I have always considered Shadow World to be something somewhat different than a conventional documentary. My concept for the series came from a desire to document a certain overlooked reality, but without focusing on the factual specifics of that location. Instead, I chose to focus on what made that location both unique as well as universal, eschewing narrative and message for observation and formal balance as well as a personal connection with the environment and subjects. The inception of Shadow World came out of my relation to the moment through my background as a painter, the attention to minute details and how hey relate to each other to shape a moment in time. Time being one element that video allows me to explore and manipulate in a way that painting has not.
Shadow World also comes out of my need to challenge my everyday existence by actually connecting to the place that I exist in daily. To abandon any preconceived ideas about how people are by capturing and exploring the moments that they offer to me. By bringing that moment forward by exhibiting it online and in galleries, I am allowing it to take on new meanings and interpretations.
The process is fairly straightforward. I walk the streets under the El tracks, camera and tripod in hand, mostly concentrating on the play and power that the El structure has on the buildings and streets below. I stop at points where I feel that its impact is the strongest, allowing the trains and the tracks to be the one reoccurring character that forces itself into each moment. The people I talk to are all strangers. I try to let them steer the conversation. There isn’t much (if any) prying to get them to tell me their stories. The intent is to appreciate that moment of interaction - whether something is revealed to me, a stranger, or not.
The moments I capture are boiled down to three to four minute episodes. The straight cuts and removal of my own presence, all manufactured to create as close to a real-time depiction of that moment as possible, aiming to put the audience in my shoes as much as I can – challenging the audience to leave judgment behind and connect with these strangers as I have tried to, to appreciate the beauty and poetry in the shadows of everyday life.
Shadow World is an ongoing series, which I have allowed to grow and change with time. The decision to post the episodes, as I make them, on a blog was always integral to the project. In addition to allowing the viewers to follow the evolution of the project, it presents the opportunity for viewers from all perspectives to watch and leave feedback, creating instant dialogue that becomes part of the artwork as a whole. The videos are also displayed in gallery installations, both contextualizing them as art pieces as well as offering a communal location that comments upon the intensity of those spaces under the El tracks.
David S Kessler