joyce wye ho
art photography
artist statement

 

 

 


In her current photographic work, Wye is interested in exploring the interplay of memory, identity and nature, particularly as represented by flowers. Her macro landscapes are a revelation of colours and abstract, often ethereal forms, offering a glimpse into unseen, forgotten worlds.

In her images, Wye tries to highlight the memory of the moment lived, rather than the sense of its loss, and to capture for viewers the emotions and the impressions of that moment, however fleeting. Inspired by Proust, the hope is that her images can provide some sort of emotional catalyst which will transport viewers to another time or place that may have been lost. Perhaps this is Bachelard's "magnifying glass" which gives back "the enlarging gaze of a child." At the same time, photographing flowers at the peak of their life curves, Wye's floral images also evoke a certain poignancy relating to the ephemeral nature of time and life. They seek to be a measure of time passing, time by which we define ourselves. In the next life cycle of the flowers, where will we be? How will our emotional response change as overlaid by life experiences? Wye's work is about providing a visual thread in the present linking us to the past, to future possibilities and to dreams. It is a celebration of the awakening self.

Wye often challenges the limits of her lenses because she wishes to soften or defocus her images to reflect and engage viewers in the way we feel, perceive, remember and dream. She also does this to mirror the diffuse and fluid quality of time and memory, as punctuated by moments of seeming clarity