by deryck | Aug 17, 2017 | fine art, life, photography
“Allier, à la recherche de soi” [Allier, in search of self], is a fine art photography project created in the Allier region of France in 2015.
The body of work is a self-reflection, a time of deep internal turmoil and soul-searching, at a crossroads in life, decisions that will change the course of life forever.
The artworks in this series are collectible original 1/1 giclée prints available to BUY through Saatchi Art. There are no editions. The artist’s final proof becomes the final signed artwork if I approve it. All other works leading up to the final artwork are destroyed.
The body of work is a self-reflection, a time of deep internal turmoil and soul-searching, at a crossroads in life, decisions that will change the course of life forever.
Sometimes the loneliest road is the road we travel surrounded by people, oblivious.
The landscapes were created alone. Whilst wandering and wondering alone. An attempt to capture and portray the inner turmoil I felt whilst at the same time paying homage to Allier, a region of great beauty.
The intention is for the viewer to question, both the medium and the expression. The medium is chosen to confuse and delight, with the appearance of a water colour painting but the realism of a photograph.
There is a 7cm white border surrounding the print that means that the actual image size is 87.6cm high x 131.4cm wide with the total artwork size being 101.6cm high x 145.4cm wide. I title and sign the final original approved print in this border.
There is only one original 1 of 1 artwork per scene, Giclée print on Museum grade 310 g.s.m. 100% cotton fine art and photo paper, with beautifully warm off-white tones and extreme texture. One final collectible original artwork is created, printed to archival standards.
I reserve the right to use copies of the artworks for self promotional purposes, editorial and publishing use but guarantee not to print another fine art copy of the work. Should you choose to buy an artwork you are buying the artwork itself, not the intellectual property to the artwork. The copyright remains mine, my Human Right, for the sake of humanity. Should the artwork be damaged, lost or destroyed it will remain just so.
by deryck | Aug 15, 2017 | fine art, life, photography
50point5 is a fine art photography project that examines the barriers that divide the people of South Africa as a result of apartheid. It is a project of love and loathing that I have been working on for over seven years.Love for the people of South Africa and the art of photography. Loathing for apartheid and what it did to the people.
The images were created along the 50.5km route from my former home in Vredehoek, Cape Town, South Africa, to a private university in Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa, where I lectured in photography on a part time basis for five years. The route took approximately 45 minutes to drive, depending on traffic, giving me time to observe and think. The reality of post apartheid South Africa is blatantly clear along this route with the route running from affluent areas, overlooking the former District Six leaving Cape Town, townships, past the Cape Town International Airport, more townships, farmlands in the wine route, finally arriving at the office park where the university is based that overlooks an access controlled private residential golf estate surrounded by electrified fencing and patrolled by armed guards.
The gap between the haves and the have nots is extreme with the poor living in abject poverty in shacks, entire families sharing a shack, whole communities sharing rows of prefabricated toilets and communal water stand pipes. Serious crimes like rape and murder occur daily, seldom, if ever, featured in the news. The police are so overworked that criminals literally get away with murder. Shack fires occur frequently often destroying hundreds of shacks per fire, the people losing everything they own in the fires. Education at the majority of township schools is poor with teachers often not arriving for work, teen pregnancies high and violence commonplace. The government’s answer to the education crisis in South Africa was to lower the pass rate required to finish high school so that more pupils matriculate.
The wealthy live in luxury protected by private security companies, often in access controlled electrified fenced private estates patrolled by armed guards. Domestic servants (gardeners and maids) come from the surrounding townships to work for the wealthy, often for minimum wage, returning to the townships in the evenings. The extreme in this daily journey from township to private luxury back to township must be mind bending, driving home the inequality as a result of apartheid.
The project comprises of a BOOK of 50 and a half images as well as limited edition fine art gicleé prints, available in a series of a maximum of five prints per image.
Read more about the project here.
by deryck | Feb 16, 2014 | fine art, inspirational, life
Sex sells. We know it does.
