i photographed a dead squirrel. it seemed important at the time, it was as much about my experience of being in a park as jumping dogs and happy children. an act of recognition of a life lived perhaps, of the end of a life, to be forgotten. dismissed through an unseemely death in a car park. no one to care. except me perhaps.
i wanted the image to be a part of my exhibition but somehow I couldn't bring myself to show the photograph in all its fine detail, too harsh a reality, undignified maybe. in its reality (whatever that is) it couldn't convey what I felt about it and yet it was in that reality that I made a response to it, felt strongly enough to get up close and take the photograph.
so, i played with the image for a while, filtering out the detail, in an attempt to give a sense of calm, peace, respect. to create a space that would allow for a refelction of time past, of what might have been. of an end and yet a holding still of time lived.
the work now exists as a lightbox piece, the image cut up into numerous coloured squares, as if a fading, broken down TV image or perhaps building blocks with a potential to recreate a full, remade living squirrel. is it coming, is it going.
the work has yet to be shown in the exhibition. the act of deciding to exhibit it and the responses from people so far have rasied many questions about what art is for. why i want to show this piece, why people feel uncomfortable with it. i don't have answers other than I feel something, that seems at odds with most peoples responses. this piece is important to me in discovering what it is that I feel about the world.
if you want to see the work for yourself then go to 'for the diary' for details of my PARKsTALK show. once the show is over I will post an image of the work and further comments on how the work was received.