|
Photomontage as a medium for storytelling |
 |
 |
 |
Kaisa sometimes makes photomontages to tell the story of a special species or place. It can be a time-consuming process (we may have to wait months or a year to photograph a needed subject) and she doesn't get the chance to make many of them.
“Photomontage can say much more than the proverbial thousand words. Among the great inventions of the twentieth century, and still in its swaddling clothes, photomontage provides opportunities that have yet to be fully exploited.
Photomontage is illustration by association, by juxtaposition, by subtlety. It collapses time and pulls extraneous elements together—an ideal instrument for storytelling and for the visualisation of complex ideas.”
—Paul Rand, “From Lascaux to Brooklyn”, 1996
“Photomontage gives me the chance to thoroughly explore a subject in all its phases and nuances. I can combine different angles and viewpoints, growth stages, cycles, colours, textures, changing light and parts of the surroundings. Sometimes I include text. All these different elements, I hope, come together in a natural harmony.
When something ‘grabs’ me, I see it very clearly as a finished montage. I then go about gathering or taking note of all the material I need to realise the final montage. I might be able to see it in my head, but Stan can’t. Sometimes I’ll be directing him to take a picture of this or that and he’ll patiently oblige me, even though he might be quite bemused with it all; until he sees the finished piece.
When I’m struck by the story of a species or place, it comes to me in a rapid tumble of images, snapshots of feelings overlaid upon each other. I can’t possibly describe something like that to someone who can’t see it. Photomontage lets me reveal what goes on in my imagination and so give it form. It speaks for me in a way I cannot otherwise.”—Kaisa Breeden
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”—Einstein |
|
|
|
|
