Mathilde-project proposal

INTIMACY * EMOTIONS * MEMORIES  

A study on slice of life photography and conveying nostalgia

What do you want to make?

In my previous work I’ve experimented a lot with creating cinematic scenes, almost like a screenshot out of a movie. I created this with the ultimate goal of this particular analysis but at a stage where it had no actual narrative depth.

Key to my work will be the subject of memory; I would like to recreate moments of intimacy that provoke emotion. I want this work to have a slice of life element to them; universally relatable, specific moments that we all share.

[Examples of the work]

These memories will be shot and composed in the way that remember them; fragments and details of a moment that comprise a story together. I will start with intimate moments I, myself am experiencing first; for example lying in bed with my partner. The photographs will be intimate compositions of details that fix in the memory, arranged in ways to create a narrative that conveys emotion.

I want to draw on the visual language of cinema, such as 80s Asian cinema. These have a particular colour range; a yellow-greenish, mostly warm toned aesthetic with a high contrast and yet a softness to them. I will also draw on the influence of asian analog photographers who use a similar aesthetic of this grainy, green toned, nostalgic aesthetic. With this style, I want these images to put the viewer in a particular nostalgic place.

[Examples]

In this experiment I have taken several images and rearranged them to give them a narrative. I want to shoot digital and create an analogue and cinematic blend style. This promotes, to me, the best of both worlds; combining my digital shooting method with the style and nostalgia of an analog look. I want these photographs to have a feeling of being a quick snapshot thats a little too dreamy and stylised at the same time to create the feeling of a memory.

[Examples]

Why do you want to make it?

I have always been moved by slice of life type images, there is something poetic about a piece of artwork that shows you a normal everyday scenario that you are not a part of and can still give that feeling of nostalgia. It gives me a feeling of now-ness while never actually having experienced that particular moment.

Relation to a larger context

This project will be my contribution to the slice of life style art.

Timetable

Okt-Nov

• Shoots with models - main focus on developing analog style, composition experiments.
• My own intimate moments - Main focus on composition.

Dec-Jan

• Shoots with models - Combine composition and style
• Dabble with narrative: what works and what doesn't?

Jan-???

• The work as a result of these experiments.
• conclusions
• Thesis deadline

References/bibliography

• In the mood for love (2000)
• Minari (2021)
• My neighbour Totoro (1988)
• Sideways (2004)
• The Power of Now - Echkart Tolle

I choose these movies as my references because some of them have a very slice of life element to them. Scenic/cinematographic and story wise I feel like they can have a relatability to different types of people because they can be interpreted in your own way, while still having a concrete idea of what is happening.