Erica Frisk

What is your senior thesis?

“Whenever a man feels the precariousness of his existence he turns to a picture. Here experience holds still and he can look into its face” -Elias Canetti, Novelist

It is through pictures that our earliest memories are confirmed, and re-experienced. While memories may prove to be concrete in some cases, they are never as tangible as an object. It is in the creation of the photograph, a truthful object, that it becomes a confirmation of certain individual truths. These truths not only clarify the experience for the maker but also for the viewer ultimately appeasing both.
It is this idea that I would like to grapple with in my work this semester (or year), the conscious uses of the camera to verify my memories in a manner that is not only visually stimulating but also pushes me to examine my past more. In investigating these images in my mind I may be able to piece together a more informed view of my history for memory its “starting point is seldom the beginning of a narrative”. I would like my pictures to have the same ambiguity that memories often have: fleeting moments of imagery and sound captured in the mind’s eye and in my case with my camera’s lens.

What motivated you to start this project? What inspires your creative process?

I wanted to explore my past more and work sculpturally so I felt this project would meld the two ideas perfectly.

Do you work in film or digital? Please describe any technique or process relevant to your project.

I primarily shoot with film and print with traditional silver gelatin processes, but with this project, I plan on using liquid emulsion to superimpose my images on objects that are significant from my past.

Is this a new project or a continuation of previous work?

This is an entirely new project that I hope to develop over course of the year.

How has your work developed or changed over time?

I feel that my subject matter has evolved continuously because with the finishing on each new project I strive to do a project that is completely different. So far I’ve explored photographing my family, an abandoned school, and self-portraiture while dabbling in landscape photography.

What artists/ works of art have inspired or influenced you?

I’d say that the artists that have influenced me are Felix Gonsalez-Torres, Francesca Woodman and Sally Mann because of their visual style and the ideas that their work takes on.

What kind of response do you hope to get from your viewers? Is there a certain experience you want people to take away from your photographs?

I don’t necessarily want a certain reaction from the viewers. I’m not making my photographs for shock value or for overt political reasons, so I guess I’d want my viewers to not just see my photographs, but I’d want them to connect to them viscerally.

What is the ideal setting to view your work? Do you picture your photographs in a book? In a gallery?

I could see my two-dimensional work in both settings but my three-dimensional work would be best seen in person.

Do you have any ideas or plans for future work?

I have a lot of ideas about future work and I’ve written them down for later because I don’t think it’s the right time for me to pursue them. I started a Home Series in my sophomore year at Massart that I’ve continued to add to that archive slowly.

What do you see yourself doing after graduation?

I plan on eventually going to grad school for either arts administration or film production, but before I do that I’d like to move somewhere completely different and join an artist collective.