GEORGE
A contemporary contentious issue in photography’s modern culture is the photographing of children, be it the work of fine art photographers, street photographers or a parent at their daughters christening. We seem to be engulfed in a societal paranoia regarding photographs being taken of children. I believe we have arrived at a critical point within photography and if we are not careful we will contribute to a future of imagery without children present.
This work is titled George, which creates the absence/loss of the child within each image. Each image has been constructed as an empty space with the trace of what took place. This approach has been used to create in the viewer, perceptions of the imaginary in which the viewer attaches signifiers to each image, and in doing so becomes an active participant in its symbolic meaning. In using this approach it creates not only the absence/loss of the child within each image but also the absence/censoring of the camera/photographic within each image. The aim of this approach is to cause the viewer to identify with both, and deflect this paranoiac way of seeing back onto them. In doing so forcing the viewer to recognize their own societal conditioning.
