Eleanor MacFarlane

Profile/CV

Moving image artist

                            photographs in time rather than on paper 

                                                                                       scientific notions as beautiful insights.

Artist Statement

     My Moving Image is non-narrative, poetic and abstract. My subjects are generated by scientific and optical ideas, by way of a philosophical translation into form. So the meaning of my works can be traced back to universal truths concerning light and shade, or the pull of magnetism and how that is akin to psychological tendencies. I never came across a scientific theory or astronomical fact that I couldn’t relate directly to my own thinking, or the human experience. It is as if the Universe is a model of the internal experience, subject to laws, some of which we can comprehend. My work is a quest to translate such nebulous ideas into form.

     My practice is also informed by years of photographic experimentation. I have a highly developed aesthetic style, and create images without computer manipulation, tricking the camera into revealing layers of reality. I have an inventive, low-tech approach to work, striving for simple ways to show layers of complexity and paradox. In many ways I see my videos as multi-faceted photographs, or photographs which exist in time rather than on paper.

Biography

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, 1964.

Now living and working in London.

      Originally trained as a classical musician at the Royal College of Music, an interest in Renaissance music led me to the wonderful diversity of stringed instruments of the time, and I then studied Instrument Making. With children now on board, I had a variety of occupations, including hatmaker and book reviewer, all the while drawing, painting and writing. Photography led me to making moving photographs, and in Moving Image I found my home. I retrained in Fine Art, gaining a First in 2006. My practice is mainly in Moving Image, sometimes Installations and Photography, and also writing, in art and novels. I am currently amongst the first cohort of an innovative distance MA in Fine Art with the Open College of the Arts. I also still review books on art, culture and music, and am an Artistic Assessor in Visual Arts for the Arts Council.

Website www.eleanormacfarlane.com