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Premiered in Venice, Scarabocchio Studio Grafico, Cannaregio, Ponte degli Ormensini, Venice, Jewish Quarter

Ritratti di Cannaregio (Portraits of Cannaregio)

The second of a series of studies of living communities

Venice is witnessed mostly in a tourist state - even then it's siren-like pull, charms the way we experience it. Most Venetians are realistic about the fact that they can exist in the way they do because the tourists bring so much money to them, but in doing so transfor their city, yet they hold on to old traditions. Portraits of Cannaregio is an attempt to give back something to the community by witnessing it's real-life presence as a functioning community with its trademen, widows, youth, old timers, strutting waiters and families. I asked each person to stand for 1 minute with the instruction that they should be still in themselves and show us who they are in some way - my reason for doing so was to refer to late nineteenth century photographic techniques. A second reference is 18th century portraiture where the location, objects held or clothes worn tell us something of the society and culture of the time. This work is in the tradition of photographic portraiture lead by people like Edward S Curtiss, Walker Evans, Arbus, and even Robert Maplethorpe - the reason I'm doing this work is to try to unveil the relationship between depth of resolution and time.
This work was shot at 25 fps and recorded at 4k resolution and projected at 2k resolution.
Equipment requirements for display, 1 x 2k Plasma display or 1 x 2k projector, (can be 720p) plus 1 x Mac computer. Audio: Stereo system

Display: 16 feet by 9 feet screen, suspended at a 45 degree angle 10 feet above audiences heads, whilst lying down