T4 WK 7: PROJECT PROPOSAL
- Mar 26
- 5 min read
RESEARCH QUESTION:
How can my interdisciplinary practice across street photography, cyanotype, and installation explore the interval between movement and stillness through the philosophical concept of mu (無) in response to a body whose mental and physical capacity is changing?
Beyond Footsteps is a two-part installation that investigates the threshold between presence and absence, movement and stillness. Walking is not treated as a neutral mode of navigation but as a condition structured by pain and continual adjustment. Photographing emerges within this condition, requiring coordination between physical movement and cognition. The photograph is produced within the interval between steps, where perception is momentarily suspended.
The first work is a noren curtain (door width × 60 –100H cm), constructed from calico or muslin and embedded with a layered cyanotype-printed street photograph from Japan, depicting a young woman, her face partially blurred, suspended between visibility and disappearance. Traditionally positioned within thresholds, the noren requires the body to physically part the surface. In this work, it functions as both a physical and conceptual interruption, shifting the viewer into embodied engagement. The act of moving through the curtain mirrors the conditions under which the photograph was produced, within moments of pause and transition.
The second artwork is a grid of cyanotype photographs (1.8H × 1.2W m) composed of street images from Japan on calico or muslin. From a distance, the work reads as an abstract blue field, where images dissolve into a unified surface. Up close, fragmented scenes emerge. A neon orange or pink grid cuts sharply through the blue, creating visual tension. The grid operates as a system of containment, referencing the constraints of chronic illness, where structure is imposed yet remains unable to fully stabilise the body.
Cyanotype operates within this project as both a material process and conceptual framework, shaped by UV exposure, duration, and environmental conditions that introduce variability and limit control. The resulting blue field does not function as stable representation but as a record of exposure and time. Testing is conducted through timed exposure strips, with approximately seven minutes producing optimal tonal depth, while remaining subject to environmental fluctuation.
Japanese street photography provides the source material across both works. Images were produced while walking, engaging with transient moments rather than fixed compositions. Blur, misalignment, and partial framing are retained as traces of perception under conditions of movement and instability, resisting correction or refinement.
In the noren curtain, cyanotype is printed onto calico or muslin, where the material’s permeability becomes integral to the work. The use of layered negatives introduces partial disappearance, disrupting legibility and reinforcing the photograph as an unstable and shifting condition rather than a resolved image.
In the grid work, cyanotype prints are organised within a timber framework, with calico or muslin either stretched over or integrated within the structure, a decision to be resolved through further testing. The work occupies a 1.8m × 1.2m format, incorporating approximately 100 images with consistent approximate 2cm spacing. This requires precise measurement and alignment.
Across both works, uneven exposures, distortions, and material inconsistencies are retained as evidence of process. The work resists technical resolution, instead foregrounding instability as both a material condition and a conceptual position.
For this project, the following artists inform a methodology where image, material, and spatial relationships operate relationally, reinforcing a practice focusing on lived experience and the persistence of unresolved meaning.
Rodrigo Valenzuela, particularly in A Sense of Place (2015–2017), constructs psychologically charged environments that challenge Western ideas of landscapes. Through his integration of photography and architectural intervention, the image is positioned within a broader spatial system rather than as a standalone work. This informs my interdisciplinary approach, where installation becomes a framework that holds photographs as part of a larger spatial logic.
Meghann Riepenhoff, in Littoral Drift (2022), exposes large sheets of cyanotype paper directly to coastal conditions, allowing waves, wind, and weather to inscribe the surface. The image is shaped through the interaction between artist, process and environment. This approach to unpredictability informs my use of cyanotype as a material process guided by light and timing, rather than precise reproduction, reflecting the conditions of my own body where control is limited and outcomes remain uncertain.
Daido Moriyama photographs while walking through the city, developing a visual language associated with the Japanese concept are-bure-boke, meaning grainy, blurry, and out of focus. In his work, blur and grain become evidence of movement rather than mistakes. This directly influences my own approach to photographing while walking, where instability is not corrected but remains visible as part of the image.
Nikesha Breeze expands installation into a multisensory and embodied environment. In Living Histories (2026), she constructs immersive spaces using suspended textiles, cyanotype, sound, and projection. Her work informs my use of the noren as a threshold structure and my understanding of installation as a system that holds experience rather than represents it.
Lee Ufan provides a philosophical grounding through his attention to relational space and the role of emptiness. These spaces reflect the concept of mu, allowing meaning to remain open and emerge through the relationship between what is seen and what is withheld.
Informed by mu, perception is understood as contingent and grounded in the body, where meaning remains open. A body whose mental and physical capacities are changing produces moments of misalignment between cognition and movement. The camera registers these conditions, and the interval becomes a site where perception is disrupted and meaning held in suspension.
References:
3H Linen 2026, Natural Heavy Weight Linen Noren Curtain, 3H Linen, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://3hlinen.com.au/products/natural-heavy-weight-linen-noren-curtain?variant=46685383917785>.
Aphelis n.d., Daido Moriyama – photographs, Aphelis, viewed 7 March 2026, <https://aphelis.net/daido-moriyama-photographs/>.
Asya Geisberg Gallery 2026, Rodrigo Valenzuela, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://www.asyageisberggallery.com/artists/rodrigo-valenzuela>.
Biennale of Sydney 2026, Nikesha Breeze, viewed 24 March 2026, <https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/participants/nikesha-breeze/>.
DailyArt Magazine 2026, An Introduction to Lee Ufan, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/an-introduction-to-lee-ufan/>.
Hopper, T 2026, The Japanese Philosophy That Makes Better Photographers, online video, YouTube, viewed 17 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/9fr26i3a7C8?si=kl3iSRKb6oge4Y6J>.
Hopper, T 2026, Why You Are Still Taking Boring Photos (The Moriyama Method), online video, YouTube, viewed 20 March 2026, <https://youtu.be/6MAJ9q2rg8c?si=qu4Oyu6xXWdCZK1N>.
Kogei Art Kyoto 2026, Lee Ufan and the Art of Emptiness, viewed 7 March 2026, <https://kogeiart.kyoto.jp/articles/post-1805/>.
Lee Ufan Studio 2026, Lee Ufan Studio, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://www.studioleeufan.org/>.
LensCulture 2026, Meghann Riepenhoff: Littoral Drift, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://www.lensculture.com/articles/meghann-riepenhoff-littoral-drift>.
Moriyama, D. n.d., Photo Gallery, viewed 7 March 2026, <https://www.moriyamadaido.com/en/photogallery/>.
Nikesha Breeze 2026, Living History Fundraiser, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://nikeshabreeze.com/living-history-fundraiser>.
Of One Tree 2026, What is Mu in Buddhism?, viewed 26 March 2026, <https://ofonetree.com/what-is-mu-in-buddhism/>.
Riepenhoff, M. n.d., Littoral Drift, viewed 7 March 2026, <https://meghannriepenhoff.com/project/littoral-drift/>.
Valenzuela, R. n.d., Sense of Place, viewed 7 March 2026, <https://www.rodrigovalenzuela.com/sense-of-place>.
