walking the margins
Project proposal
CONCEPT OF EXPLORATION
‘Walking the margins’ forms an exploration bellow our surface expression. It investigates physical and mental challenges in a richly symbolic and intentional manner, capturing metaphoric representations for internal thoughts and feelings within still life images.
Deceptively playful and light images will capture teetering assemblages of symbolic objects arranged to represent feelings like anxiety through obvious visual tension. A balloon about to pop, an egg about to fall. It invites viewers to recognise familiar internal feelings and sit with them intentionally.
MOTIVATION
Throughout my personal practice I have explored personal themes relating to mental and physical health and have done so in a variety of ways.
Chronic illness is often masked, invisible to the naked eye, with symptoms that cannot always be depicted through portraiture. Feelings that can only be described by words. With these words we can create metaphors though, ways of describing our unease. E.g. anxiety that feels like you are teetering on the edge, like a balloon about to burst. With these still life images I am able to mimic similar feelings from my viewers.
APPROACH TO AESTHETICS
This series of photographs will portray a quiet sense of unease, given a subtlety through deceptively calming, warm and light aesthetics. Each precariously stacked or positioned composition will be surrounded by a large amount of negative space, allowing room to breathe, a false sense of stillness and security to contrast the imminent disintegration of the sculptures.
The backdrops will remain rough and un-ironed, allowing their creases to build the sense of discomfort. Lines in the fabric to symbolise fractures in stability.
Photographs will be shot head on all with consistent compositions, creating a diaristic type feel, like a catalogue of sorts throughout the book.
METHODOLOGY
Genre:
Conceptual Still Life
Concept:
A translation of the human condition, exploring themes of mental and physical health through a series of minimalistic still life arrangements.
Each photograph will resemble emotions, symptoms and feelings derived from my own experiences. Familiar feelings of tension and the sense of being on edge will be projected through teetering objects and unstable arrangements.
How:
This concept will be captured through a series of unique sculptural arrangements against a fabric backdrop composed of assorted domestic and organic items chosen for their symbolic meanings individually andcombined. This will be explored through both planned compositions and those created through a stream of consciousness workflow.
Objects have been chosen based on mind-maps linking feelings with associated symbolism ensuring each individual element has a purpose.
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Still lifes will be shot using a 3-light setup.
One key-light focused on sculpting the subject matter and directing the viewers eye intentionally through highlights.
A fill-light to illuminate each scene and remove contrast from the backdrop and a third light aimed at the foreground to remove harsh shadows.
Nikon Z6
Nikon 28-75mm f/2.8
Tripod
Trigger
3 x Studio lights or Speed-lights
2x Soft boxes
3x Light stands
1x C-stand
Backdrop
Backdrop clips
VISUAL OUTCOMES
This project will result in a physical photobook with a minimum of 25 still life images included. Each image will be of a slightly different theme and feeling and titled as such. I will also explore the idea of including small excerpts like a diary entry with the photos. In small writing so that images may remain the focus with text there merely as an option for viewers. The book will be hand bound as this will assist in providing that personal feeling to aid in the journalistic feel throughout the book already.
The design throughout the book will be minimal and calm, aiding in providing that sense of false security as viewers look through the photos. They will be aware something is off or imminent, and the minimalistic layout will help project that calm before the storm.
The book will be supported by a large-scale print with a hero image.
BUDGET
Book printing costs approx. $80
A2 Photographic print Approx. $60
Backdrop Fabric $15
Props $100
Staging equipment: $15
Estimated minimum project cost: $270
TIMELINE
VISUAL INSPIRATION
NICOLINI GRAIANI
Tensioni, Nicolo Graiani, 2021
Milan based creative Nicolo Graiani works in the realms of 3d artistry, motion design and photography. (Graiani N 2019)
His personal project Tensioni combines his talents to create a series of surreal images that play on gravity and a juxtaposition of materials for a contemplative result that mimics a natural tension between the human body and the mind. A correlation captured when we compare his materials ‘weight and elastic difference’ (Graiani N 2021) We see concrete bending to support wood and elastic straining against precariously positioned wood.
I am inspired by his research and planning and additional conceptual justification. In his online display for this project he labels the various materials incorporated describing their properties. This supports his concept well. We the viewers are able to draw our own connections by comparing the 3 listed materials. I may choose to do something similar in my own book.
ELODIE FARGE
Totem, Elodie Farge, 2019
Elodie Farge is a still life photographer based in Paris. With a background in Fine art, Farge’s work has a rich creative base. Her work plays with aesthetics, focusing on using geometry to form creative and unique compositions that aim to show her “own vision of reality, using light colours and shapes” (Farge E n.d)
In her series ‘totem’ (2019) she photographs a series of curious still lifes, each feeling like a sculpture as seen in a museum, each assigned a pedestal. Individual pieces are both celebrated and dramatised with dramatic lighting. Light spills from the top left corner down onto objects giving them a sense of importance and perceived value.
What is most interesting is the combination of man-made and organic elements to form the outcomes.
The most fascinating work in the series to me depicts a single flower bound by measuring tape and masking tape. To me it speaks of themes of body image and beauty, whether intended or not. These works have sparked inspiration in terms of searching for ways in which objects may generate meaning through association, and where I can use this in my own body of work.
SHARON RADISCH
The Relationship of Object Connectivity & Interdependence in Forming a Sculptural Whole, Sharon Radisch, 2020
Sharon Radisch photographic journey began when she left her career in medical research to follow her creative aspirations. Her past occupation shines through her work with her clean and minimal aesthetic that often appears clinical.
In her project ‘The Relationship of Object Connectivity & Interdependence in Forming a Sculptural Whole’ she photographs intentional still lifes formed through the precise stacking and interlocking of objects. She uses mundane objects with “predefined functions…connected by the artist [in a way that creates] a dependency upon one another, to form a different sculptural being, giving new meaning and function to each individual object used” (Wade 2020)
She produced the work during the covid19 lockdown as a means of keeping her creativity alive “exploring… what it means to create during this time with limited recourses” (Radisch 2020).
Her curated forms that play in both an abstract and balanced manner with a sense of disjointed connectivity. Each element is tied to another, representing the way in which the pandemic bridged the gaps between all of us, in that we all had a common goal. A shared desire for normalcy and safety. Within this, there is also a sense of discomfort and unease, which is also relevant to the time.
I am inspired by the way in which her still lifes successfully communicate a visual narrative and emotional meaning in a minimal manner. A similar goal to my own.
Bibliography
Farge, E 2019, Totem (Series), <https://www.figure.fr/portfolio/elodie-farge/totem/>.
Farge, E n.d., Élodie Farge Photography, Elodiefarge.com, viewed 8 June 2025, <http://elodiefarge.com>.
Graiani, N 2021, Tensioni Series, <https://www.behance.net/gallery/115076255/Tensioni>.
Radisch, S 2020, The Relationship of Object Connectivity & Interdependence in Forming a Sculptural Whole,
<https://www.sharonradisch.com/connectivityandinterdependence>.
Radisch, S 2025, Sharon Radisch | Photographer | Exploring Isolation and Connectivity, sharon-radisch,
<https://www.sharonradisch.com/connectivityandinterdependence>.
Radisch, S n.d., Sharon Radisch | Photographer | About & Contact, sharon-radisch,
<https://www.sharonradisch.com/about-contact>.