Pursuing Strangeness

All Photographs © Michael Wolf Photography

" The Front Door/ The Back Door"

What are the awkward things?

Public washrooms

Watching people sleep

The guts of a building

The mechanics of a watch

Condo windows

Why do I see the awkward things?

Shock value

Breaking patterns

Not daily life

Don't see often but becomes exposed

Excitement

Releasing energy and taking

Arousing curiosity

How do I record something I'm not supposed to see:

Vandalism

Phone numbers in bathrooms

Etching a table, add to the table

Wall for ideas : made out of carbon paper

Places of Transition:

No Man's Land

The Porch

Understanding Markers: measuring distance and value

Signage: cultural symbols.

Menhirs : Stonehenge, Inukshuk

StoryTelling: a tall story vs. mythology

Warrior Wounds: scars, connecting freckles on His arm

Human Trellis: constraints on the bonsai tree

Tattoos: Ongoing personal maps

Diaries

Deltas and Dams: what are the rules of formation?

Show and tell

Mobius House, UN Studio, Netherlands, 1998

I begin to explain my thesis by using the mobius strip. Lining the inside with images of the perceived private life and the outside layer with images from the obviously public life. Both are faces to one thin layer. The twist between inside and outside does not happen in one fixed position but rather in a width of space that is constantly moving. This is the spectrum of transition that I am most interested in. My work over the following weeks will investigate the characteristics of the various points and their recurring presence in public space.

A discussion about " warrior wounds" this weekend made me begin to think about the markers that identify those transition zones between private and public. It is a small scar over his left eye, but I ask him about it. The satisfaction is entirely mine. Methods of revealing and exposure will be explored.