The Wandering of Oisín
“Photography promises that everything may be kept for history, but everything that is kept is always already in the process of disappearing.” – Cadava
Photography is the record of light. Each Photographic trace is an act of the marking of time. At 9.30am on Friday the 18th of September 2009 I began writing Book 1 of The Wandering of Oisín, the first of the 3 poems on the Irish myth by Yeats. Bringing the photographic paper into the light for the first time, word for word the transcription and the exposure began. The ink is applied line after line, layer after layer marked indelibly in the suns exposure. The paper exposes around the words as I write. The sun (a maker of time) was both my aperture and my shutter speed; to finish the exposures 3 routes were planned.
Book 1 - 9.30am written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - morning sun from the east.
Book 2 - 11.00am written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - top of the island at 12.30pm
Book 3 - 2.30pm Written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - circumference of the island with pause to the sun in the west.
Once finished the paper went into light proof boxes and the exposure stopped. When the prints are viewed again, the exposure continues, their life span evolves. The original “exposure” is the record of the specific time on the island. Every subsequent “exposure” leaves a trace of the viewer. Time recorded through trace. The myth (Oisín, Niamh & the island Tír na nÓg) is about time and the consequence of time: time standing still.
The myth of Oisín meeting Niamh and heading to the island of Tír na nÓg (in English the Land of Eternal Youth), can be seen as an allegory of the photographic. The desire to capture and fix fast the moment as an expression of itself. The desire to hold time captive to the eternal truth; the beautiful. And then, within an instant, bang! Time and age catches up with you. It is not so much Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment that interests me, but what happens after the camera has finished its mechanical process and the world continues to turn.
Photography is the record of light. Each Photographic trace is an act of the marking of time. At 9.30am on Friday the 18th of September 2009 I began writing Book 1 of The Wandering of Oisín, the first of the 3 poems on the Irish myth by Yeats. Bringing the photographic paper into the light for the first time, word for word the transcription and the exposure began. The ink is applied line after line, layer after layer marked indelibly in the suns exposure. The paper exposes around the words as I write. The sun (a maker of time) was both my aperture and my shutter speed; to finish the exposures 3 routes were planned.
Book 1 - 9.30am written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - morning sun from the east.
Book 2 - 11.00am written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - top of the island at 12.30pm
Book 3 - 2.30pm Written in the Pavilion.
Exposure - circumference of the island with pause to the sun in the west.
Once finished the paper went into light proof boxes and the exposure stopped. When the prints are viewed again, the exposure continues, their life span evolves. The original “exposure” is the record of the specific time on the island. Every subsequent “exposure” leaves a trace of the viewer. Time recorded through trace. The myth (Oisín, Niamh & the island Tír na nÓg) is about time and the consequence of time: time standing still.
The myth of Oisín meeting Niamh and heading to the island of Tír na nÓg (in English the Land of Eternal Youth), can be seen as an allegory of the photographic. The desire to capture and fix fast the moment as an expression of itself. The desire to hold time captive to the eternal truth; the beautiful. And then, within an instant, bang! Time and age catches up with you. It is not so much Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment that interests me, but what happens after the camera has finished its mechanical process and the world continues to turn.
