Clay Bowl

Artist Statement: "Clay Bowl" was filmed on a Panasonic GF1, a mirrorless camera primarily used for amateur photography. I choose to shot at a 640 x 480 resolution in order to emphasis the surface of the screen. That is, a clear image didn't interest me. Offering a clear vision of the subject was not my intention. I aimed to create a documentary that captures the process of seeing. The low resolution creates a digital grain. This digital grain reminds the viewer that what they're watching has been recorded via an apparatus. This video is in a sense a still life. And to record a still life interested me because once the subject, a clay bowl, is captured what's left to see is the apparatus in the process of seeing. I used a white background and one light to pose the clay bowl in such a way as to reduce it to shape, line, and shadow. In a way, I think of this video as a painting. Nothing, seemingly, moves during the video. But I would argue that the stillness of the static shot reveals not only motion but a kind of vibration, or pulse from the camera. In short, nothing moves. The clay bowl remains static. By constraining the subject to stillness, what's revealed are pulsations that originate from the camera. 

ξ

Paul Shumaker is the author of IMPRIMATURA (Secret Restaurant Press, 2023). His work has appeared in BlazeVox Journal, The Continental Review, E-ratio, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.