Dr Carla Thackrah
doctoral research & thesis
music, sound & video portraits
Development of Self Portrait 1: Fragments of Presence and Absence (2018)
VISUAL DESIGN
The images draw on influences from the great Renaissance artist - and one of the first european creators of self portraits - Albrecht Durer and his Self Portrait at 28...the signature, the colouring; the use of CHIROSCURO lighting, lit from one side; and the pose, particularly the hand in its position over the heart, ready to have a flute placed in its grip.
From Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earing, The eyes were appropriated, the earing and the mouth in close up.
From REMBRANDT Portrait of Baartgen Marten Doomer, again the lighting, clothes, cropping and expression all informed the self portrait.
Self Portrait 4
1st Semester
The sound portrait incorporates both spoken and sung voice and body sounds. The backgrounds are various Renaissance paintings filmed at the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery in London.
Self Portrait 1
1st Semester
The single screen portrait was created first, and then a large format portrait was created from that. My aim was to escape the usual 'film/documentary' widescreen format to draw a closer parallel to traditional portraiture.
The sound portrait incorporates both voice, text, story, my personal composition and performance on flute. My aim was to create a sound scape that could stand alone in offering an insight into the subject without the need for image.
HOLBIEN The Ambassadors: objects.
In classic 16th century style, an aspect of my personality is conveyed via the flute in my hand – as a symbol or object of skill and interest.
Portrait of Ange
Filmed not long after the suicide of Mosh, this portrait offers a fragment of Ange's life; that fragment that was in the process of dealing with finding his body.
The Sound
The soundtrack was created first, based on what Ange told me of the sounds she remembered from the house where she was living and where she found his body.
Brisbane, hot ...
There was a swimming pool next door and the children played every afternoon and all weekend in the water. The swimming pool water splashed; the bath where he first tried to cut his wrists and the laundry where he succeeded in killing himself, all set the context for water.
The crows constantly called.
The gate opened and closed regularly as Mosh came and went from the house.
They danced tango together and Mosh often played Carlos Gardel's 'Por Una Cabeza' The words seemed prophetic - 'only by a head'
Her vocalisations of distress - loud out-breath and groans as well as my own vocalisations as I filmed her talk, were incorporated.
Last Portrait
2nd Semester
Choose Full Screen and HD for best view
This is a re-edited version of Last Portrait for 3 screens. The bottom is to be shown on the right, the top on the left and the middle image is shown in front of the viewer.
For the central image, the sound is equally sent to right and left. The sound for the centre screen is the bodily sounds and sounds of emotional expression. For the central screen images of the face that were facial expression with no narrative voice, were chosen.
The narrative voice is panned either to the right or left as is the image. I hope the panning will move the viewers head to either screen or they may choose to stay in the centre to watch the face's expressions.
As we, the viewers, leave the darkened room where these portraits are displayed we meet at the end of the passage this image of Moshlo stripped of his 'subject'. (it will be distorted, parabolic in form) Is this a portrait? Holbiens parabolic skull doesn't re-present 'death' because it is not a portrait but a metaphor.' Is this portrait of Moshlo the equivilent because there is no 'subject' any more?
Dream 5 Mar 2016: Mosh comes to me with a feeling of much love. There is some sort of grid pattern on him . He tells me he has come from the other side to allow me to finally say goodbye to him. I embrace him, take him to his bed, tuck him in to the blankets and gently kiss him goodbye. He dies again and I wake.
The man who has just entered the abyss is not yet a corpse. The breathe has left his body and yet the light still playes over his features; they still appear to hold some power to speak to us. Does our gaze feel like it is slipping through the visible to the void where we may inscribe our own story, rich and full of more questions; the 'obtuse' meaning.
Dream 1st Sept, 2016. I arrive home to find my house has been burgled. I'm not frightened. I arrive home again and this time there is someone unknown upstairs. I call out. It is an Indian woman. She has come to my house seeking refuge. She asks me to shelter her. I agree - I have many empty rooms. I find where the burglar entered, but think all he has stolen is my hard drive. I wander through the rooms looking. I enter a room. Inside is my husband, Mosh, lying distraught, exhausted, curled up sheltering his head with his hands. Two children, the Indian women's children, are trying to play with him. He lies unresponsive. I pick him up and take him to my bedroom. It's bare but comfortable. I put him in my bed and tuck the blankets around him. I kiss his bald head lovingly and tell him to rest quietly, I will look after him. I wake.