Sarah Dowker Cumbria, United Kingdom
I'm Sarah, I am an artist that lives and works in the UK. Most of my work is photography and audio-visual based, I use photographs and film that I have taken at places of historical significance. Which I manipulate to create a false glitch. The themes in my work are history, truth, narratives and psychogeography. All of which are present all of my work in some way.
Within my work I focus on the museology of history within places of historical ‘significance’ primarily stately homes, but also museums. I am drawn to and intrigued by these places of interest because of the way that people interact with what they are seeing.
I find when visiting stately homes, that there is often a bare minimum of facts offered to the visitor. The information gives you a rather stunted idealistic version of what it was actually like as a home or workplace and what living in such a place was really like. Which is something that I personally find fascinating.
I primarily create audio-visual pieces using my own photographs and videos taken at places of historical significance. I also write and voice my own scripts that are based on facts that I build fictionally on to create a false historical narrative. The facts are usually from information at the places I visit (such as audio guides/guidebooks), as well as from history books and documentaries. I am fascinated in how people will take something as fact when presented in a factual manner or from a position of authority and play on that within my work.
I create false glitches, using my photography and videos taken at places of historical significance, to visually represent the falseness of such places. As the are presented to show just one or a few parts of history. They pick and chose what to show and tell the public that visit them. Which is why I like to alter historical narratives in my scripts and voice overs for my video pieces.
