how i got here

The following images were part of the basis for this idea. It probably started around the time that a friend of mine, who was in her final year of performance studies, was creating an installation based on video works that we worked on together, including an animation from an earlier post. Although the themes are quite different, I can see the link, or perhaps development of this idea from then until now. I was particularly interested in the viewer, identity, and screen-based media.



Next up was when my sister and I were watching the sunset. Only we weren't really watching it, just shooting it until it lost its attractiveness.



The next time was when I was checking out the ruins of Angkor. One of the sites had just wrapped up filming a Thai film. A young local was obviously influenced. It stood out only because the clichéd realisation that we all know but begin to really get when we travel... that life, when simple, and with limited resources, often appears much more relaxed and content. So it can be kind of confusing when you see the locals desiring the alternative western consumer driven culture.



And then, tourism/the veiwer/photography/location (where are you?). At the summit of a small mountain overlooking Angkor Wat for sunset, the amount of people, the chaotic search for the best view, and the amount of cameras, really just blew me away. That was for me, much more captivating than the sunset.




I'm just as bad. Especially as a tourist. At least most people only get their cameras out at the same time as everyone else. Inconspicuousness, not always my thing. I got a bit over excited when I found a Borders in Kuala Lumpur. And, even better, the Borders had an Apple store in it. The sales guy was taking our photo in PhotoBooth, of which I was taking photo's, of myself, with a fake Parisian background. So perhaps even when we're escaping, we're still escaping. To simplify.