Dress – Film

These figurative underwater film stills and film were inspired by Holloways underwater photos. Submerged in a place which is foreign to us. The underwater world.  A serene blissful environment, in which one can allow anxieties and restraints to disappear; lose themselves in the weightless, utopian world.

The 1950’s floral dress symbolises a playful age where people were allowed to once again enjoy themselves, after the austerity of the Second World War. Inhibitions were being dissolved and freedom of expression increased.

The pieces narrate the tension between the playfulness of the flowery dress compared with the darkness and intimidating volume of water in which it is submerged. The images created are intended to disorientate the viewer by placing a familiar item in an unfamiliar setting.
The underwater world can parallel with more than just simply a fantasy world, in that it is a place that can feel completely detached from reality, the mind can be blissfully unaware of any potential evils.

My work also reflects the work of Lucy Gunning’s, a video involving the artist using her bare room as an obstacle course, in which she clambers and slithers around the walls and crevices of her room, barefooted in a vibrant red dress. The activity seems to be somewhat pointless and unconstructive to the passing public. Consequently we automatically view her as insane or deluded.

I find this sense of breaking socially acceptable norms very interesting, which I feel I began with the depiction of clothed swimming. The wide angled lens distorts and disorientates the images, as the sky dominates the composition, yet the water still manages to capture the viewer’s attention. I feel this heightens the concept of an imaginary world, giving a glimpse of the deluded world the subject may be in. For instance, one of the videos includes the subject suspended up in a tree, building up anticipation as we question the motives of the subject as she lingers without intent on the branches, putting us on edge as we do not expect such carefree behaviour.