Final

The following is my photography that I submitted as my final project in my black and white photography class, accompanied by the essay of explanation. It was my first attempt to write an artist statement type essay. It is a bit wordy, but received hella hyphe praise from my professor; both the essay and the photos.


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Indigenous Architecture

Lately I have been dwelling on my childhood, and reapplying elements of it into my life as a young man. I started this project knowing that I wanted to dwell on something that I had created as a child, and reexamining the significance of the object as well as how the social significance that the object or theme plays on a social scale that I was unaware of as a child.
Growing up as the son of an archaeologist, I was frequently going to museums, going to dig sites, or even watching documentaries at home about ancient civilizations. At the same time that I was completely and utterly fascinated with the idea of a maze, I became fascinated with the different architectures of civilizations throughout time, and how they differed. I loved to create small villages, or draw floor plans for households. I would even think about the type of people that would live in those spaces, and what they would need and want in order to live in the structure which I designed for them. My earliest creations began as just a reflection of my dream house or imaginary hideaway, but then developed into something completely outside of myself, where I was creating civilizations and social networks, enemies, and customs for people based around the houses or maps that I would draw. It even got to the point where I would create imaginary spaces in which my playground friends could escape into every recess; an imaginary space where, yes, I dictated it, but my decisions were based on the logic of the environment I created. Looking back on the whole idea now, I have found so many levels that I was completely unconscious of at the time.
I decided I wanted to build and photograph small civilizations loosely based around imaginary architecture I had created as a child. These are heavily influenced by native American, as well as ancient European architecture. I began to then think about the significance of architecture, and why it is different around the globe. Architecture is based on available material, as well as necessity and need, which all are based on the surrounding environment. I then began to think about then, why I am making these miniature architectural and cultural studies.
In an age where ancient ruins juxtapose modern skyscrapers and industrialized nations produce their own materials for architecture, the necessity and surroundings are now dictating our structures less and less. I began to think about all of the materials in my own immediate surroundings, and realize that I have so many different textures and materials in such a concentrated space, that I don’t have to leave my house to fulfill my needs. It was in this that I decided I wanted to not only build these architectural structures, but build them based on found material I found lying around in my own house. The lack limitation for me proved to be a parallel of the limitation imposed on ancient cultures, which didn’t have plastics or paper to use arbitrarily.
In creating these cities I then also began to think about how the scale was significant, and the importance of the miniature. It is a space in which I can manipulate and control tiny details. I wanted to address, photographically, the architectures in a way that felt as though we were in them, or approaching them. In doing this I feel it gives the viewer a better idea of what it might be like to enter and inhabit that space; a space which in reality, can be seen in its entirety by any human being. It is then my necessity for imagination and escape of reality that has not only built, but inhabits, and lives its everyday life as an avatar of my own self expression in my own made-up reality.