Traces in the Vicinity of Transience, 2000

Slide projection sequence, camera obscura projection

This work tests differences between experiencing a place physically and through the trace of photographs. The camera obscura shows people and cars outside the gallery moving in real space and time. The slide projections show tourists at the Sydney Opera House.

The real-time act of seeing a camera obscura image is an embodied perception of place. When light-sensitive material was combined with the camera obscura, fixing its images on paper, metal and glass, photography was loosened from the specifics of place and time.