Peter Happel Christian
Peter Happel Christian - Near the Point of Beginning Peter Happel Christian - Dead Reckoning Peter Happel Christian - Brief Notes on Existence Peter Happel Christian - Some Bodies Peter Happel Christian - Contact (T.A.R.P.S.) Peter Happel Christian - Up Down Peter Happel Christian - Familiar Ground / Front Yard Topography



selection from:
"Brief Notes on Existence"



 
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Peter Happel Christian

In much of my work I liken my creative habits to that of an early cartographer - looking, measuring, collecting, calculating and displaying the intersections of quotidian life and the natural world. As much as I am inspired by phenomena of the natural world and find great value in being outside, I focus on the observation that our everyday relationship with nature is predominantly one of mediation, physical distance and cognizant remove. I am interested in measuring the spaces between daily life, the idea of nature and the natural world itself and in my work I make efforts to highlight, collapse, document and fictionalize the spaces between everyday life and the natural world.

I often reference events of the natural world and the imagery of geographic maps while looking to the mechanics of map-making as a way to gather, organize and present different aspects of my projects.  I find a strong relationship between maps and photographs in that both are relatively accurate, yet entirely subjective.  Both are analogs of the world; dressed up to look official, but are secretly stitched together.  It only requires a small shift in perception or a turn of the wrist so that north points south and a map becomes a beautiful abstract drawing full of lines, shapes and colors.  Another inspiration I find in maps is their visual efficiency, which provides only enough information for practical use - a minimalism that I bring into my studio practice and translate into the visual forms of my work

In my work I make a habit of literally setting my camera aside and reaching into the world to physically interact with my subject matter. It is at that point beyond the mediation of the camera, when I place my body between the image and its referent that the photograph is porous and reveals its subjectivity.  By working within that symbolic space I am able to better investigate a unique quality of the photographic image; that it can present fiction while representing truth.  It is this synchronized mutation drifting between a descriptive reality and a constructed reality that resonates within my work.
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