Every day we’re bombarded with images and footage of sexy people telling us we’re not them. We want to be, aspire to be, but never will be. No matter how hard we try we’re never good looking enough, slim enough, fit enough. We’re not wearing the right labels, or the labels we’re wearing are sooo last season.
We’re dissatisfied with ourselves. We feel like we’re never good enough, never cool enough, never have enough.
Even our Marxist/Socialist Freedom Fighters who ‘fought’ for the ‘liberation’ of this country have become reborn capitalists, the ideas and principles they ‘fought’ for, ‘suffered’ for, have been discarded like a used, government issue condom that was stapled to a HIV/AIDS awareness leaflet. Now it’s all about labels for them. ‘Their people’ can wait.
Banksy‘s artwork of the soft drink bottle (the one that promises an amazing lifestyle all over the world but in truth is so incredibly bad for you) with his message forming it’s outline is well worth the read. It’s been said that the art of advertising is to encourage a consumer to buy a product or service that they don’t necessarily need in such a way that their life feels incomplete if they don’t. Banksy was on the button.
The thing is that there’s this insatiable monster called ‘progress’. When things have been ‘improved’ we need to know about it. Right? Someone has to tell us that the latest car uses less fuel, is more biodegradable, has a smaller carbon footprint. And they need to tell us in a way that will capture our attention so that we get the message. Right?
So if we kill advertising then how will we know? Whatever ‘new’ solution we come up with is just another form of advertising.
Perhaps the solution is to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help I Jah. Super models are sexy. So is a Ferrari although how many of us want to, realistically, honestly, drive a Ferrari every day? How many of us can afford to?
Western Capitalism is based on ‘ownership mentality’. We become slaves to debt to be able to say “What do you think of MY new car/house/clothes/etc?” when in truth it does not belong to us until paid for in full. The entire Western Capitalist financial system is based on this, on getting us into debt and keeping us there, making us slaves to that debt.
One of the fundamental differences between the rich and the poor is that poor people work for money whilst rich people make their money work for them. Rich people know that one of the secrets to wealth creation is not getting into debt. Debt costs far more than most investments can return.
So why were we not taught this in school? Or by our parents? Or by anyone else who cared enough to share this with us? Why do my childrens ‘savings’ accounts cost more in monthly bank charges than the ‘interest’ they receive?
Let’s follow Banksy’s example and tell the truth. Let’s educate our children about the truth of this world. Let’s teach them that money is not the root of all evil but the love of money is. Money is a tool to be used wisely. Let’s teach them the truth about debt traps and how much debt truly costs. Let’s change this twisted, greed ridden system from the inside out. Let’s be the change we want to see in the world.
We know that the glitz and glam is just erotic soft porn designed to turn us on, fill us with lust for something that we actually don’t really need, that in truth will not necessarily improve our human experience. Humanity is about people. It is not about selling ourselves and those around us for the next best thing. It’s about caring for and helping one another for the greater good. The greater good being the true happiness of humanity as a whole. I cannot help but wonder how we justify selling a house for R300 million when 30km away people go to bed in a leaking shack, hungry. How do we justify CEOs earning so much more than the leaders of countries whilst their staff on the floor struggle to put food on the table?
It was greed that plunged the world into the ‘financial crisis’ we find ourselves in. The greed of people who did not care about the consequence of their actions and profited ridiculously from it whilst the rest of us carry the cost. We are still paying for that greed.
It’s time for a new way of thinking. Thinking based on love and mutual respect. It’s time for truth, transparency and accountability. It’s time for big business to conduct it’s affairs ethically and to make the state of humanity more important than the pursuit of maximum profit.
We are no longer consumers, conned by slick lines and psychological marketing tricks. We’re now prosumers, proactive about the way we spend our hard earned money. Let’s demand the truth. In everything. About everything. For the sake of the future of our home, Mother Earth.
It’s time for change.
