Curios About: Land’s End by Billy Kenrick

Land’s End
By Billy Kenrick
35mm/medium-format photographs, digital video/video stills
Photo and video slideshow, circa 5-10 mins

1. This work is about . . . “Land’s End” is an ongoing, cumulative work featuring photographs and video footage shot at the nethermost point of land at the edge of Ireland/Western Europe. It marks a break from the mainly narrative-driven photo sequences that I had been working on before this. It started off against the backdrop of the so-called crisis, and the effect of this fed into the project in its own way. Working with video is relatively new for me, so I am exploring the possibilities of combining still and moving images. I am currently working on expanding the slideshow version of the series to integrate new material and broaden its scope.

2. I made this work because . . . in recent years I have been interested in working in specific locations. This involves revisiting the same area intermittently over the course of a few years. I have a couple of projects that are site-specific in this sense, and feature fairly remote spaces. It’s a question of finding an atmosphere that’s conducive. I find it interesting to work in such spaces as they provide a backdrop to work against, photographically. The locations are personally significant, but are not treated as subject matter as such – more like an arena within which to work, and to generate an atmosphere that is psychologically resonant.

3. I hope when people see this work they will . . . I would like the work to be experienced as a kind of interior travelogue.

4. In terms of art history, this work . . . I’m interested in working in a personal, diaristic style. So far, I have worked primarily with analogue black and white photography – for me, it deals more effectively with an aesthetic of tension and contrast, and I find there is more room for accidents, interference and imperfection. In this sense, the work could be tied into a lineage of photographers working in this vein of subjective documentary.

5. You can see my work . . . at www.billykenrick.com

Curios [sic] About is a series featuring works by Dublin artists, curated for us by our friends at the Square in the Circle blog, and hosted there as well as here.

Each artist is asked to submit an image of one work and answer a set of questions about it. We’d love it if you’d submit something you’ve made.