KIM PAYNE - EXPOSURE EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE

A frame of reference for my abstract, geometric photographic collages is this quote by Vancouver artist, Ian Wallace in The History of the Found Object in Art (2014):

“Other artists...have crafted visual languages that place everyday goods in arrangements that use repetition and formal contrast to push even further the idea that the artist’s role is to select items and serve them up in unexpected or meaningful juxtapositions.”

I am intrigued by mundane, overlooked, industrial objects such as corrugated metal grain silos and water shut-off valve covers. When I encounter such an item, I examine it closely, and photograph it. I also wonder about them. What’s their purpose? Who made them? How are they made? How old are they? My curiosity drives my work.

Transforming these everyday objects challenges the way they are perceived, and presents them in a new light. To enhance the visual appeal of the items that I photograph, colour possibilities are explored using photo-editing software. I adopt the grid format because it’s conducive to repetition and, like colour, highlights the subject matter. I enjoy the process selecting titles for the collages, playing with language and alluding to the odd subject matter. Thus, With the Grain hints at the photograph of a grain silo and Ground Covers points toward the cast iron covers embedded in concrete or asphalt.

All of the works that I am submitting have evolved from this area of inquiry.

BIOGRAPHY

Three years ago I retired from my job as an elementary school teacher. Prior to receiving my BEd degree from the University of British Columbia, I earned a Studio Arts Diploma from Capilano College (now Capilano University) in North Vancouver, and then a BFA from the University of British Columbia. I enjoyed courses in design, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and painting. However, it is photography which has served as an easy to pursue, creative outlet for me for the past twenty years.

Initially I used Canon EOS and ELPH digital cameras and belonged to the North Shore Photographic Society in Vancouver. In those days I made photocards which I sold at arts festivals, with moderate success. At that time I had a stack of 4” x 6” prints of a particular image which proved to be interesting to me alone! I made a small viewfinder, found an interesting section of that image and cut up all the prints. Those pieces became my first photocollage. It hung in my home for all the years that I was teaching. For the last three years I have been able to expand on that “happy accident” and the geometric photocollage format.

These days my iPhone is with me wherever I go, and the objects that I am interested in photographing are encountered by happenstance. I enjoy the process of cutting the images, touching and manipulating the pieces, then reassembling the parts in a way that invites viewers to take a closer look.

The works that I have submitted for the Emerging Photographers Showcase all feature mundane, overlooked items that I photographed with my cellphone camera.