Fog Study 1Photograph by Janet Woodcock

I love this photograph. I was at the beach and in love with the look of this structure, that no longer exists. It was so gnarly and cut up by the water. Just before I was going to take this image my dog Duke (who also no longer exists) but who was always so good about staying by my side, got up and walked into the frame. I called him back but he left his footprints. I remember hesitating thinking, okay I should wait a little till the waves come in and wash them out. It would take 2 sweeps and they would be gone but I didn’t. And it was so cool because, though you can barely see them, it gives me a sense in the photo that something has entered and has left. The photo is also about the relationship between the ocean and the cliff and the fact that they are not separate entities at all. They are one and the same. One gets swept over here and one gets pushed over there and we try to make them separate in our minds but there is no separation. Everything is all so connected.

Artist
Janet Woodcock Janet Woodcock began pursuing her passion professionally in 1980, studying at both the Art Institute of Boston and the New England School of Photography. She mastered her craft while working for several newspapers doing freelance assignments. In the mid nineties, she decided to devote all of her energy into her own projects. Janet’s commitment to “the traditional craft of photography” is evident in her past and recent work alike.
Location
Chilmark Community Center520 S Rd, Chilmark, MA 02535, USA Open in Google Maps › Open in Apple Maps ›
What do you See?
What do you see? Stop 0

Maximum file size: 52.43MB

As You AreSong by Connor Foley

The photo I interpreted [from stop 1] seemed quiet and serene but had a hint of hidden darkness. I was really drawn to the contrast between the cliff and the water. Something so rough plotted against something so smooth resulted in a perfect balance. I wanted to write in a minor key but have uplifting lyrics to balance out the light and dark moods. The song is indicative that someday I will find a woman that I will love limitlessness and in return, she will love me the same way.  It’s a story of episodes starting with travel and ending with commitment.

Artist
Connor Foley Bio Pending…
Location
Basketball Courts (Chilmark Community Center)520 S Rd, Chilmark, MA 02535, USA Open in Google Maps › Open in Apple Maps ›
What do you Hear?
What do you see? Stop 1

Maximum file size: 52.43MB

ChrysanthemumsPhotograph by Sam Heydt

For me, the song I interpreted [from stop 2] speaks to the fragility of human relationships, the obsolescence of devotion, and the frail notion of forever. Having just experienced love and the pain of its loss shortly before the conception of this piece, the work comes from a place of melancholic acceptance. In my interpretation, a lake in the distance drains slowly into an empty pool where a woman alone stands, as the water level rises her fate becomes increasingly hinged on how quickly she learns how to swim.

Artist
Sam Heydt SAM HEYDT is a NYC based artist, designer, filmmaker, photographer, and founder of Jane Street Studio (LLC), a boutique photo studio in the Meatpacking district of Manhattan. Over the last decade Heydt has lived and worked in Paris, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Venice, Vilnius, Athens and Istanbul. She completed her studies across a spectrum of international universities and has attended artist residencies in Iceland, Australia and New Zealand. Commercially, she has worked with a multitude of publications, most recently landing the cover of February’s issue of Aesthetica Magazine (UK). Heydt has exhibited works in a constellation of galleries & museums throughout the world, including twice at the following: State Hermitage Museum (Russia), Art Basel and HeadOn Photo Festival in Sydney. IRONICALLY, by employing the very medium she critiques Heydt’s work speaks to the disenchantment of the social psyche at the hands of the media apparatus and the desolation of the natural world. United by its unconventional exploration of semiology and its role in cementing corporal commodification, consumerism and constructed narratives of the past, her work splinters into several subversive series, focusing on the perversity of production, consumption and decay. Heydt’s visions transcend her images’ site-specific locations — the impact of the photographs are shockingly universal, rendering the global local. Her most recent project was in Rajasthan, India, where she worked as an associate producer on a documentary re: child prostitution. Shortly afterwards, she took up a position working as a coordinator at the Scuola Grafica Internazionale in Venice, Italy where she will return next Fall after she completes her work in Australia documenting the mining industry.
Location
Tenis Courts (Chilmark Community Center)8 State Rd, Aquinnah, MA 02535, USA Open in Google Maps › Open in Apple Maps ›
What do you See?
What do you see? Stop 2

Maximum file size: 52.43MB

The Subject Awaits Further ClarificationPerfume by Miriam Songster

Miriam interpreted the photograph from stop 3 and created a perfume in response.

Description of Olfactory: I imagined the ocean (a brackish, vegetal version) and dry grasses, and chlorine. I wanted to make the perfume on the woodier side and not introduce anything too floral, although there is some tuberose. It’s mostly woods and herbals such as lavender, plus citrus and quite a bit of seaweed absolute. I experimented with a chlorine aspect but decided against it. Overall, I was strongly influenced by the grassy area of the photograph for this fragrance.

If I had to sum up the photo I interpreted in one word I’d say “Domestication.” The subject appears at first to be the woman standing in the pool, but after careful consideration, it is not clear that she really is the main subject, since the landscape overwhelms her in physical and possibly emotional terms. It is also difficult to read her facial expression, adding to the impression that she is a prop, a needed vertical element, rather than a fully-fledged human subject. The angle of the shot, with the photographer positioned above the pool/woman, combined with the pool appearing within a mostly natural landscape, led me to think about domestication and domesticity (applied to people and land). Working with the domesticity/domestication concept, I was thinking of ways to incorporate the height differential between the photographer and the woman in the pool. I came up with the idea of using native birds (a birds-eye view of the photographer represented by a hawk compared with a smaller (and non-raptor) female quail who is positioned at or below ground level). This refers to the woman in the photo seeming marginalized and the photographer, who I determined to be male, dominating and domesticating her. I also felt this trespassing vibe (that the photographer may have snuck into someone else’s property to take the photo) that I recreated with the birds trespassing on the vacated cat’s home. Ultimately the hawk has left and only the little quail remains.

 

Artist
Miriam Songster Miriam Songster grew up in Massachusettes and now lives in Brooklyn NY, where she is pursuing a dual career in the arts and in digital advertising and production. Miriam’s artistic practice engages with several themes: minimalism, site-specificity, the private experience of public space, and the multi-faceted nature of sensory perception. Each of these themes has been more or less prevalent, as her practice has moved from sculpture and video to installation and scent-focused immersive works. Engaging the active collaboration of the public has become an increasingly important part of her practice.
Location
Chilmark Free Public Library522 S Rd, Chilmark, MA 02535, USA Open in Google Maps › Open in Apple Maps ›
What do you Taste?
What do you see? Stop 3

Maximum file size: 52.43MB