Roisin Burns
Photography, Printmaking

 

Artist Statement

My work is based on a year of research into the sublime and the beautiful and a belief in its awe-inspiring ability to suspend the human mind in a state of reverence, respect and astonishment. On viewing the ultimate power of the sublime and the beautiful, the mind is filled with ambivalent emotions such as fear, anxiety, pain, elation, peace, and happiness. It is this aspect of the sublime and the beautiful that has informed my work. The main objective of my work is to create such ambivalent feelings in the viewer of my work. My work is a series of large unconnecting photographs that provoke the viewer to question the authenticity of the content, to question my intentions for creating the work, and to be inflicted/conflicted with a sense of confusion and uncertainty, yet to be resigned to this anxiety and progress to a feeling of calm, excitement and elation.

For these images to work, they must demand the attention and force the viewer into a world within their own mind that they never knew existed. Therefore it is important that the photographs that I create challenge the boundaries of possibility, believability, and acceptability. I use the cameras reputation throughout history as a form of portraying truth, documentation, and evidence and I invite the viewer to ask if the images are truthful and real, or faked or manipulated. I employ various landscapes, figures, light, and camera angles to create images that give the impression of illusion and show what seem to be impossible scenes where figures are floating or being pulled or are flying through the air, as well as figures unexplainably running through the landscape or struggling against the force of gravity as they cling to the ceiling of an unidentifiable room.

Shows and Exhibitions

23+ or - Printmaking Exhibition (March 2010)
RDS Student Art Awards Exhibition (June 2010)
LSAD Student Open Drawing Awards Exhibition (March 2011)
Id Entity Exhibition (April 2011)
LSAD Degree Show Exhibition (June 2011)

Qualifications

Leaving Certificate

Bachelor Of Fine Art, Printmaking in Limerick School of Art and Design

Contact Details

Tullyattin,
Moynalty,
Kells,
Meath
Ireland

086 0709724

roisin_burns_3@hotmail.com