The Making of fragments

found photograph collection

Katherine Lorenzoni, Found photograph collection, 2010-2020

This is my collection of found family photographs that I had purchased in Op Shops and on eBay over a period of a decade between 2010-2020. I used this collection of images throughout every stage and exploration in this creative practice research.

Participant engagement with the found photograph collection

october 2018

At this stage of this creative practice research, I asked individual participants who were known to me to engage with my found photograph collection. I gave these participants my collection of found photographs, asking them to look through and choose any number of photographs. Once participants had chosen their images, I asked them to establish an order for their photographs and to assign a narrative to them. I did not use this material in the final work, though it informed my practice moving forward.

  • Katherine Lorenzoni, Participant Engagement with the found photograph collection, October 2018, photograph of participant M selecting found photographs

  • Katherine Lorenzoni, Participant Engagement with the found photograph collection, October 2018, photograph of found photographs selected by participant M

Katherine Lorenzoni, Participant Engagement with the found photograph collection, October 2018, story written by participant M

Each numbered story corresponds to the order of the found photographs pictured directly above

engaging with the found photograph collection myself

january, 2019

At this stage, I began engaging with the found photographs myself, using them as creative substitutes to my own family photographs. I went through them and established categories. These were based on the content of the photographs. Following this, I went on to establish three fictional albums, including images from each category, all containing the same number and type of photographs based on the categories. I went on to use some of these selected images in the final work, though not in their album format.

  • Katherine Lorenzoni, Engaging with the found photograph collection myself, January 2019, photograph of fictional family album one

  • Katherine Lorenzoni, Engaging with the found photograph collection myself, January 2019, photograph of fictional family album two

  • Katherine Lorenzoni, Engaging with the found photograph collection myself, January 2019, photograph of fictional family album three

filming sequences of video as an everyday practice

February 2019-DEcember 2020

Katherine Lorenzoni, Filming sequences of video as an everyday practice, February 2019-December 2020, videos

I began shooting video material on my iPhone to add to the found photographs, as a method to create context, movement and sound that extended beyond the image itself. I wanted to explore ways of aesthetically developing further meaning beyond the frame of the still photograph.

This practice became integrated into my everyday experience, where I filmed and collected footage across approximately two years of my daily life, including interactions, travels and meanderings, as they occurred, unplanned, before me. This process produced a vast amount of material of which I used some in the final work.

exploring the aesthetic qualities of fragmented memory through filming techniques

april 2019-december 2020

Katherine Lorenzoni, Exploring the aesthetic qualities of fragmented memory through filming technique, April 2019-December 2020, videos

I then set up a series of standards or rules for shooting and I began capturing the somewhat overlooked and seemingly trivial details of occurrences in close-up. In doing this, elements that are telling of the moment in which I was shooting such as contemporary technology, clothing and objects of modern design were avoided or omitted from the shot or in post-production. In addition, I veered away from elements that reveal the location I was filming such as signs and well-known buildings, structures and monuments.

In practice, this generally meant capturing specific visual elements of an event or occurrence and when filming people, capturing mannerisms, gestures, actions or small details about them. Over time, I came to understand that shooting these videos in this way was an attempt to capture the indistinct details that may feature in traumatic memory such as flashbacks. This process yielded a large volume of material of which some was used in the final work.

grid design experiments

May, 2019

Katherine Lorenzoni, Grid design experiments, May 2019, film still

These are grid designs for the screen in the video artwork that would allow me to use two images on the one screen. I explored these designs before developing the design I used in the final work Fragments.

applying post-production filters and tools and additional audio to the short videos

June 2019-june 2021

Katherine Lorenzoni, Applying post-production filters and tools and additional audio to the short videos, June 2019-June 2021, videos

Having developed the grid I was to use for the final work Fragments, I began using post-production filters and tools and I began to add additional layers of audio to the short videos that I extracted from my own home videos. I did so to explore how I may aesthetically represent the embodied and sensory elements of my lived experience with family archives and with traumatic memory. These short videos were used in the final work.

Adding excerpts of audio recordings to the final work

June 2021

Katherine Lorenzoni, Adding excerpts of audio recordings to the final work, June 2019-June 2021, video

Finally, I included some dialogue from recordings of conversations I had with my Great Aunt which I layered on a blank screen. In recording these conversations, I asked my Great Aunt to discuss stories about family in general, from which I then selected clips for inclusion.

Some of these recordings reveal what can be said to be the common, perhaps intrinsic darkness of any childhood such as punishment and fear. In contrast to these, however, were those that reference affection within the family, along with joyful and playful aspects of childhood. The following videos, containing excerpts of these conversations were included in the final work.