Annie Hogan
“My earlier art practice is typified by a consistent exploration of the enclosed domestic sphere, questioning photographically the nature of interior space. Underlying my investigations is a sense that the domestic interior is not only a container of time, but also a receptacle of actions and energy, which may become imprinted on the space and perceived as active there, long after its inhabitants have departed.
Utilizing transient suburban rental spaces in Chicago, Stairs, and Ambivalence aim to interpret and visually articulate specific concerns of duality existing within and across these in-between spaces. Natural light pours in from dressed and undressed windows highlighting specific textures and surfaces. This can evoke a palpable sense of absence/presence. Mural-size prints are of unfurnished, untenanted spaces in limbo, awaiting habitation; illuminated domestic spaces in which something is felt by the viewer, rather than merely seen.
disCharge exploits illumination from a power source. The camera confronts the light from the position of the floor and the obvious physicality of bedrooms and kitchen are obscured in favor of a distrait view that encompasses the ceiling as planar. The impressions of ceiling fixtures herald an affiliation with visual perception, the diffuse experience of the other and the sublime nature of the void.
Solitary confinement exists as a construct to manage social turmoil effectively within the larger context of the prison as architectural apparatus for sustaining a power relation over the body. The Distraction series (Cleave, Contusion, Covet, Dreaming, Recess/Vessel, Vault) offer a translation of the visceral shock of confinement. They are views of spatial similarity, yet are singular in their geographies. The cell as a space of the constrained body and site of possible psychic transcendence, and the harsh reality of imprisonment and deprivation in solitary as supposed rehabilitation, are two counter narratives the Distraction series examines.”
(Annie Hogan 2006)
