The View From Within

Viewing photographs online is becoming an everyday experience. We shoot them with digital cameras, upload them, and send the link around to friends. Irish artist, Cliona Harmey's new project, 'Twinned With' attempts to add an analog feel to digital photography by creating a make-shift camera obscura out of her Sony video camera. Taking an ordinary matchbox, punching a pin-hole in its top, and taping it to the inside of her lens, Harmey was able to take time-based stills by exposing the lens for a few seconds. Using this tool, 'Twinned With' consists of a click-through array of images of park benches, city streets and other generic spaces from Harmey's hometown in Ireland, mixed with similar pictures from other places. Since the lens diffuses image detail, the scenes created become generic and could be connected to many different places. This disassociation of place is a striking comment on the generic nature of our online photographs and how many could be interchanged with other people's shots without us noticing. - Jonah Brucker-Cohen