Lucy Shortman – Common Era
Words by Hannah Geddes
I am flipping through newsprint pages filled with images that remind me of a time gone by. I’m thinking of a glorious hot summer, dappled with sensory moments: a brilliant blue sky; a watermelon, its textured pattern reminiscent of a holiday somewhere at some point; the inside of an apricot, perfectly round and inviting; legs, tattooed and bare; and the crotch of a pair of light blue jeans. These are all images from Lucy Shortman’s recent project Common Era. The series was made the year after Shortman graduated from university and represents that common feeling of uncertainty, the moment where things could go either way. This feeling, although in this project is connected to that specific moment in time, couldn’t be more present or representative of our collective state of being at the beginning of 2021. Shortman used her camera to document this period as she “floated through the year, taking pictures and trying to contain all [her] memories and feelings into something [she] could utlise.”
The soft focus and flat tones of a black and white image of a woman lying on her back, knees bent upwards, her heels pulled towards her, is juxtaposed against the brightly coloured images we see elsewhere. The fluctuations in the editing and sequencing build a pace and energy between pages. There is something for everyone. Some meaning to be deciphered. As photography and visual culture theorist Ariella Azoulay states, there are a number of participants involved in photography – “camera, photographer, photographic subject and spectator” and you have to approach “the photograph (and its meaning) as an unintentional effect of the encounter of between all of these.” This reflects Shortman’s thinking at the time of making Common Era, as she used “images to highlight a commonality between us” creating a body of work in which the viewer could participate and become part of the work in the process. The project sits in that perfect space between fact and fiction, acting as both a visual diary of that moment in her life, but also as an exaggeration of her “thoughts and fantasies” – and through that common connection – of our inner thoughts and fantasies too.
The project is rich with symbolism, glamour and youth, as she blends “staged glamour and natural beauty”. This is achieved through the pairing of images, the intentional merging of object and desire, nature and freedom. As Shortman notes, the pairing of these images is key to the fluidity of the project: “running with a large body of photographs, I find pairing them together quite effective in containing the work. Most of the photographs and ideas are a bit disjointed so it is how I make it make sense.” Shortman is omnipresent in this body of work – acting as artist and subject interchangeably. Performing the self is key, although it is unclear who is the artist, subject and viewer at times.
“The personal and emotional energy in my photographs are integral in what provokes me as an artist so surrendering myself to the work seems indispensable. Surrendering may be a slight misnomer as there’s certainly a light-hearted playfulness when I shoot a self-portrait but I mean in the sense of completely allowing oneself to be taken over by that moment and play all these roles at once, letting the idea take shape.”
Shortman appears throughout the project, in moments of performative self-portraits. These images are also punctuated with symbolism, something to look for in images of the self. In one double page self-portrait of Shortman, she is looking out through binoculars – although we are not quite sure what she is looking at. Another image, HOW DID I PLEASE MY PAST SELF symbolises Shortman “reflecting on an old self and looking back to what felt like the best chapter of my life so far.” The titles of the images act as clues in Common Era, providing us with a link to an ulterior or deeper meaning. To Shortman, “photography is self-expression and a window to universally communicate my experiences and ideas to others in an emotional and visceral way. Photography speaks in ways that I cannot. Its energetic and cathartic at the same time, where I can let loose and push my limits as an artist. I can create my own vocabulary and use it as the glue holding everything together.”
Text is imbedded in Shortman’s practice and its presence is felt throughout the series. Each image is titled, “mainly to explore wordplay and confessions.” The text underpinning the project gives us clarity to the meaning of each scene but it also throws us off the scent by making it unclear “what is truth and what is exaggerated.” It is in these uncertainties that we insert out own meaning and memories – making our own connections to the work. The pairing of text and image creates a new visual language, revealing how “experimental photography revives a new spirit of possibility” as we enter into Shortman’s world that blurs the boundaries of fact and fiction. Through this vocabulary, she also explores the progression of the image, laying bare both “its complexity and simplicity.” For me, it’s the space in the void that draws me into this project, the things left unsaid or unaccounted for. That’s where the meaning is found for each image in Common Era – in those shared moments of nostalgia that we can all relate to and all long for.