objects and atmospheres- non-verbal workshop with geraldine pilgrim (part 7)

george segal




body in space exercise- out of visual create a narrative- reference-george segal sculptures


exercise- text as a visual landscape- not developing character (although appearances yes, feelings not so) but body in a site. physical placement of the body of one person by another within the space- floor/wall, (addition of an object in my turn.) the person in position once set has 30 seconds to think about how their body is placed and a possible site it could be in....then the rest of the group asks questions to which the placed person responds to begin to tell a story.

my photograph above of the position i was placed in- (you can't quite see my thumb is extended upright from my beyond hand) i was asked to look at a chair beyond and then another person in the group placed the camera in my site line- at first, intriguingly with the camera lens pointing towards me and then with me looking through the viewfinder.

rough recollection of the questions posed to be and my responses....

• where are you? i'm in the attic
• where's the attic? my parents house in croydon
  
• why are you on the floor? i'm listening
  
• to what? my parents arguing. i'm waiting for them to stop.
  
• what re they arguing about? me- mum has grounded me and dad disagrees
• whats in the attic? dusty old trunk locked full of my secrets, bare boards
• where's the key? in my pocket as always
  
• what are the walls like? old peeling floral paper one side, breeze block the other
• whats the temperature like? its cold, breezy
• what are you looking at? through the lens at the boy in the house next door. he's undressing.
• is there a window in the attic then? yes
• what's the boys name? orlando
• what's your name? harriet
• how old are you? 16
• what are you wearing? my escape outfit
• what's your escape outfit? pink shoes, jeans
• why are you escaping? i've had enough
• what happens next? i'm giving the signal to my brother who is next to me that the arguing has stopped and they have left the room for us to escape.i'm going to take one last photo of orlando before i leave.

this exercise i found a very insightful way to consider where you can visualise being taken to through placement of body and engaging in conversation to build a narrative. you imagine that everything is moving around this frozen body.questions were to centre not on the feelings but on the sights, sounds, smells. the gaze was crucial to the narrative. elements on this may verge on past life regression(!) which the activity was not intended too- i suppose the choice of being in croydon(not sure why i said this) made me want to take an exotic sounding name for the boy next door- orlando which was the name my brother was almost given and was the name that popped into my head. one person in the group after they did their story said 'where the hell did all that come from?'

in relation to my current investigations- generating stories through visuals- centering on the sensory elements and the what happened next - this was very useful exercise. i also was struck by the use of the camera- the story would have been completely different with the camera lens placed towards me (who was to photograph me, why etc)

thinking about it now- i feel a little confused about separation of character from landscape- although not centering on description of feelings clothing, age shapes an identity? as well as the fact that i was wearing my escape outfit....