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Introspection: The Junior S**t-Show

Flock

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Fiona Quilter
Flock by Fiona Quilter

My piece Flock is a digitally altered photography series of birds at Seacliff State Beach in Santa Cruz, California. The frame is 21.6" x 17.5" x 0.9", and holds four photos that are each 7” x 4.6”. I made the piece to express my curiosity towards group behavior, conflict, and coincidences. The piece examines the relationship between humanity and birds and causes viewers to question their perception of reality as they determine what is real in the photographs.

In Flock, I utilized Adobe Photoshop 2020 to edit my photographs and create a series of surreal images. At first glance, the birds seem to be behaving in a realistic manner. However, upon further investigation, the viewer will be able to see that the alignments of the birds are unnatural and far too symmetrically perfect. Each photograph will cause the viewer to create a version of reality for themselves. They are prompted to work out in their minds which birds are naturally in the image, and which birds are digitally collaged into the frame. I made the artistic decision to keep which birds are digitally collaged a secret, and have excluded this information from my statement.

The four separate collages rest in a glass-panel wooden window frame that has been painted with matte acrylic. The stereotypical window-frame is meant to build a psychological association to home. In my current life, the window frame evokes the emotions of growth, healing, and light. The color and material of the frame is reminiscent of my childhood experiences at my family home in Santa Cruz, where the photographs for Flock were taken. I returned to the house for a small duration of the past few months and reflected on my many years of visiting Seacliff State Beach. It was a coincidence that I happened to be on the beach at the same time as the birds. I considered how I could have been sitting in the same spot on the beach that I had been in many other times as a child.

The photograph on the top left of the frame features four subjects, three of which are in the foreground. The bird placed in the background of the photograph, is meant to be an observer of the other subjects. The bird in flight has taken two stances, one that is preparatory and the other which is dominant and free. The bird frozen in the sand is meant to act as a bystander, ignorant to the growth of the bird in flight.
In the photograph on the top right of the frame there are six subjects gathered together in conservation. The subjects are in an altercation that is unknowingly violent or peaceful, and is up to the viewer for interpretation. It seems to be a conversation between the birds, and reminds me of human social gatherings.

The photograph on the bottom left of the frame has six subjects facing away from the camera, running in front of the waves. The birds dance in the sand in a simultaneous movement. They fly backwards in time, and rhythmically move with the waves as they raise and drop their wings.
The photograph on the bottom right of the frame has four subjects placed in front of a sunken ship and a partial view of a pier. The ship provides a more dreamy feeling to the photographs and allows the viewer to wonder what the connection is between the birds and the ship. The viewer will also wonder if the pier and ship are real or altered. The birds become progressively more open and free as they spread their wings and pose for the camera watching the viewer intently.

This piece was inspired by Graciela Iturbide, a Mexican photographer who takes photographs of natural phenomena she encounters in her daily life. Her black and white photograph Birds on the Post taken in Highway, Guanajuato in 1990 is a storm of birds flying above a cemetery. Birds on the Post inspired me to go to the beach with my camera and wait for intriguing moments in my personal life. I was initially satisfied with the photographs on their own. However, I craved a more personal element in the images, so I experimented with digital alteration to design dreamscapes which would change the perception of the photographs.
Fiona Quilter's Website