YOUR IMAGE IS MINE, 2024
DIRECTOR | DOUGLAS MORRISON
VIDEOGRAPHER & EDITOR | DOUGLAS MORRISON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS | PAULA QUIGLEY, RACHEL HEAVEY
FEATURING | BENJAMIN MORRISON
INSTALLATION LOCATION | SOEARTH STUDIO, KILDARE
A photographer's filmic footprints across the Irish landscape are cut and reincorporated onto a drooping plastic sheet.
I was watching my brother eat lunch at the crest of a hill in south Wicklow when the question first came to mind. The large format field camera stood beside us, its sensitive film hidden away in a satchel by the car’s rear wheel. I was shooting digitally – asked to document his photo-making process as he meandered across the countryside. The question concerned my role as an active observer; did my footage have value independent of the subject it aimed to depict? If I edited together the recordings but did not show the images that my brother obtained, would it be incomplete? This question of ownership brought about another; did I own his image simply because I was the one who made the recording? Your Image is Mine is my interdisciplinary investigation of these concepts. The work is influenced by theories in the field of film and sound, namely; the ideal observer, spectromorphology, cinema as a verbocentric medium, embodiment on-screen, and documentary as art. Filmmaker Lois Patiño’s work exploring the relationship between humans and landscape informed my initial compositions and Ben Russell’s strobing montages are incorporated in my edit. Other influences include the music of Suzanne Ciani and Marcel Weber’s treatment of light and material. For clarity, this essay will first break down the components of the work. It will then explore the visual, audio, and projection treatments independent of each other. From this, I will detail the interdisciplinary approach I took and the dimensions I believe it added. Finally, a reflection will be made on the documentation process itself and the realisation of the final film.