My head is still spinning @_@ my Northern Hemisphere Summer with the MFA Photo program at Parsons has been intense. It’s not my preference to make work at such an accelerated pace – I’m slow even by normal standards – but it was a superlative opportunity and I’m more than a bit sad that it’s over 🙁 I ♥ NY, I love Parsons, and I love the current MFA Photo students – it’s been a thrill to be surrounded by sensationally talented photographers.

I used the residency to experiment with something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I’m often being encouraged (by people I really should listen to) to make video or animations. I find that suggestion a bit overwhelming as I will need a whole new skill set, new equipment, and a clue about where to start. As a warm up to working with longer narratives I’ve made a new photocomic.

The space I was given to work with had some quirks that I used to start the story narrative. I’d been working on this little puppet for such a long time – but I really didn’t know what he was going to get up to. The pipes and the little hole in the wooden floor gave me my staring point, from there the story just …grew? (the pun princess strikes again!) It was a very fun project, especially working with multiple anamorphic shapes in one spot. It got a bit complex there for a few days, see:

I do have some ideas about we the story goes next, and some more characters to introduce. That will have to wait until we are back home in Australia.

After I’d finished shooting for the little project above I discovered that I really wanted to use the space for another image for the Honest Magic series. Lucky for me Orlando was keen to be involved again.

The Parsons Summer Open Studios also gave me an opportunity to try out something I’m very interested in: incorporating an anamorphic installation and viewpoint as part of an exhibition. I transformed an old enlarger lens (found at a flea market on West 59th street) into a peep-hole device for the void illusion in my studio. It was great! :duck: It’s given me some fantastic ideas for my Project Space show at CACSA in November 😀

Zo babe sure liked it.