P5 – Vik Shirley
£10.00
Persona Digitalia by Vik Shirley
Persona Digitalia is a book of pairs, two versions of a treated and duplicated image each housed in its own grid. One grid so tight that no trace of the subject is visible. The other more wound out and revealing. The pairs represent having your cake and eating it; the indecision of life; the desire to want both things; and the inability to choose. They represent the double self. We are often an alternate version[s] of ourselves. The truth is often both things or multiple things.
In Persona Digitalia the speaker addresses the images and what is inside the image in unequal measure—always within the context of the grid, where the subject and image now exist, as was their fate. New moments and thoughts created in the process run concurrently with thoughts and feelings in relation to the original moment or person or thing.
In Persona Digitalia the speaker draws out personal fragments from the digital thread, often woven tightly to conceal. With the tightest knit of the grids there is no personality or character on display. The image is fabric-like and minimalist in its uniform box. With the slightly looser zoomed out structures, more of the original subject is visible. Although not always recognisable.
In Persona Digitalia duplication is also a disguise. The speaker converses with the images she has created and manipulated. Sometimes personal, sometimes impersonal, her focus drifts and slips through memories, moments, musings, reminiscences, and reflections. Grid is ever-present throughout.
P5
P5 is a new photography and poetry pamphlet series directed by Photoworks in partnership with David Solo, and designed by Jane & Jeremy. Photography and poetry have been in dialogue since the earliest days of the camera. The space between these forms invites layered meaning, unexpected emotion, and new ways of seeing. Yet despite nearly 200 years of such work and many stand out examples, photo-poetry has not been widely recognised as a distinct genre.
Today there is a growing interest in this field, and to further encourage, support and draw attention to the possibilities of such combinations, we decided to launch a new pamphlet series called P5.
