Shoots
pigment inkjet prints on paper
approx. 22cm x 1420cm
Shoots is a series of seventy-seven black and white photographs of my hand, clenched. Initially an attempt to study the expressive potential of a simple fist, the work developed into a metaphor for the process of creating artistic work. The series draws analogies between the shape of a clenched hand and that of a sprouting plant to explore concepts of randomness and persistence inherent in both the struggle for artists to innovate and the struggle for plants to grow. The aesthetic and presentation of the work is a nod to the 19th century production of the first high-speed photographic sequences of human and animal movement which later gave rise to animated sequences and cinema. The series consists of a long row of prints spaced in a way that enables the viewer to experience it both as a cinematic sequence – as one walks past – and as a collection of individual portraits – as one stands still.
