A Time of Uncertainty brings together two social documentary projects. Each Project creates a narrative of the Public’s opinion, complemented by the artist’s reflection on two dominant issues of our time…
The UK’s withdrawal from the EU/Brexit and COVID 19. Over the last 5 Years Tristan Poyser has researched and documented the thoughts and feelings of over 700 people surrounding the divisive and uncertain times we live in. The two projects follow the same principles. Evoking, then documenting real peoples thoughts and feelings unfiltered and independent of politicians and the media.
The COVID pandemic has introduced another layer of complication and confusion to the Irish border that is further compounded with the looming Brexit withdrawal. A time of Uncertainty explores identity and perceptions, challenging preconceptions of places and people, in a time when uncertainty has been imposed by elements not of our individual making and beyond our control.
The Invisible In-between
The Invisible In-between: An Englishman’s Search For The Irish Border, is a visual interrogation into a place of uncertainty, the UK/EU land border, during a time of uncertainty; the period between the triggering of Article 50 and the withdrawal from the EU. Borders are intrinsically peripheries, a third space and projections of the state. The Irish Border is both an administrative & political division, an imaginary boundary, with little evidence of its existence to signify a physical border.
As an Englishman, trespassing to follow an invisible line through a historically troubled landscape, where cross border theft & crime is a constant issue, the uneasiness is compounded, creating a tension & an unspoken responsibility. In the photographs, the border is identified and the materiality of the border shown, through a physical tear, making the invisible, visible. The Invisible In-between shows the viewer the reality of the border & encourages them to explore the intangible nature & uneasiness surrounding it.
Poyser walked areas of the border with Irish border born poet Conor O’Callaghan, writer & photographer, Jacqui Devenney Reed, and consulted with Garrett Carr, The author of The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border. (Faber & Faber)
Poyser then invited the public to consider the impact of their referendum vote, how it will impact their future. He asks them to tear the photograph where they think the border is, and write a comment about this period of uncertainty and Brexit.
Masked – A Portrait of Amazon
Masked is a series of performative portraits and, still life photographs of the 64 face masks and ephemera I was provided with whilst working at Amazon, during the initial COVID Pandemic Lockdown. The photographs are a reflection of my doubts, frustrations, anxieties, the change in identity, the lack of control over lockdown and decisions made.
The relinquishing of 17 years self employed independence, to work nights as an Amazon Associate at Amazon’s MAN 3 Fulfillment Center In the North West of England. Whilst fortunate to be in a position to earn an income, there was a palpable tension brought on by the restrictions of the Pandemic, the lockdown and the restrictions of employment.
Clocking in, Clocking out, timed breaks, compounded by the uncomfortable but necessary safety measures. Wearing masks for 10 hr shifts, doing manual tasks, struggling to communicate with only eye contact and muffled voices, quickly becomes overbearing. Whilst at Amazon, I created a typology of 130 portraits of associates from over 25 different nationalities. Participants had worked at Amazon from as little as 2 days, to as much as four years.
Each participant was asked to write down two ways they had been affected personally by COVID 19 and Lockdown. This ranged from missing the gym, to close family members dying from COVID-19. The opportunity to document participants’ thoughts and feelings gives control of the narrative to the individual participants offering a different agenda to that of the media and politicians, creating a record of people in their own words.
- January 07, 2021
