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Ariel Wilson

SPE Member since 2016
Member Chapter: Southwest

2017 W/SW Juried Exhibition Application Portfolio

Desire for Sight,
Sight as Knowledge(?).

I am currently questioning an assumed relationship between sight and knowledge. Spaces of uncertainty, visual or factual, evoke a sense of desire within the viewer: a desire to know by seeing. My work explores the idea that between truth and fiction, or clarity and obscurity, we might encounter projections of ourselves.

I ask, How do we separate the world with our perceptions of the world?

Within the series, In Search Of…(2016) sculptural and photographic pieces isolate and reconstruct fragments, questions, and thoughts from a found journal. A loose clover, a sticker on the inside cover, and the question “Should I… do something?” all become leads for research and the recreation of experiences. All of which I hope might allow me to connect with the anonymous writer. The mystery around the found object creates a space of uncertainty, inspiring in me a deep curiosity. Questing through the unknown, the stranger evades me and I am ultimately left with only a confrontation of myself. I invite the viewer to proceed into the space of uncertainty that each piece creates, and explore it as one of self-discovery.

In recent work, I utilize blur, lack of focus, reflection, and the color white to create visual uncertainty. In traditions of psychology, projective tests (i.e. Rorschach inkblot test) ask participants to respond to ambiguous stimuli. The responses are thought of as providing insight into the subconscious of the individual. Similarly, visual uncertainty allows the viewer to construct meaning from their own inferences and assumptions.

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