eleanormacfarlane
Location: London
Website: www.eleanormacfarlane.com My Moving Image is non-narrative, poetic and abstract. My subjects are generated by scientific and optical ideas, by way of a philosophical translation into form. So the meaning of my works can be traced back to universal truths concerning light and shade, or the pull of magnetism and how that is akin to psychological tendencies. I never came across a scientific theory or astronomical fact that I couldn’t relate directly to my own thinking, or the human experience. It is as if the Universe is a model of the internal experience, subject to laws, some of which we can comprehend. My work is a quest to translate such nebulous ideas into form.
My practice is also informed by years of photographic experimentation. I have a highly developed aesthetic style, and create images without computer manipulation, tricking the camera into revealing layers of reality. I have an inventive, low-tech approach to work, striving for simple ways to show layers of complexity and paradox. In many ways I see my videos as multi-faceted photographs, or photographs which exist in time rather than on paper.
Biography
Originally trained as a classical musician at the Royal College of Music, an interest in Renaissance music led me to the wonderful diversity of stringed instruments of the time, and I then studied Instrument Making. With children now on board, I had a variety of occupations, including hatmaker and book reviewer, all the while drawing, painting and writing. Photography led me to making moving photographs, and in Moving Image I found my home. I retrained in Fine Art, gaining a First in 2006. My practice is mainly in Moving Image, sometimes Installations and Photography, and also Writing.
Exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions/Screenings
Ever Underground City. Divus. London 2009
I wonder if Rotoreliefs. London 2009
The Archive Project London 2008
Mirror, Signal The Bigger Picture, Manchester 2007
Viewer Solo Exhibition Hornsey Town Hall, London 2007
Warp the.gallery@oxo, London 2007
Objectify Royal Academy Schools Gallery, London 2007
Chairism Candid Arts Trust, London 2007
Contraption Truman Brewery, London 2006
Meniscus Rio Cinema, London 1998
