Artists Statement.
Primarily my artwork is self-portraiture, but not in the traditional sense. In the work I create a photographic copy of myself and place it in the real world instead of me.
She becomes a substitute and my visual representative.
My photographs, videos and installations form an enquiry into the act of looking and being looked at. Referring to psychoanalysis, phenomenology and feminism I examine my own experience of becoming an object of sight and also consider the experience the viewer has when looking at me as a female, and a photographic object. Voyeurism and exhibitionism intertwine in these purposefully provocative scenes.
By producing artwork that establishes me as an object it could be argued that I produce artwork that reinforces stereotypical images of the female body, but by depicting my body as an image I am able to suggest my presence while confirming my absence. There is a suspension of disbelief taking place in the viewing public, as they want to see image and body simultaneously. The overtly sexual nature of the body compels the viewer into the position of voyeur, only to reveal itself as an inanimate object.
This wilful delusion is inherent to the medium of photography – the desire to look at a 2-dimensional photograph and believe in the integrity of the 3-dimensional objects that are suggested by the surface.
Resume.
Dawn Woolley was born on 10th March 1980 at RAF Wegburg in Germany, she currently lives and works in Cardiff, UK.
Dawn Woolley trained as a fine art printmaker. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2001 and has since developed a photography-based practice that encompasses digital video, installation and performance as well as photo-based installations.
In 2008 she completed an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art and was awarded a cash prize for excellence by Land Securities and Art source. In the spring of 2008 she undertook a three month studio residency at Cite des Arts in Paris.
Recent exhibitions have included; “Start Your Collection” at The London Art Fair (2009), “Fotomonth” in Krakow, Poland (2007) and solo exhibitions in South Square Gallery, Bradford (2009), The Lighthouse Art Centre in Wolverhampton (2006) and Warsaw Project Space in Manchester (2003). Her artwork is held in a number of private collections in the UK and in the Museum of Photographic Arts in Kiyosato, Japan.
For further information visit www.dawnwoolley.com
