Wake, Vicki (2015)

Wake, Vicki is a documentation of a house party held in honour of the passing of a young woman, Victoria Banner. A stationary camera equipped with a time-lapse shutter release was placed behind the communal table where guests contributed food. The party ebbs and flows around the food, and is documented by the silent witness of the camera – the observer. Work derived from the source photos includes animation, photo manipulation, drawn and painted studies and tightly cropped portraits. Completed in graphite on dark paper, the portraits isolate guests out of the party scene and create a visual negative, bringing back a haunting sense of aloneness. Wake, Vicki investigates the stark disconnect between the somber occasion for the party and the wild exuberance of the guests; the seemingly contradictory behaviour seen in bereavement culture.