Kristen Willson

Form + Camaraderie.

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I have participated in track and field for 8 years; it is something that totally encapsulates my life. I find that even when I have time for leisure to do other things besides track, my mind wanders to the fieldhouse. I think of repetition, and how this relates to the nature of sport in general. I became increasingly sensitive to the repetition of form within objects, such as training tools, or the fieldhouse itself. I also became conscious of the variances in form between different thrower’s techniques to complete an event. From my participation in track and field I have become conscious of changes in form, correct or incorrect configurations of the body, and the architecture.

 

The more I shot with my camera the more my attention was honed to forms I had overlooked as an athlete. Utilizing an objective photo style, I entered the locker room to see what I could uncover. In Locker Grid I utilized the repetition within colors in the locker room to signify the camaraderie of a team through abundance of certain colors that unite them. In both grids, even though every locker is the same locker, the things inside them can both define people, and yet join them together. Everyday each teammate enters the locker room; it is the shared yet individual space, where the teammate identifies as an individual person, but also as a member of the team through the signs of the locker room. They are part of the system, yet there is variation.

 

In the Triptychs of Portraits series, individuals function within the fieldhouse. The Fieldhouse is a location with an excess of structures: the structure of the building itself, the structure coaches practice plans, implements and training tools, and the idealized way of completing a throw. Even within all of this structure there are variations. In the Triptychs and Motion Series I was demonstrating variations through the preparation of different throwing events. I used formal methods such as ghosting, gridding, and manipulation to showcase how individuals function with and against these structures.

 

When shooting the structure of the field houses and track meets I was struck by Candida Hofer’s work. She took straight on shots of the interior of buildings to showcase the audacity of their structures. Upon shooting my Fieldhouse and Ceiling series I found that the structures that used to appear mundane became increasingly important. I found myself thinking of mobiles and modern art with this series and also my Training Tool Grid. Bits of color seem to detach and become their own separate entity, and the forms are similar to sculpture and painting. This relationship demonstrates the repetitive nature of art and modernity and the activity in track and field. The modern forms are utilitarian and yet are similar to the installation art of Mona Hatoum, or even the modern paintings of Sol Lewitt. In my exhibition Form + Camaraderie I showcase how all of the structure and repetition in track and field unites and functions as one system, as one team.

 

                                                       -Kristen Linder '14

                                                        Artist Statement