Clip
PORTRAIT OF THE CRAFTSMAN
HD video, 2014, 6min
The work visualises the overlap between artist and subject of the moving image portrait.
Split audio channels and speaker installation place viewer in the middle of the film.
Speaker A projects the male subjects voice from the screen. Speaker B projects the female interviewer voice from behind the audience. The viewer is forced to co-exist within the conversation.
Model: Ryan Donaldson
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“Myrid Carten’s film Portrait of the Craftsman generates an uncomfortable encounter between subject, object and maker. What starts as a relatively straightforward interaction between artist and subject centered on an attempt to connect image to memory and the recollection of a photograph of a ‘craftsman’ develops into a tense confrontation in which the camera transforms from tool to probe. By forcibly inserting maker into medium, Portrait of the Craftsman acknowledges the power imbalance implicit in film making and magnifies the invasive and manipulative potential of the camera. Considering the implied violence of the image seems especially pertinent in the context of the history of Northern Ireland, with its legacy of extensive sensationalised and biased media coverage that has defined and misrepresented it for decades.”
- Text from Curator Alissa Kleist for AMINI International Touring program 2018-19