Entropic Breakfast

In the project Entropic Breakfast I have been exploring and photographing the notion of decay.

I photographed the degradation of my fridge contents and documented slime mould overtaking, holding time still, countering progress and improvement, evolving towards disaster. Taking time to think about it. Fridge, uncontrolled dark box. Behind its closed door: life, death, regeneration, the dehumanising aspect of modern existence. This project embodies the psychology of the age and the relentless system of growth. It gives a glimpse into what happens when the system gives up on looking for solutions to its mistakes.

Biological decay is invisible, yet suddenly apparent if you let it take over parts of your fridge. The global warming crisis is invisible to the eye due to its large scale. This work attempts to bring it back to a human scale in order to create an emotional understanding of the emergency.

Mould grows, like us humans do on the planet, taking over and destroying what is essential to our survival. For this project the mould is constantly growing, taking over and colonising the space it inhabits. It can come back from the dead; it is neither animal nor plant. It is mysterious and beautiful. This project documents the growth of the mould over time on a planet structure in order to create a sense of loss over time as the planet becomes overwhelmingly covered by Physarum polycephalum (also known as slime mould).

This project celebrates the artful and awful nature of a space taken over and out of human control. Looking at mould, like looking at humans is like looking at something both celestial and microcosmic simultaneously.

Slime mould is an intriguing intelligent single cell organism growing in cool, humid dark places and feeding on organic debris (here oat flakes). In this installation the slime mould is eating away at the oats in the same way as humans eat away the Earth. Creating a provoking installation. 

Experimental Editing - Under Your Roof

Editing old photographs from the Under Your Roof series. At the time when I took these photographs I did not like them (originally made for a stop motion video) so they weren’t edited. Two years later, here I am experimenting and enjoying editing them.

Deluge

In this ongoing series called Deluge I explore the mental, physical and emotional responses to being overwhelmed. Approaching this subject as a universal state through near literal interpretations, a single figure is subjected to the suffocating consequences of drowning, being buried alive and set on fire. Through underwater photography and digital manipulation, each act represents a psychological state connected with being overwhelmed. In portraying the metaphysical through extreme circumstances, I can emphasise the depth of an emotion which affects us all. In addition to this, the series Deluge challenges the notion of time. As we are experiencing a feeling of distress, time stands still and 1 minute may not seem like the usual 60seconds. This set of images illustrate time slowing down as we travel through heavy affliction.

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The photograph Drowning won third place in the Eaton Portrait Prize 2018 - Cambridge School of Art | Cambridge UK.

The series Deluge took part in the Cambridge School of Art degree Show 2018 / Cambridge, as well as the Free Range Show 2018 at The Old Truman Brewery / Brick Lane, London.

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In the style of... Martin Parr

Last year, for a presentation, we were given a photographer to study and produce photographs in a similar style to them. The photographer I was given was Martin Parr. To me Martin's Parr photographs are not beautiful but honest and relevant. By photographing spanish tourists in a french ski station, I tried to reproduce how Martin Parr captures the English working class in a rather grotesque, unusual and critical way.  

I felt that the environment of a ski resort was ideal to capture images that exhibit the characteristics in his work, garish, candid, real. There was a paradox between the feelings I have about his work and the feelings I have about the subject matter of the photographs I took, namely the frequency of Coca Cola advertising, the Spanish Children and the indulgent nature of skiing. Thus making the photographs even more relevant. 

Later on in May I met Martin Parr at the Photo London Show and asked him his thoughts about the photographs. He was complimentary about the work, saying it definitely captured his style. However, he also provided me with some useful, constructive criticism. If I had used more flash it would have emulated his style even more effectively.

➲ Have a great week!

Do not hesitate to contact me ↣ charlotte.fraigneau@gmail.com 

Southwold

A few weekends ago, I went out to take some b&w shots of the beautiful seaside in Southwold, with a Mamiya RZ67 Medium Format camera. Luckily it was not a rainy day but a long exposure was definitely not a possibility, the wind did not allow it! It has been such a great experience to go out there with an analogue camera looking at the town in a completely different way than I used to see it in the past as a tourist. Dealing with the weather, light, and composition on location taught me a lot,  nothing better than learning in such a lovely place!

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