An artist I enjoyed discovering throughout this module was Leigh Ledare, specifically his projects, Double Bind (2010) and Pretend Your’e Actually Alive (2008).
Double Bind was of particular interest to me, being a project based on an intimate relationship between divorcees and an ex-wife with her new husband and a different, perhaps raw visual representation for the relationships. Ledare took his ex-wife out to a cabin for four days to photograph her, she then took the same trip with her now husband (Fedderly) and his photographs were given to Ledare. He presented them together next to each other, alongside 6000 cut-outs of ephemera in an installation. In presenting the images side by side Ledare creates a constant physical duality with Federly, presenting images that appear to sit next to each other with familiar levels of tenderness and similarity. Then there are images that are equally distinct from each other in feeling.
What I find interesting about the project, is the concept for locking themselves away in a remote cabin for four days and then producing the work, concentrating the initial creative process into a 4 day burst is appealing to me.
Visually the project is mix of emotions for me, there seems to be some kind of lingering uncertainty about the work. It almost seems selfish of Ledare to ask his ex wife and her new husband to do this and I am surprised they did. However the work is honest and curiously tender considering the challenging emotional nature of the project. It is a completely different way to explore a relationship.
The concept of photographing over the course of a set number of days is really interesting to me and I think I might try it in my own context for my project. If nothing else, it would be a rewarding exercise.
CRJ 