Bridget Collins is an artist and musician born in Minneapolis, MN. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
About Olly Olly Oxen Free – words by Bridget Collins:
“The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory—precession of simulacra—that engenders the territory” – Jean Baudrillard, Simulations
“What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness? …That is the question. The only certainty is: the lightness/weight opposition is the most mysterious, most ambiguous of all.” – Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I remember watching the golden light of the afternoon sun burst through the windows and envelope a photograph framed on the wall –– then disappear as quickly as it appeared. At first glance, the light appears fleeting and the photograph permanent –– but the photograph is an imitation of reality, a representation of a moment long since passed, and the sun rises and falls with spectacular predictability. Why does the photograph feel more real than the light?
Similarly, a map feels trusted and certain. But the map, printed on paper, eventually fades and falls apart. Tectonic plates shift, shorelines erode, and it makes one wonder if a map can ever represent reality –– of which change is the only constant –– at all.
My work explores this inherent tension between the permanent and the ephemeral. In my photographs, I pair the manufactured and natural, sentimental and utilitarian, extraordinary and banal, in an attempt to deconstruct hierarchical thinking and find the deep connection that exists between everything.
For me, this is the process of unlearning loneliness.
