Strangely Familiar

Four black and white photographs mounted on a digital white background, edited on Photoshop

For this brief I created a four image series that highlights how “strangely familiar” day-to-day mundanity can be. I personally have found it easy to get encapsulated by my daily routine, and almost have a visual block towards anything other than what I am used to experiencing. 

When investigating familiarity, I found the artist John Riddy. I was particularly interested in his concept of creating a photograph to appear familiar, and making himself familiar with the environment he is shooting in. In the Tate interview, ‘John Riddy: The Poetry of Places,’ Riddy discusses his principle when taking photos; “The picture’s got to simply have a self-contained existence, it has to trigger things to do with after images, memories, other places you’ve been and it can only do that when it’s fluid.”

This inspired my thinking when interpreting what is “strangely familiar” to me. I reflected on my own daily routine, and I quickly realised that my days seemed to blend together. I had difficulty distinguishing between each week day, and I knew that this was what I was going to be documenting. The photos have an eight second shutter speed and the figure is blurred, with most of his features being unrecognisable. This alludes to the blur between days and routine, and the mundanity that many can feel within their existence. It also links to the visual block I can sometimes feel towards the future of my life and the unexpected. Although the figure is blurred, I think the first and last photos are the clearest, which emphasises the ability many have to continue with their familiar routines. 

From this creative aspect, the images are strangely familiar, as the figure is my brother who I am creating to be viewed in a strangely familiar way to what I know. His silhouette is somewhat familiar behind the distortion, yet he also looks very different and foreign to me.