Launch
6pm 10 August
Running
11-24 August
This event has been postponed.
Please contact info@darkroom.ie for any further information
The Darkroom
32 Brunswick Street, Dublin
D07 TWX3
Opening Hours
Mon-Wed 10:30am-5:30pm
Free
Where the Hurt Sits
Mella Travers
Women who have experienced trauma were invited to participate in a photographic portrait and motion film collaboration.
This project is collaborative in nature. Using simple lighting and studio set up, Mella photographed each individual alone using a 5×4 camera — the large format bringing an element of formality and importance to the work which introduces a sense of the reverence and quietness needed. Portraits were then overlayed with tissues and textured materials over the areas the women identified as holding the embodied trauma to suggest the materiality and disruption of the physical body.
Mella’s objective was to provide a vehicle for expression, one that lead to personal empowerment for both subject and photographer. The final element of this project was to shoot Super 8mm motion film creating an otherworldly dimension in a place chosen by the sitter that resonates and revitalises them, where they felt they could come back to themselves, a place that comforted and recharged them.
Mella Maude Travers is a conceptual artist working in the medium of analogue photography and motion film. Her approach is experimental and multi-faceted using emulsion manipulation and chemical processing to address issues surrounding the embodiment of trauma and the relationship between first-hand experience and out-of-body observation. Over the last 13 years Mella founded The Darkroom MT CLG which is an artist space for all analogue and digital Photography, Video and Motion Film, where she supports artists through her tuition, mentoring residency program, and exhibitions.