Nigel Grimmer Roadkill Family Album (Emma, Paris), 2006
Nigel Grimmer Roadkill Family Album (Mum, Fritton, 2000), 2000 - 2003
Selected by Paul Harfleet
Nigel Grimmer's practice is multi-faceted though photography is his main area of expertise. The ongoing 'Roadkill Family Album' is a series of staged photographs taken at a vast array of locations across the globe from Japan to America. The images depict figures in a 'reclined' state, which, ambiguous in nature, seem both mildly amusing and deeply disturbing.
Each model is clothed in modern garb, though all are adorned in a face mask that is based on an animal subject. From fox to frog to dolphin each composition is dominated by a figure apparently collapsed, passed out or dead. The utilisation of the familiar child's face mask as prop is a cunningly efficient cypher that suggests multiple readings that comment on contemporary society's disregard for life both animal and human.
Initially the work reminisces on a child's fascination with dressing up and disguise which evokes a nostalgic series of memories that almost all are familiar with. The tendency to play and perform as a child is universal, an instinctive drive to explore ones forming identity through play. It is this element that seduces the audience into a familiar and playful universe for contemplatation.
However the reality of mostly adults enacting death invites a more serious narrative. These bodies placed in the external world amongst street furniture and urban detritus explore an inbuilt fear of seeming publicly vulnerable. To collapse publicly usually denotes some form of emergency. From road traffic accident to sudden heart attack these images reference a universal fear of catastrophe away from the security of home. Further contemplation of the work becomes an act of social commentary.
The occasional nightscape alludes to a potentially drunken participant collapsed in an urban environment, which could be read as a critique on contemporary society's use of the street, not only as a location of transportation from one place to another but as a backdrop for crime, accident and violence.
The depiction of past violence and its fatal aftermath presents an epilogue to a mysterious drama the viewer is invited to ponder on. With its rich palette and array of backdrops the sustained continuity of the series maintains interest in the work. Though ultimately it's the subtle sense of humour that manages to prevent the work from becoming self-indulgent or evangelical in its motivation.
Nigel Grimmer Roadkill Family Album (Jayne, Hackney), 2007
Paul Harfleet is an artist/curator who recently until recently ran Apartment with Hilary Jack. Post Apartment they will continue their curatorial partnership as 'Harfleet & Jack' working on a variety of exhibitions and events. As an artist Paul Harfleet is continuing to explore The Pansy Project, (2009) an ongoing artwork which involves the planting of pansies at the site of homophobic abuse.
Nigel Grimmer on Axis
Paul Harfleet
harfleetandjack.blogspot.com
May 2009
