Last week in one of my photography courses, our assignment was to create an installation larger than ourselves. My teacher, professional photographer
Sandra Stark showed us examples such as pieces known as perspective-localized artwork, which is essentially a form of art that can only been seen through one perspective. I was initially intrigued by this type of installation, even though it looks rather difficult to complete – not to mention time consuming.
Felice Varini
Over the week, I thought about what I could do to complete one of these. I talked to other classmates about they were doing, and everyone I talked to seemed to disregard the entire idea of perspective-localizes installation, and were planning to do something less time consuming.
I knew I was going home for a few days before the project was due, so I called up my father to see if he would be willing to help me out with the idea. “Sounds good to me,” he said, after I sloppily explain the idea behind the project. Well, on a Saturday afternoon, my father and I went to the local hardware store to buy some painter’s tape. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.
First I had to decide where I would set up this project. I didn’t want a place that would be too difficult or intricate – it was after all the first time I was trying out an idea like this. I thought a family space, such as the living room would be interesting and not too difficult. I decided to pick the fireplace/hearth area because throughout history it has been a symbol of family connection and life. From the good ole’ days, the family gathers around the fireplace for warm, stories, games, and conversation. It seemed like a decent idea. I also decided that puzzle piece would be an interesting shape to do in this space, and I had not seen it before by other artists that do this kind of work. I knew I didn’t want words, but I didn’t want just lines, either. Puzzle pieces have always kind of been a symbol in my life, whether it’s my family fitting together like a puzzle, or how
my brother’s autism tends to be symbolized with puzzle pieces (in charity work, cause ribbons, etc.) Especially because I wanted to do this project in the living room of my house, I could see these themes of family and life beginning to pop up – and I liked that aspect.
We worked well into the afternoon, breaking for dinner and some family time at the movie theaters, and then resumed our work after that. For hours, we would put down tape only to move it, or alter it’s angle so the perspective was reformed into the puzzle shape. It started getting bad when all the regular scheduled programmed shows were done for the night and were replaced by bad CD collection infomercials. Alas, around 2AM into Sunday, we finished. (I have to give a lot of credit to my dad for this one, he was seriously a trooper – though I think he was just as excited to see the final product as I was.)
The next morning we took the final completed picture, along with some improvised ones including my family members and myself to break up the puzzle. Although it was not the best photo project I’ve ever done, I was rather proud with how it came out, and the fact that I had the dedication to follow through with it (not that I don’t usually have dedication, but I didn’t know if we’d finish on time.) Upon returning to school with proof, the class and my teacher really enjoyed it, and all the effort I put into it finally seemed worth it.
