To Consume:
verb

1. To take in as food; eat or drink up.
2.
       a. To expend; use up.
       b. To purchase (goods or services) for direct use or ownership.
3. To waste; squander.
4. To destroy totally; ravage.
5. To absorb; engross.

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“One of those human secrets that baffle probability, had come into play there. I looked at them with a swift quickening of interest – not because it occurred to me that I might be eaten by them before very long, though I own to you that just then I perceived – in a new light, as it were – how unwholesome the pilgrims looked, and I hoped, yes, I positively hoped, that my aspect was not so – what shall I say? so – unappetizing…”

Joseph Conrad
“Heart of Darkness”

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Gallery of Images
click any image to start viewer

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Artist Statement

The project is meant to touch on being a feminist, and just generally being a woman, in a consumer society, where the illusion of choice masks being put into a stereotype and having our roles as well as our hopes, concerns, and dreams defined by the ridiculous products and ideals we, both literally and figuratively, buy into. Styles present from toys to clothing for all ages represents a disconnect between growing up and reality: for young girls, these styles seem too old, for women, too young, and all are centered around the fantasy of being consumed and objectified by the male gaze.


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Photos of the Book

Exploring advertising aimed at women in interiors and exteriors. This was a prelude to my final for Documentary which was a hand-bound book titled “Into the Jungle”. This series ties into the idea that we are constantly surrounded by reminders of how women are perceived in Western culture.

Pillars of the Past has been a work in progress in many ways. This past semester I took a view camera course hoping to continue my study of texture, especially in my ongoing telephone poles project. My professors recommended compositions based more on landscape then on pure texture and so, begrudgingly, I tried something completely new with the poles and actually found myself pretty pleased with the results. It didn’t change my concept but rather allowed me to expand upon it. I found that varying the distance and space that the poles took up within the image created an interesting play on the idea of a microscope: examining them up close and then far away; examining how they related to their surroundings and to people passing by.

The project is still a work in progress, so the title(s) and artist statement may change, but this is a little bit about what I was working at:

When I first moved to Halifax one of the first things I noticed in the city were these wooden telephone poles covered in staples (as well as metal poles covered in old packaging tape and fliers). A lot of these poles were so completely covered in staples that the actual pole can no longer even be seen. They appear instead as old rusty pillars of metal, their actual wooden bodies sometimes only apparent high out of reach of staplers — and they’ve managed to get pretty high!

The poles intrigue me in their placement in a modern pristine setting, a reminder of old traditional methods of communication juxtaposed with our sleek cell phones and laptops. Our current ability to send information at what seems like the speed of light throws our older communications into a rather unflattering light. Yet I find that these unique, chaotic, ragged bulletin boards speak more to being human. What I also find interesting about the poles is that, in their settings, they appear ugly and small. Oftentimes, students volunteering go around town removing the staples in these poles. These interesting entities from the past are, like many old buildings or artifacts, removed because they interfere with a skyline of hard lines and shiny glass.

Summer 2009 Digital Photo Final Project

My interest in architecture is very much based on lines, geometry, and perspective. However, there is also the alternate definition of perspective that I am interested in. Buildings represent a major part of any society’s history and place in the world. It is representative of people’s perspective on things and whether their history has affected them in positive or negative ways. It can also be an insight as to how a particular group of people feel about themselves or their way of life. In this way, there is a huge amount of personality in buildings and architecture type. However, it is additionally interesting to notice similarities between architecture in completely different parts of the world. Where ever I’ve traveled in the world, I’ve noticed similarities and differences with the place I’m in with where I come from and other trips I’ve taken. I’ve noted the differences of space, space between buildings and how it is often related to the space between people, both personal and psychological; how the people of different societies with different traditions react with their architecture, whether the streets are crowded or bare. Architecture reveals how much people have in common, and how little others do: and how those with the most in common could live the farthest away while those with the least in common could live under the same roof. It can also measure how much or how little a person has. How interesting that wealth is measured both in how new or how old buildings are and how perspectives in buildings change throughout the world just as the direction that the sun sets and settles on these buildings. Our perspectives are always different, perhaps even seen as warped in other cultures. That a person might have what we think is nothing and live in a shack but feel as though they’ve been blessed. Whereas another person who we think has everything and lives in a huge mansion may feel like a prisoner is his/her own home.

Lastly, architecture is also a huge indication of how supportive an area is in the arts. It cannot be especially indicative of whether a place has artists, but simply how much input they are able to give and how much they are able to affect their society. After all, a place that stifles creativity does not and cannot survive in a world that becomes more reliant upon using the creative process in problem solving and in considering the world at large as well as our future in it.

Final for Color Photo 1 – These images were a collection of textures of objects that I pass by/see every day. I wanted to take tiny chunks of these objects away from their surroundings and our preconceiving notions to show how interesting and detailed they actually are.

The theme of my portfolio is “leave no trace”. The images I’ve focused on in this set are all images pertaining to people and the traces, footsteps, influences, etc that they leave in the places they’ve been. I focused mainly on natural settings with the intent of depicting some of how humans interact with nature. In most parks and public gardens there are signs that tell us to clean up after ourselves and generally make it appear as though we have not been there; in other words, to leave these places the same as they were when we entered them. The fact is, however, the ability to control what mark you leave on any place is very difficult. From the tallest building to the smallest footprint, humans will always leave some trace of their presence.

This project was about people’s special spaces and the things they choose to put in those spaces. How they’re arranged and displayed is also of interest to me. Many of the items were things I often associate with specific people and how I see that they collect and arrange their personal effects and objects. It helps to notice these things in relation to the person who owns them to see that the neat and organized are not always as they seem and that cluttered and chaotic is not always bad. The things we choose to keep and how we choose to keep them can become an indication about us and the people and things in life that we really treasure.

The body of work I generated in my Photo 3: Alternative Processes class where we discussed and experimented with different photographic techniques. I found that my favorite technique was applying developer with a paintbrush which allows you to create truly unique photographs.

I’ve often found myself having dreams that are similar to “Alice in Wonderland”, and actually long before reading the book! This was part of an assignment in my Photo 1 class about capturing the surreal and the dreamlike, and I decided to focus on dreams, and the events that usually occur in my own dreams. I wanted to describe the events in “Alice in Wonderland”, but also to make them “choppy” and seemingly unrelated since dreams often switch from one place to another without seeming to follow much of a logical order.

	“Down the Rabbit-Hole” Silver Gelatin Print Double Exposure Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Waking in a dream” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“No trespassing” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Fountain” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Finding the Way” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Suddenly, a Tea Party!” Silver Gelatin Print Double Exposure Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Under the Table” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Waking Up” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser
	“Déjà vu” Silver Gelatin Print Model: Marta Kaiser