Stairs
Q. How did you two meet? Did you have similarities in your art at the time?
ELIZABETH: Melissa and I met through art collaboration. I was shooting the first version of a series called Imitation back in 2000. I had seen her around the photo lab at OSU and she seemed cool. So I asked her to put on a wig, my glasses and t-shirt so that I could photograph her while she pretended to be me. Out of the 25 or so people that I shot for that project, her version of me was the closest to actuality. Our individual work styles and interests have always been different. We capitalized on these differences for The Blind Leading the Blind.
Q. Have you worked on collaboration together before?
ELIZABETH: The first version of Blind occurred 10 years ago with Mel providing the navigation while I did the blind photography. I’d like to think that there will be plenty more collaborations between the two of us in the future.
Q. Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists?
ELIZABETH: As mentioned previously, Mel and I have very different work styles and interests. We discussed every aspect of this project from inception to display. We represented our individuality while also making decisions that helped the greater concept.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the process involved in creating this body of work?
MELISSA: The process was divided into two phases — shooting and image assembly. The base images were shot on two consecutive days last December. We each took a turn being blindfolded while being led by the other person. On the first day, I was escorted to several locations within the Hocking Hills region. Then the next day, I led Elizabeth around to Columbus visiting abandoned urban structures.
On each of the trips, the shooter was blindfolded from the time they entered the car until the end of the entire trip. The purpose of the blindfold was for the shooter to experience the scene and make photos using their other senses. We then used only sight to assemble the final images. The intent for the final images was to piece the urban and rural settings together to create a single image that was aesthetically cohesive. We wanted to show that while the content of each of the original images was very different, they could be similar visually.
Street
Q. What was the experience like work blindfolded?
MELISSA: I enjoyed it. I’m normally such a visual person and have to process everything I see. It was nice to just relax and use my other senses. It was interesting because I was also more chatty and open than I normally am, I almost felt a little buzzed in that regard.
Q. Collectively, how does your work convey how humans communicate with their environments? Why do you feel this is important?
ELIZABETH: There are 6.8 billion people living on the planet currently. While humans have historically been rural-dwelling agrarians, population growth has resulted in an influx of urban societies. Urbanization combined with advancements in electronic technology has given birth to what anthropologists call the “global village.” The term is closely associated with Marshall McLuhan who in the early 1960’s theorized that electronic technology would create a central nervous system of information, causing worldwide social, political and economical functions to be unified in an “extension of consciousness.” Almost fifty years later, we recognize his concept as the Internet, provider of instantaneous communication and, accordingly, a vehicle for expanding worldview. No longer limited by physical distance and time, the world is now a lot smaller. With less space and more people, we need to learn how to share better. The Blind Leading the Blind is both an example and a metaphor of how differences do not need to represent barriers to understanding but instead can provide both creativity and optimism.
Q. What do you intend for this body of work to do? Did you have a specific reaction you hoped audience?
MELISSA: I want this body of work to invite people to sense their environment in a different way.
This article was contributed by the Artists’ Interview, http://www.theartistsinterview.com