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- A world in which every communication is over almost before it begins, reducing life to a succession of instants, is simply not sustainable. Nor is it nostalgic to wish to preserve our capacities for humane expression. For we lose these powers at our peril. Never in human history, indeed have they been at greater risk. We have stood by as words, severed from hand and mouth, have been converted into the liquid currency of a global information and communication industry. -
Ingold 2020, Correspondences p. 4


 Swapping mundane daily life with a romantic notion of temporary utopia is arguably a common underlying ideal for any tourist. In an image-saturated reality true experiences can be swapped for incomplete and idealised representations snapped and shared. Does having access to such imagerey enhance or hinder the experience of the visitor? 

Doing Fieldwork in the outer Hebrides felt much like being a tourist due to the brief duration of the visit. Creating an artwork based on the fieldwork made me feel hovering between a tourist and interloper. In this collaboration with Rosalie Monod de Froideville, a selection of ‘typical Hebridean images’ found through a google search, were commissioned to be painted and mailed over by a company in China. E mail correspondence and goolge images with their URLs are composed in a publication and exhibited with the paintings at An Lanntair, Stornoway. 
JC


http:// | oil on canvas, publication | 17 (c. 20 x 25 cm) paintings by https://www.refinegallery.com/ | Stornoway | 2011 | photographed by Kristina King
http:// (detail) |  | 20 x 25 cm | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist
http:// (detail) |  | photographed by the artist

(please note that most of these web links are now outdated and might take you to alternate web addresses)


    



     

All artwork © Joseph Calleja | Please do not download, reproduce or share without permission

Studio 73|75|77
77 Mgarr Road Qala Gozo Malta