I've been toying with an idea for a little while now.
Having returned to Cornwall I've lately been feeling that I should make a piece of work here. In recent years I've been a bit reluctant to pursue a project within the county as honestly I couldn't really see anything particularly interesting to make work about.
I was born in Cornwall, went to school in Cornwall and seldom left Cornwall for almost 20 years, bar the odd excursion abroad and occasional trips to the mainland. It's probably fair to say that I had become more than a little desensitized to my surroundings.
Time away has altered the way I see Cornwall. I am noticing things that I hadn't paid any attention to before and as a result my birthplace has become vastly more interesting to me. I'm appreciating the landscape,
the people (most of them) and the culture in an entirely new way.
All of this said, I don't strictly want to make a piece of work about the county as a whole. For one, this would be far too broad, not to mention ambitious. Instead I have been looking at the idea of the construct (a fictitious representation) in a wider sense. Previously I have made single image tableaux around a variety of different themes. I am now very interested in the idea of creating a subjective work comprised of a series of images, some staged and some not, culminating in a portrayal which isn't necessarily factual in nature. I am finding it hard to put exactly what I'm proposing to do into words, this is partly because I'm not completely certain about what it is myself. HA!
I'm very interested in portrayals of communities, especially those which are, in a sense, removed from the wider world whether through geographical location or through differences in culture. But again I do not wish to work towards producing a traditional piece of reportage or documentary concerning such a community. I feel that often these types of documentaries fall short in their claims of offering true insight into the nature of a demographic, instead I feel that the truth being offered is more often the photographer's vision of truth rather than an objective depiction. I would like to accept this theory but attempt to take it further, amplify it perhaps. I've been looking at different communities represented through fiction, where each party making up the group is a character and the place itself possesses a personality of sorts. Examples of particular interest include; the village community in Franz Kafka's The Castle, the townspeople of David Lynch's Twin Peaks (the whole series has fantastic visual style also), the inhabitants of the port/island Dejima in David Mitchell's recent book, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and the people of Summerisle in The Wicker Man.
I feel that there is what could be called an 'Island Mentality' in Cornwall, amongst some circles in particular. It does seem to me that in many ways life is different down here, there is often this sense of isolation. Of course this could be said of many, many places, however there are particular qualities which are especially present within Cornwall. The county is rife with clichés and aspects of culture which are used to entice the droves of visitors which visit during the summer each year. There are traditions and past times here that would most probably seem positively 'backwards' to many. Like other rural areas which lack the vast spectrum of entertainment available in cities, a great number of the Cornish indulge in what can only be described as hedonistic lifestyles. These factors along with many others are providing food for thought regarding this proposed work.
I am hoping that once I have shot a number of pictures the nature of the work and it's direction will become clearer to me. I will be posting examples soon.
Apologies for the ramble.
