Description
The publication includes supporting essays from Emma Wilson of Cambridge University and Maria Walsh of Chelsea College of Arts.
Kadie Salmon uses photography and sculpture to explore the nature of story telling and image making. Referencing historical and contemporary depictions of romanticism such as that found in cinema, novels, folklore and art she constructs enigmatic narratives that provoke sensations of idealism, desire and personal fantasy. Folded or scrunched paper boulders sit balancing next to human-scaled, architectural models; sculptures act as essential characters to the intimate scenarios depicted in her hand-painted, tableaux photographs. Walking through her fragile, paper landscapes the viewer unravels a narrative that acts a little like the still from a film or the middle of a book; offering no beginning or end.
Drawing on the stories, histories, architecture and landscapes belonging to various countries and cultures, Salmon constructs narratives that explore the role of romanticism in art. These narratives are often the result of a performative process, through which the artist attempts to experience in person these romanticised scenarios from the past. However in doing so and placing them within a contemporary context their original language and interpretation is often lost and instead replaced with notions of idealism, desire and personal fantasy.
