Further images / Return to 2011
Description: The Heightened Drawing Platform was inspired by the tall, slender, weathered vaults of the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris as well as by 13th Century Byzantine icons. The vaults were typically constructed with triangular or ogival copper archways and the figurative icons often sat within a golden archway, which illuminated faces and torsos creating a heightened sense of poise and ethereal stature. The characters within these embellished spaces appeared to gaze out to the onlooker from the security of their cloistered environment, having witnessed and withstood centuries of observers watching them and some even making copies in pencil and paint. The ‘icon’ in the 'Heightened Drawing Platform' came to life in Sydney, embodied by the Action Researcher/Performer sitting inside a purpose built vehicle observing and being observed by, passing members of the public. In this case, the ‘icon’ herself adopted the pen and the act of drawing, revealing the ‘other/outer’ side of the picture, what was otherwise hidden in the surrounding environment. The mirrors on either side of the central viewing space were simultaneously used as devices to gain further ‘unseen’ perspectives or to witness momentary acts, reflected back into the delineated images of the city. The Action Researcher/Performer drew quickly across the mirrored surface in order to capture the dynamic ever-shifting view outside.
See further deployment details here.