image: marco salotti / stuart simpson

The Slide Show' is an investigation into the family photograph and how people document their everyday lives. The investigation looked at some of the forms that this could take; the seaside snap, the wedding, the birthday or the school photograph. For me as the artist it was to become more than just a case of looking at images, more than just creating an engaging piece of work. The process was to become a descent into self, a tapping into memories that had long lain dormant, and the dredging up of some that I had hoped I had truly forgotten. The power of the photograph to stir and cajole into view more than just what exists in the frame is equal to the physical reaction that it also elicits. As an interface to the past, my responses to this process were documented and re-presented as part of the work and the work itself represents this journey of process.

The title, 'The Slide Show', is a slight misnomer as the piece exists in a digital form. Its use however has been appropriated to be more literal than practical. During the process of researching and the consequent reflexive action of responding to my own photographs the analogy of the 'slide', the descending down into self, is an appropriate one, for much of the work has been an exploration of the darkness that lives in all of us. The 'showing' comes from the public performance of these private moments.

There are five pieces that make up 'The Slide Show' all of which can be seen as journeys; the regressive journey from adult to baby; the school year book from past to present; the wedding ritual from bridal arrival to newly wed; the journey into the subconscious and the physical alchemical change of transformation. There are also various minor themes that are commented on such as regression, time, decay, ritual, communication, memory and catharsis. Although the work is very personal, autobiographical, it attempts to communicate on many levels by commenting on the documentation of the everyday event, events that we all share. Each of the five pieces is made up of sound, spoken monologue and digital video.

One important aspect of the work concerns the exploration of the technology used, the DVD authoring software and the use of scripting in an attempt to randomly configure all of the components. As there are fifteen individual components that make up 'The Slide Show' (5 sound x 5 video x 5 video) there are one hundred and twenty-five potential variations. What has been created is a pseudo randomness, a looped version of the components mixed up and re-arranged resulting in the creation of many different narratives and interpretations.