My overall practice is driven by my fascination with the illusory qualities inherent in cinema and early animation. Imagining myself as a cinema pioneer I explore the interplay between the moving and the still, creating works that sit between the pre-cinematic and the digital.
By discovering low-fi ways to add movement to single images and commonplace objects/materials, my intent is to ignite an element of wonder at the illusion of cinema, giving the everyday enough of a twist to allow the imagination to run free.
We live in a society where the material is being replaced by the immaterial. This has drawn me to use tangible everyday materials in my work that I juxtapose with the relative immateriality of video. Behind the scenes of my videos there are various hand-crafted mechanisms that drive them that are hand-operated/cranked.
In recent years I have made kinetic works for audience interaction that have been shown internationally including Turner Contemporary, Margate, U.K, 1shanthiroad, Bangalore, India and Basement 6, Shanghai, China.
'Javasu' by Savinder Bual featuring occasional works by Sarah Boulton
Exhibition at Caraboo Projects April 2019
Exhibition Design Elena Blanco
'Javasu' draws upon various points in history in which sea monsters, the pineapple and moving panoramas triggered the public’s imagination to wonder what it was like to journey to faraway lands that were inaccessible to them.
The exhibition was a tribute to Bristol resident Mary Baker, who in 1817 convinced the public that she was ‘Princess Caraboo’ from a fictitious island called Javasu. A fascination with the exotic and a curiosity to discover more about faraway lands had duped the public into believing in Caraboo’s authenticity. They imbued her with mythologies constructed from their limited knowledge of the world.
Javasu, 3 minutes looped, 2019
Pinjekan, wood, steel & Japanese Shoji paper
Powered by the momentum of the viewer walking
100cm x 39.5cm x 13cm
2019
