Featured Artist: Phil McMenemy
Notes from the Artist:
How do I work?
This piece perhaps gives some idea into how I do what I do.
The idea behind writing about an image came from the Galloway Photographic Collective, where we all submit on a regular bais ideas behind images and here is mine:
I hope this isn’t too long a piece, for here!
‘Swirl’ – a personal reflection on one image by Phil McMenemy (image attached)
As artists why do we produce what we produce?
Why do we create what we create?
Why do we work in the way we do?
Is it a conscious act or is the unconscious at work?
In a previous life I worked as a psychiatric nurse with children, young people and their families and was always interested in the unconscious drives behind children’s behaviours and the possible reasons for these behaviours.
I think in the same way about my work – at times more deeply than at other times – why do I do what I do? Need it be a hidden process?
The image I’d like to share today is a very important and very personal image – ‘Swirl’.
This was and still is an important image in terms of my career as this was the first time I had ever won a national photographic competition (it is an irrelevance that this was the first one I had ever entered!) The image won first prize in the Scottish Nature Photography Awards competition (natural abstract) in 2010 – and brought attention and questions but not fame!!!!
It was only later that I was able to start to piece together the componenets of this image-jigsaw – it was quite revelatory.
Capturing this image was the first time I had ventured forth with my camera following the death of my beloved dad – following a degenerating period of ill-health and infirmity due to an industrial illness – mesothelioma – asbestos induced cancer, basically.
It was a tough time but a time full of love, treasured moments and long journeys – both physical and metaphorical.
I was proud of the role I played in dealing with dads illness and remain so – but I was in a place of mixed emotions: pride & contentment and extreme sadness, conflict (turmoil) and feelings of loss about dads death – after all we only have one father!
I think, on reflection, that this image completely and truly captures my emotions at this time. The turmoil represented by the vortex of swirling within the image and my contentment mirrored in the stillness and stability offered by the ‘solid’ leaf and my loss by the presence of ‘dead’ space.
I view my photography as a completely emotional journey and the images created as emotional pieces. I instinctively withdraw from talk of technical proficiency and the purely technical merits of my work – this, to me, misses the point.
For me emotionality has to come first.
This is my photographic truth.
Love and regards philxx
4 comments
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Phil McMenemy
March 1, 2013 at 9:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank you for highlighting this – I REALLY appreciate it.
Regards and love philxxx
Lesley Jackson
March 5, 2013 at 8:17 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Love hearing what you have to say about your work and look forward to hearing more.
Phil McMenemy
March 5, 2013 at 8:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ha, thank youy – you might regret that though Lesley!!! Think on you can ‘like’ my fb gallery page and follow what I am upto there! love philxxx
The Art Blogger
March 5, 2013 at 10:21 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lesley,
Thank you for stopping by The Artistic Blog and taking a look around.
I know Phil appreciates the feedback.
I wanted to let you know that we did take a look at your blog and we are going to add your blog’s RSS feed to our news stream.
This means that any new blog post you do will show up as a link both here on our website and on our Facebook page.
Kind Regards
Mike