‘Through the Banisters’ (1997)
36 x 24” Black & white photographs (9 in series)

‘Butterfly’ (1997)
36 x 24” Black & white photographs (4 in series)

'Through the Banisters' pictures a young woman, dressed in a ball gown, floating down an ornate staircase like scene from a classic Hollywood movie. In this sequence of nine 'film stills', we are invited to watch this Cinderella like figure as a voyeur as she descends the stairs, only to pause for a moment on the stairwell appearing deeply distressed and lost in her own private thoughts. However, the central row of images where she is captured in a self absorbed, almost macabre dance that is either real or imagined, signifies a lapse in her concentration, as she either contemplates the consequences of what has just happened, or is preoccupied in the magical escapism of this other world. In the sixth image however, we see her centrally framed by the banister rails themselves, suggesting the sense of enclosure or restriction of her real life, which is then actively played out as we see her literally, as well as metaphorically collapse on the stairs.

'Butterfly ', the shorter sequence of four images that accompanies this series visualises the mental images that the lone woman experiences during her contemplation on the stairwell. Transported to an empty room, she resumes her dance again, but this time silhouetted in front of a window, appearing like a ghostly presence, or indeed like a butterfly, trapped in a jar, unable to escape.

The method of installation of these intensely focused images within a grid formation at such a large scale creates a demanding presence on the viewer as a dark, yet visually tantalising romantic narrative, reinforced by the graphic shapes within the frame, which underpin the thematic concerns of the work. Both cinematic fairytale narratives are ambiguous in nature, so that the viewer is able to project their own interpretation onto the work in order to make sense of and to unravel the mysterious narrative behind these enigmatic images.

Exhibition History:

© 2007 Sally Waterman. All rights reserved