on semi-matt warm tone paper in the darkroom.

                                                                                   All images © Claire Gilliam

"This Is You, This Is Me" - An Ongoing Portfolio

There is no escaping the body. Each of us occupies this mass of tissue, muscle, bone and skin we call our body and we all own complex feelings about it, some positive, some negative. We have good days and bad days, often dependent on the perceptions of others.

This new work explores my relationship to my own ‘disabled’ body, both personally and in connection to society’s view of what is normal or perfect. It continues where my portfolio “I Am My Body” left off, delving into the discomforts and insecurities that come with pain, the pleasures and delights of what could be or what in fact is just the reality of my body. Each photograph is a small tale or contemplation that exists and evolves within my body at any time. As a whole, the project reflects longings, desires, hurts and limitations as well as mapping the physical history of my body.

The photographs also contain memories. The act of photographing myself repeatedly brought forth remembrances of surgeries and falls, of other people’s stares and their reactions to me. Many of the photographs utter the unkind words or enquiries that are often asked without consent, catching me off guard, and sometimes shocking me into remembering that I was supposedly different from everybody.

But actually this is a falsehood. The truth is there is no such thing as the perfect body as society will have you believe. The body pictured here might just as well be yours with the same longings, desires, insecurities and abnormalities as mine. It’s just pictured a little bit differently. 

All images are printed in the darkroom on 16"x 20" Ilford semi-matt warm-tone paper and toned in gold. 

2012

Emergence

Pin-up

This Might Be Your Body

Body Is Experiencing

Look At Me

Spastic

This Body Is Just Strange

Disregard

Thoughts of Venus

Flawed

Balancing Act

Guarded

In A Perfect World, There Is The Perfect Body

Reflection

All images © Claire Gilliam

A New Beginning And A Project Finished.

Cor, blimey (as we Brits like to say), it's been a lot longer than I thought since I last posted something, and I am somewhat embarrassed that I have let months go by without comment. So first things first, I am very glad indeed that spring has finally put in an appearance. It feels late this year and here in Warwick, the trees are only now showing signs of bursting into life. New life, daffodiles, hyacinths, green grass, puppy dogs and calves. I love this time of year. I know it's a cliche but it does herald the winding down of the old and the beginning of new things, new projects, and creative endeavours.

And with that in mind, this month finds me having completed my photographic project that has been on the go for the past six months. I have titled the project 'I Am My Body'. There is the final edit still to come where I will whittle 25 images down to about 15 but all the images have been made. The prints are printed on 16 x20 Ilford Warmtone semi-matt paper, and toned in gold. I will be presenting the final portfolio on May 2nd to the rest of my class, and a few people in the field, after which I will begin the hard work of trying to get the work seen in the hope of getting some sort of exhibition. I am very proud of this work. It encapsulates everything I have been attempting to explore about the body and my disability over the years. I will leave you with a small sampling of the work and my statement as I go off to ponder new and wonderful explorations in photography

I AM MY BODY

This project has evolved from living in a disabled body all my life, leading me to explore the relationship between my own awareness of being, and the way others may perceive me as a disabled woman.

I am particularly intrigued by the paradoxes these images reveal: the sense of awkwardness my body has in motion coupled with a gracefulness that is both unexpected and beautiful. By placing myself in front of the camera, I am finally giving the viewer permission to stare at my body, in the hope that it forces a shift in attitude, and questions society's perceptions about difference and the 'ideal body'.

All images © Claire Gilliam

Some Autumn Colour

All images © Claire Gilliam

I start out today with a couple of shots of Autumn Colour, taken in my back yard........it's been quite amazing this year and I have recently had a burst of enthusiasm for getting out the digital camera, (and also the colour film!) to capture some of it. In fact I am heading out shortly to Wawayanda State Park, NJ in search of some more autumn splendour.

News this month.........

Since I last posted, I have discovered that I will not be awarded the Photographer's Fellowship Fund. Initially I was disappointed but have got over that very quickly! There's always next year, and I hoping I'll have an even stronger body of work to put forward.

 The 1st November marks the opening night of the Annual Small Works Show at Bertoni Gallery in Sugarloaf, NY. It is a small venue, but fun to enter. This will be my 3rd year exhibiting work at this gallery: three photographs from 'Family Matters'. My husband Gene will also be showing a piece, a beautiful portrait of one of his sons.

The beginning of October marked the first weekend of the six month ICP course "The Independent Project" with Chuck Kelton, master printer to the likes of Danny Lyon, Helen Leavitt, and Mary Ellen Mark to name just a few, and a tremendous teacher to boot. The time spent working with Chuck, and my fellow students is exhilarating, and exhausting, but by the time Sunday evening comes around we are all infused with huge amounts of creative energy to see us through to the next class in a few weeks time. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am working on printing some self portraits first made a year or so ago. I am really excited by these images, and can't wait to see them completed. The talent in this class is exceptional and I am very excited to see the final portfolios of work we all produce. If it is anything like last year's class we are all in for a treat. I will leave you with couple of links below....click on them to see the work of two of my fellow classmates projects: Jorge Luis Monteagudo, and Wendy Paton. Stunning and beautiful work........ 

Some insight

Self portrait (2006)

Self Portrait (2001)

So here is an insight into my mind and my photographic work. My images are my voice, to explore my place in the world, as a disabled woman, and artist, and so in that sense they are rooted to a profoundly personal place within me. At the same time, although these images could be construed as mere self portraits, they are in fact speaking of the wider concerns of disability, desirability, body image and difference. I begun this work years ago, using myself as the model because it was convenient, but quickly realised that in telling my story, or hinting at it, I was reflecting back and perhaps challenging society's perception of the 'ideal'. I have continued making images with this always in mind. This fall I will be collating much of my imagery together to form a complete body of work, and it is my hope to share some of this with you in the weeks and months ahead, with few unrelated photographic and creative wanderings thrown in for good measure.

A poem for today........... by Kenneth Patchen

The Artist's Duty

So it is the duty of the artist to discourage all traces of shame

To extend all boundaries

To fog them in right over the plate

To kill only what is ridiculous

To establish problem

To ignore solutions

To listen to no one

To omit nothing

To contradict everything

To generate the free brain

To bear no cross

To take part in no crucifixion

To tinkle a warning when mankind strays

To explode upon all parties

To wound deeper than the soldier

To heal this poor obstinate monkey once and for all

To verify the irrational

To exaggerate all things

To inhibit everyone

To lubricate everyone

To lubricate each proportion

To experience only experience

To set a flame in the high air

To exclaim at the common place alone

To cause the unseen eyes to open

To admire only the absurd

To be concerned with every profession save his own

To raise a fortuitous stink on the boulevards of truth and beauty

To desire an electrifiable intercourse with a female alligator

To lift the flesh above the suffering

To forgive the beautiful its disconsolate deceit

To flash his vengeful badge at every abyss

To HAPPEN

It is the artist's duty to be alive

To drag people into glittering occupations

To blush perpetually in gaping innocence

To drift happily through the ruin race-intelligence

To burrow beneath the subconscious

To defend the unreal at the cost of reason

To obey each outrageous impulse

To commit his company to all enchantments