Well, it’s been and gone, but the memories will linger. The exhibition ‘Time Doesn’t Mean Much’ was shown at the BSG (Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy) in April 2011. 90 separate pieces, grouped into sets of six. A lot of work, I should know. It was quite a challenge to make some of the images you see on this site into a real physical object – and it revealed things I needed to change, things that brought it together as a coherent series – not just a set. From the wall/text/blurb:
The text of “Time doesn’t mean much” was written quite a while ago just after a… well, a particular experience, and has since gone through a number of visual incarnations. It has been refined upon rethought and reinterpretation. It became, instead of a recollection, a story. It had changed. I had changed.
And with every re-imagining, with every rewrite and tweak, it transformed some more. It is still the same, it is still what happened. Sort of. And now it’s this story. How an experience is recalled is different each time it is remembered. A memory is different because you are different, because time has passed. That is part of the essence of this story/series.
The first 12 sets, each of 6 panels, is the series ‘Time doesn’t mean much’. The other 3 sets are related to a larger story that is in early production stages, a story that also encompasses “Time doesn’t mean much” and will be published and possibly exhibited in stages over the next few years. These 3 sets can be viewed as either support material, hints, clues or separate entities. I have also made a print version of this series, which is available upon request.
Everything is based in photography, sometimes digitally manipulated or montaged. But it is also a comic, kind of like fumetti, almost a photoessay, a visual narrative, text driven pictures, picture driven text … you get the idea – but a comic is the best description. Comics, as a medium, is something I am exploring – the interplay of word and image, juxtaposition and the transitions from panel to panel and all its other unique properties. It is an interesting story telling vehicle that compliments my desire to tell stories through photographic images and sometimes words.
There are many people to thank, Leesa the model, Larney for the inspiration/experience (wherever you are), Rich for cutting the mounts, everyone else for being patient with me and, most of all, everyone who came to the show. It was a wonderful opening night, quite humbling but ever so exciting. It’s something I have to do more – that thrill is unique. For those who could not make it to the show I have posted some here, the full set is on facebook.com/tfquirk.
