Joan Alexander studied Philosophy at Queens University of Belfast and the Institute of Philosophy KU Leuven, before completing her Masters in photography at University of Brighton. She is currently a PhD researcher at Belfast School of Art in University of Ulster. Her research is reimagining spirit photography through understanding bereavement to include experiences of sideways loss; premonitions, damaged dreams and goodbyes. Things that connect us to an absence, but are hard to hold onto such as ghost stories, stars-capes and physical sites of loss are key elements in this current work.
Joan uses philosophy, photography and drawing in equal measure. Her work is catalogued as a series of Shadow Dial Studies. Each study is tracing and mapping a different experience or location of lost time with experimental and staged photographic works.
Artist Statement
“The sharp sunshine of early summer dappled the surface of the alley with the hard shadows of the branches that stretched over head. Without wind to move the branches, the shadows looked like permanent stains, destined to remain imprinted on the pavement for ever”.
Murakami, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, p12-13
My work stems from an engagement with moving light and cast shadows, as quiet markers of time their movement implies a rightful passing through space. It is based on experiments in shadow catching and light tracing to interrupt, imprint and record layers of time. These experiments attempt to solidify passing light and lift shadows in various ways, to chart and duplicate their ethereality, to futilely preserve an ever receding tide-line.
Chalk, dust and photography are central elements in my process. Chalk and dust are natural indicies of passing time. Photography, projection, video and darkroom spaces are apt mediums to capture, hold and project the work. Increasingly I’m using sustainable darkroom processes in my work.
My most recent works, Proof of Ghosts and Unfixed Constellations stem from a personal experience of grief. They record and separate the traumatic slices of time experienced after a death, picking apart the internal, private time of grief and the external, public time of mourning. Seeking to clarify and clear these channels of bereavement because they are the same channels through which we experience empowerment, empathy and joy.
For details of shadow workshops and commercial portfolio click here.
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Joan Alexander 