Timothy Frank Mackrell

Faint Traces: Photography and Constructed Realities

Pen Copy
Pen (2016) - (Materials for Reconstruction: Black Plastic Cup, Blue Plastic Cup, Aluminium Foil Roasting Dish, Silver Semi-Gloss Spray Paint, Gaffer Tape, Hot Melt Glue, Black Velvet).

An object is a container of personal information and memory. It carries details about the people who produced, used, collected, discarded or lost it. An object can form part of a portrait of its owner, an extension or prosthesis of their personality embedded in their interactions with the object. The adaptations of personal objects that form the basis of this series magnify traces of such interactions, which are visible as a type of patina. A density of information remains to hint at a story behind each object, at real personal memories, but the objects seem to remember nothing but their own details.

This collection of images brings together deceptively ordinary items. The project explores a territory which embraces the quotidian and ideas of collective associations. The small items that I have photographed are personal but they are also common. They aim to link recognition and memory in an indirect way. However, the images are more than mere representations of personal objects. They are representations of replicas of things that I have fabricated myself. Playing with notions of the double, of originality and duplication, this series implies a duplicity at the heart of photography. 

In the process of making the work, original objects are photographed, then these photographs are used to guide sculptural reconstructions. The reconstructions become a new subject to be photographed using macroscopic photographic techniques, and are presented as final works.

The scale of these ephemeral images is now monumental. Photographs of a pen, a ring, a screwdriver at this scale would have been compelling in themselves, but the process of constructing objects to mimic the originals draws attention to the complicated nature of perception itself. The final photographs are intended to be sculptural, to be objects as well as images of objects. They also ask us to doubt apparently simple notions of photographic truth.

 
43 A5064
Installation (L to R): iPhone (2016), Screwdriver (2016), Ring (2016).
43 A5063
Installation (L to R): Book (2016), Pen (2016), Wall (2016).
Wall Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: Foam Core Board, Colour Laser Print, Double Sided Tape - Size of Reconstruction: 80mm x 147mm x 5mm - 2015.
Wall Original
The wall above my mother's bed where a Palm Sunday Cross was pinned year after year. (New Plymouth).
Screwdriver Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: Casting Resin Playdough Magenta Pigment Aluminium Foil Nail (100mm x 4mm) Toothpaste, Solvo, Brasso Spray paint (black semi-matt) - Size of Reconstruction: 155mm x 30mm x 8mm - 2016.
Screwdriver Original
My father had a small screwdriver with a built in wire stripper. (Auckland).
Pen Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: Black Plastic Cup, Blue Plastic Cup, Aluminium Foil Roasting Dish, Silver Semi-Gloss Spray Paint, Gaffer Tape, Hot Melt Glue, Black Velvet - Size of Reconstruction: 155mm x 100mm x 100mm - 2016.
Pen Original
My mother's “Parker 51” fountain pen that she used to write all of her letters, notes and cards using Meridian Blue ink. (New Plymouth).
Iphone Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: Black Perspex, Spray paint (black semi-matt), Plastic lid, Dust, Dirt - Size of Reconstruction: 141mm x 142mm x 13mm - 2016.
I Phone Original
Apple iPhone 4s - Home Button. This phone was stolen at the Auckland Art Gallery-in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2015. (Auckland).
Ring Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: Vice Grip Handle Black Velvet - Size of Reconstruction: 18mm x 7 mm - 2016.
Ring Original
Worn Wedding Ring. (Auckland).
Book Copy
Medium: Back printed on toughened safety glass. Size: 750mm x 1000mm Edition of 3 Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - Materials for Reconstruction: 387 Sheets Laser Copy Paper (80gsm), Two Spring Clamps, Black Velvet - Size of Reconstruction: 215mm x 400mm x 150mm - 2016.
Book Original
My mother's dictionary used to solve many crossword puzzles. (New Plymouth).

Related Artists