Transcript
Titled ‘Escape’, William’s digital photo series consists of five ‘Acts’: each a series of photos preceded by a poetic narrative. The predominant subject in most of the photos is a sports car, to represent both literally and metaphorically William’s intention to “underscore the synergy between escaping societal pressures and pursuing personal fulfilment”.
The photos use technical codes such as lighting and symbolic codes such as colour to evolve a nostalgic visual style.
Act 1: “The world is seen through weary eyes. Darkness presses in from all around, bleak and suffocating in its advance. The mind yearns repose as its cogs grind to a halt.” A distant then close-up shot from behind of a man in a hooded top working by the light of his laptop in an otherwise dark room. The final photo of Act 1 is a close-up of the man eyeballing us: the letterbox format of the shot capturing and highlighting the man’s bright blue eyes and furrowed brow beneath his hooded top.
Act 2: “An immutable companion awaits in dormancy. The key to the mind’s liberation is offered like a question, and the answer is immediate, unflinching.” Now the man stands with his back to the camera, facing a white sports car that’s housed in a shadow-darkened garage. Other photos in this Act highlight aspects of the car’s exterior, interior and accessories: a GTR keyring in the ignition; silver ‘Nissan’ lettering glinting on the rear of the car, then the car’s dual rear left-hand-side circular lights, that glow like red eyes in the darkness. A view of the car’s rear with its two sets of red lights and a numberplate that reads ‘GTRO-93’. The next steps of the car-starting ritual capture the car’s dashboard, a hand clicking a seatbelt into place, a hand gripped around the hand brake lever, thumb pressed on the button, leather at the base creased to accommodate the lever’s imminent downwards motion.
Act 3: “Lurid and luminous. A neon aurora lights the way as a mechanical cacophony batters the shackles. It is only a matter of time.” Motion blurs the first picture as the hand moves the gear stick. The lights on the dash and control panel glow a stark blue in the car’s otherwise dark interior. Now the lights of a petrol station are blurred as the car approaches. The man bends to hold the petrol nozzle in place behind the flipped-open petrol cap cover. Overhead lights from the forecourt reflect off the car’s bonnet. Back inside the car, its digital clock reads 6:44.
Act 4: “A roar encased in a veil of green, intermittent flames and a relentless tremor warn a quaint seaside town of Godzilla’s approach.” This set of photos are in daylight. A view through the car’s windscreen as the vehicle rounds a corner on a mountain road. Mist blurs the divide between the almost white sky and the forest that spreads out beneath it. A glimpse of another winding road, then the driver’s hands blurred as they manoeuvre the gearstick and steering wheel. Seen from a distance, the car appears to speed through a blurred, almost monochromatic, landscape.
Act 5: “Impact. Sparks soar as the mind is liberated, setting the sky alight with a fluorescence that singes the clouds. The ocean simmers, vapour effuses, extinguishing the firestorm in the heavens and refreshing the mind in the process. The shackles have long since melted.” The final set of photographs consists of views of and from the Great Ocean Road: water surging onto a beach beneath a bank of clearing clouds that are tinted peach by the low sun; a gleam of the sun over the horizon in the car’s left wing mirror; mist and spray combining to blur the divide between sea and sky. A sepia-toned shot of the car speeding towards an overhead sign that reads ‘Great Ocean Road’. The man’s hands holding the steering wheel, then a final shot of the car parked at a lookout point, the man leaning against his car’s bonnet as he gazes out at the ocean and cloud-fluffed sky beyond.
Overall, the suggestion of ‘Escape’ is “that the prioritisation of wellbeing above everyday duties is vital to one’s pursuit of happiness”.
