Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Mayumi Sugarplum’s recent Flickr stream is an exploration of editing and experimentation on Second Life photos she took in the past. “At the Seashore” reminds me of a Degas painting of dancers. Her photostream is also a testament to personal resilience and the creative drive. She has been ill for some time and is no longer able to work directly in SL to take her photos. She is using her iPhone and iPad to edit old photos from years ago. Each reimagined photo links to its original so you can see how she took those pictures and cast them anew in a more impressionistic and surreal framework.
The majority of her photos remind me of a photography project I did in school. Instead of developing prints of photos, I gathered objects, placed them on the photo paper and exposed them to light. Lace, cut glass ashtrays and candy dishes, a comb, buttons, and myriad objects of varying degrees of clarity and opacity. I would do multiple exposures on the same page, blocking off parts of the paper to create this assemblage of items that we could see through via exposure. I was trying to see “through a glass darkly” so to speak. “Jealousy” makes me think most directly of that old project. There is an almost x-ray effect at play. Taking the picture out of focus, what once were tattoos on the original (She links to the original on her re-imaginations.) looks more like the splashes of developer fluid that can happen when experimenting in a darkroom.
“Reach Out” speaks to me most emotionally, perhaps because I identify with what she is doing. Mayumi is not focusing on what she can’t do, she is exploring what she can do. She is reaching out, still determined to remain part of the artistic community of Second Life.
I recommend a long, lingering visit to Mayumi Sugarplum’s photostream, not just because her work is a fascinating exploration of revisiting old work and translating it into a new visual language. It is also a testament to the drive and grit of an artist who will find new ways to do art and remain part of a community she values.
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