In our group tutorials this week it was recommended that I look at some more theoretical research to really establish the key themes and ideas of my work and understand more about mindfulness and the effects our spaces and surroundings have on us. Gaston Bachelard’s ‘The Poetics of Space’ has been a hugely helpful resource for this and I feel very inspired to continue my work. My recent research has really given me a clear idea of what my project means to me and what I want it to communicate to other people.
Gaston Bachelard (born 1884) was a renowned French Philosopher, who contributed research towards science and poetics. His publication ‘The Poetics of Space’, explores ideas of space and explains how our perceptions of the spaces we exist in can shape our thoughts, memories and dreams. Bachelard begins in the first chapter by exploring the interior domestic space and within it, the furniture and intimate spaces like drawers and night dresser. This is what interests me most. Whilst seemingly ordinary areas of a house, the contents of one’s bedside table or the things someone keeps on their shelves can be a hugely personal thing. Cupboards and drawers reveal secrets of our existence that we might never expect. Later in the book, Bachelard takes the idea of space further, to look at areas outside of the home – woodlands and open spaces etc.
In a review of Bachelard’s writing, https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/studocu-university/studocu-summary-library-en/summaries/gaston-bachelard-the-poetics-of-space-summary-and-review-the-second-shift/1044466/view In this review of Bachelard’s writing, it’s said that, ‘The house is, for Bachelard, the quintessential phenomenological object, meaning that this is the place in which the personal experience reaches its epitome.’ Indeed, I believe this to be true. I imagine that most of us would say we are most ourselves in the comfort of our own home and therefore the way we arrange and express ourselves in that space and in turn, the way that space influences us, is very telling of who we are. Bachelard also recognises that the house is made up of experiences and memories. Yet, these memories and experiences are not always photographed in such abundance as holidays and experiences outside of the home. That’s why I want to photograph these areas that often go unnoticed. This is what I tried to do with my Grandad’s shed project. As Nigel Shafran so often does with his work, I wanted to recreate and memorialise a powerful childhood memory of mine, by focusing my camera on the space that sparks that nostalgia.
Another area of Bachelard’s description of the home that I find interesting, is that he identifies a sense of dreaming or daydreaming linked with this intimate space. ‘I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.’ (Bachelard, G, The Poetics of Space) Bachelard explains that with every house we live in, we are influenced by experiences of previous homes; in a way, every new home connects us back to our first childhood space. This space has shaped us into who we are, and we take with us the memories and experiences into every new space we exist in. I think this is a beautiful way to think of it and I’d never really thought about this immensely powerful nature of the home before. A house is suddenly so much more than a roof over your head when you think of it this way. I’ve lived in four or five different places since leaving home for uni, and when I think back to how the spaces influenced me and how I carried my past experiences into each house, it’s quite interesting. I want to express this poetic description of the home through my work and show my viewers how powerful and meaningful the everyday can be.
Bachelard’s study of the home resonates a lot with me. It’s my goal to express through my photography how our everyday spaces strongly shape and reflect who we are. It has become such the norm to express ourselves on social media through our holidays and clothes, that we forget the most important (and very often beautiful) ways in which we exist every day. I enjoyed reading some of this book a lot, so I’ve ordered it on Amazon to complete the whole thing. I feel it really expresses in words, what I want to say in pictures.
hollywatsonphotography.photo.blog 