Artist Statement

Alex Lewers Artist Statement:


All photos are accurate. None of them is the truth. ~Richard Avedon

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.
~Dorothea Lange

Fiction: An imaginative creation or a pretence that does not represent actuality but has been invented- Online dictionary


Photography for me is a means of story-telling, a way of looking at people and places in a different light. It's a means by which we are provided the opportunity to look at ordinary objects in extraordinary ways.

As a studying journalist it has become apparent that photography holds a lot of power in constructing truth meaning and understanding. When I work with photography I am reminded that photography is neither truth nor is it completely fictional. It is an interpretation of what is before it.

In this series of photographs my subject matter is ordinary people in ordinary places. I have used a combination of black and white images with an element of colour or vies-versa. This is an attempt to combine realism with a hint of the surreal. It plays with connotations and signification of romanticism and nostalgia that are inherently associated with black and white images.

This series of work is inspired by the movie Schindlers List and the way they utilise colour to covey certain messages within the film. The added colour in the movie onto an otherwise black and white shooting draws viewers attention and is perhaps one of the single most effective story telling device of the movie. For me in my work I have tried to replicate this, using colour as a means of story telling. I feel this adds a different dimension to the work and allow the viewer to contemplate meaning within the piece and build their own narrative.

Each piece begins with a location, character or object. It is then manipulated in way that forces the viewer to consider why and from there develop a narrative. When a piece creates different stories and interpretations for different viewers then I know that my work is finished.


These photographs are all manipulated digitally through the use of Photoshop. I have used a technique where I get the original image and the duplicate that image. I then de-saturate one and depending on whether I want black and white or colour to feature I remove that element from the to layer so that the bottom layer comes through on the page.

When people see my work, I'd like them to build their own narrative. Consider the characters and objects make their own connection and come up with a story that suits the individual. This piece is not about conveying truth rather communicating a fictional representation of the real and demonstrating the reality and truth is what we make it.

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."
Elliot Erwit

"Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world."
Arnold Newman


Display:

These images will be displayed as a series in relation to colour. For example the images would be set out as they are below but put into a block of 9 using 3 different colour schemes. Originally these were going to be displayed with music however I have decided that I want multiple people to be able to view and discuss at any one time.




Examples of my work so far: