At arm’s length is a web-based project exploring the process of self-portraiture. Collaborating with actress Lisa Fletcher, I developed sketches of ‘the amateur photographer’ staged at each of three contrasting locations.

The space introduced by social media, dating sites, and blogs for ‘profile pictures’ has created a need for images. Since building and tending to an online identity is often a solitary activity, the individual may find herself acting as both subject and photographer. Without the aid of a tripod, her portraits are experiments of head and body angles framed by the confines of her own reach.

To inform the development of At arm’s length, artist and actress compiled a collection of our own self-portraits taken with digital cameras. Assessing the motivation and construction of identity in each photograph, their current impressions create reflective studies in visual narrative and the performance of identity.

The final project is a web page of close-cropped images of a woman’s face. Her pose and expression reflect those commonly found in digital self-portraits posted on social media sites. The viewer is able to click on an image to move to a wide shot revealing the woman’s surroundings. While the initial images seem predictable, the wide-shots expose very different environments existing outside the boundaries of her portrait.

Using humour and basic interaction, At arm’s length works to provoke a discussion around subjectivity, the performance involved in digital self-portraiture, and the construction of online identity.

Visit site

Waves [footage] from Erin Ashenhurst on Vimeo.

Installation view

Distancing [installation] from Erin Ashenhurst on Vimeo.

Distancing is an installation by Erin Ashenhurst and Kristin Carlson that plays with the themes of memory and narrative. To remember is to give meaning to personal experience. Over time, the nature of memories change as they fall subject to the filter of perspective, new information, and the process of forgetting. Photographs become documentation, creating a sense that the details of an experience are fixed and knowable.

In Distancing, the viewer is presented with the projection of an image that could be read as a family photograph. By entering into close proximity with the projection, the viewer triggers the animation of the image and becomes a participant in the installation. As the image reveals itself to be a video, subtle changes in content begin to occur. Expressions fade and shift, forcing the participant to rebuild any speculative narrative they’ve developed to explain the visual content. By changing their distance from the screen, the participant can move through the series of images, exploring alternate truths and constructions.

Distancing [video footage] from Erin Ashenhurst on Vimeo.

Character Studies

Comics

Anecdotes