Olga Mesmer

Olga Mesmer is a visual artist specialising in the creation of moving imagery. Her body of work spans a wide range of media from film short through to installation-based video work. The primary focus of much of Olga's work explores the relationship between humans and nature, the latter being a major source of her inspiration. Strong themes such as mortality and the natural circle of death and rebirth feature throughout. Through the predominant use of visual symbolism, and the employment of surrealist perspectives and concepts, her work builds upon observations and documentation of the natural world to create new and innovative vistas. Further enhanced by experimental soundscapes, her arts work offers a unique and engaging perspective of the natural world around and within us all.

[F]LIGHT

[f]light is a four and a half minute experimental film that explores the world from the point of view of a moth. The work is constructed from a continuous sequence of photographic still images interspersed with short periods of video. While creating a visually interesting juxtaposition, the two modes of image capture, when placed together, act to highlight the change between flight and perambulation. The film begins in the darkness of a suburban garden at night, and from there the viewer is taken on a journey of macro-photographic discovery as the insect is drawn to the brightness of a light bulb in the distance. Unlike the passive observation of conventional cinema, [f]light simultaneously recasts the camera as both observer and performer, creating the illusion of it [the camera] being alive. In constant motion, the camera is traveling through the space, constantly moving, panning and shifting focus, performing as if a moth, and showing everything it sees. The predominance of close-up shots, carefully selected lenses, and the use of very controlled depth-of-field, changes viewer's perception of size and scale, creating the illusion of even the tiniest objects being very large and revealing the smallest detail or texture.

UKYA PROJECTS:

National Biennale: Derby 2010