Another Day In My Kingdom
Another Day In My Kingdom is a collaborative project, which involves
five International Aid Workers who are based in Afghanistan, Africa,
Argentina, India and Palestine. Initial contact was made with the Aid
Workers through an Internet Website in 2005 asking if they would be
interested in working on a project with a Visual Artist. Each of the
volunteers were sent a disposable camera and asked to use it to document
their daily routines. The cameras were posted back and were
subsequently developed. From these a selection of images were chosen and
developed into a body of work. The installation and presentation of the
project is lo-tech and portable in an attempt to avoid being defined as
solely a 'Photographic' exhibition. The photographic images are
displayed in Viewmasters, which are placed on portable 'pasting' tables.
Each Viewmaster contains 7 images. Alongside the Viewmasters are
censored correspondence between the artist and the aid-workers. This
theme of censorship is consistent in my practice, replicating the role
of media, power and political hegemony in an attempt to expand upon our
understanding of circumstances and situations.
"Familiar to many from their youth, traditional Viewmaster were
educational toys, which presented stereoscopic views of tourist sites,
the wonders of the world etc. Here, the Potlatch Foundation presents
radically different images in Viewmasters alongside censored
correspondence and crudely edited video interviews. Deliberately
open-ended and lo-tech, the exhibition raises questions about the
politics of photographic representation. It aims to provide a space
where the complex traffic of imagery between the developed and the
developing world can be explored" Tanya Kiang, Gallery of Photography
Dublin.
To complete the installation there are 3 films.
Last of the Noble 17.41 mins
Matthew Bolton is an 'Aid Expert' who has worked for several
international humanitarian agencies, including Outreach International,
Counterpart International and UNICEF, on five continents. He has
organised Food Programmes in Iraq and a de-mining programme in Bosnia.
In this deliberately crudely edited film we hear Matthew expressing his
opinions on Aid Workers and the Politics of Aid Organisations. While
this film is displayed in a separate space we can still hear Matthew's
monologue in the main space while inter-acting with the Viewmasters.
Shadow & Light 9.41 mins.
In this film we hear the voice of Dr.Marcello Murrillo a
cardiologist at the Belgrano hospital in Buenos Aires in Argentina. Dr
Marcello was one of the Aid workers who participated in the project
Another Day In My Kingdom. In the film we travel through the hospital as
Marcello explains his reasons for getting involved in Aid-work. The
identity of Dr. Marcello is deliberately never revealed in the film.
A History of Conflict 17.36 mins
In this film we hear the voice of Bob May, an aid-worker from
Palestine. Bob was the original Aid-worker who initiated the project
Mainly People I Guess in 2005, which developed into the project Another
Day In My Kingdom. In the film we hear Bobs reasons for becoming an
aid-worker along with his observations on the time he spent in Palestine
and the effect that has had upon him. The visual aspect of this film
consists of a slide show that documents the history of conflict of the
Middle East illustrated by the Israeli government. The film was taken of
the official Israeli government website. Again the identity of Bob is
deliberately never revealed in the film.
This project aims to explore the possibilities of an art practice in
the development and realisation of proposals for improving
socio-political deficits, and a platform to initiate a dialogue on the
possibility of achieving long-term improvements in human co-existence.
This is an organic project, open to mutation and expansion.