In my tutorial last week we discussed me preparing a Statement of Intent for my FMP.  Although I had articulated my intent in my Final Major Project Proposal I felt that without a clear and simple statement my photography had the potential for being unfocused.  So here is my first draft which I am sure will be refined as my work continues:

The Ephemeral Hiddenness of Skye

 “The soul never thinks without a picture.” (Aristotle)

I am driven by a search for the ephemeral hiddenness of the Isle of Skye.   In my photography I seek to capture aspects of the real quality of the island that lies behind the sensory presence of its landscape and its ever-changing weather.  I am not looking for the sublime and romantic depictions of the Island that so many photographers produce but, rather, a reflection of my personal experience of this beautiful part of north-west Scotland. 

My work is informed by philosophers such as Jose Ortega y Gasset, Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Martin Heidegger and influenced by painters including as J M W Turner and Claude Monet.  My photographic influencers include Fay Godwin, Ori Gersht, Iain Serjeant and Awioska van der Molen.

Looking through the lens of my experience I see the sea, lochs, mountains and moors as aspects of Skye’s sensible properties.   It is not these I am seeking but those properties that transcend individual experience – the ‘otherness’ of its geography, the vulnerability of its ecology and its ephemeral hiddenness.  I am searching for those moments when the veil is withdrawn and I glimpse the Island’s transcendent reality when Skye reveals itself to me: its mystery, fragility and resilience.

Focusing on detailed aspects of nature and spending time in the landscape allows me to reflect on aspects of my own inner life: the hurt and fracture – confronting the chaos of death and destruction during my time as a police photographer; the remnants and vulnerability of my youth and the solitude of adulthood when parents are gone.  I use aspects of the natural world as metaphors for my feelings and emotions and use light and shade, luminosity and depth, shape and structure as a means of revealing the Skye that most visitors and locals fail to notice.

Skye Untitled 6, Alison Price, April 2019

 

Alison Price

Alison Price

My name is Alison Price and for the past ten years I have travelled the world photographing wildlife, including Alaska, Antarctica, Borneo, Botswana, the Canadian Arctic, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
[/db_pb_team_member]
Skip to content