35 What does the possibility of the copy reveal in your work? When an image can be mechanically reproduced, there is a certain sense of proximity and intimacy towards the copy that is opposed to the distant sense of ‘respect’ towards a unique original piece. This proximity entails a sense of freedom and fearlessness to touch, cut or modify the copies, opening a wide range of possible actions, from the very subtle to the daringly radical. The photographic medium in particular has quite a large range of image plasticity, which makes the process of modifying the image reproduction even more interesting: changes of scale, tone and intensity, acts of cropping, overlapping, etc.
To find out more information about Sachiyo Nishimura’s work visit: www.snishimura.com
Your work is not only photographic: aside from the ‘original’ images, you draw subtle lines on top. What is your view in relation to the proximities and/or distances between photography and drawing? What we expect to see in a photographic image is a cut-out of a specific time and space transferred into a flat surface by means of the mechanical process of photography. If we leave the photographic device out of the equation, and stick only to the desire of finding a piece of the visible world retained within a flat image, our expectations are not far off from those pre-photographic era attempts. Before photographic technology, drawing, through the use of perspective and grids, achieved an accurate translation of the three-dimensional into the flat surface. Although the means differs, both photography and these geometrical devices help us to put together an illusion of space onto a flat piece of paper that is fairly close to what we perceive. The grids, the drawn ones and the virtual ones, are the foundations for photography itself. What is the importance of the final printed version of your images, when the work process is entirely digital? What is the place of paper within your work? Although we live in a digital era where photographic images don’t necessarily need to reach the final stage of paper print, I think there is certainly an added value to the photographic image in an actual, tangible print. I still get surprised when I see some of my work printed for the first time, noticing things that can only be perceived once the image is actually printed and materialised. As some aspects of the finished print (such as paper quality or scale) can radically change the character of the photographic image, it is absolutely necessary for me to think thoroughly on which kind of print and finishing would possibly enhance what I want to visually achieve. Further on, in order to emphasise the crossover between photography and purely graphic elements, I’ve chosen an etching paper and ink based print as it brings the photographic image somewhere closer to the ink drawing field but not quite there yet, creating a sort of hybrid graphic language in between. Sachiyo Nishimura’s exhibition ‘Random Structures’ took place from 16 November to 14 December in the AA Bar.
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