Featured Artist: Russell de Moura (Bermuda Biennial 2014: A View From the Edge)

Living in a remote locale cultivates a need to make the most of what's around you, which inevitably promotes innovation. Or at least that's the way it used to be. Modern conventions and necessities have changed much of that and we now import all nature of things including foreign ideas. Because of this I believe we are losing our ability to think on our feet - something we once did so effectively. With this concept in mind I decided to set predefined boundaries within my digital environment and choice of subjects to force an exploration of the meaningful things close to my home. It quickly evolved into something quite personal.

As a result, old family snapshots, selections from my current photography collection and hand painted transparencies form the building blocks of each piece. The choice to reduce each image to high contrasting blacks allowed them to be read more as symbols revealing the bare essence of what they represent in each given scenario. This reductionist treatment of the imagery produces a kind of a half-truth.

This is a very ‘islander’ way of dealing with conflict. We passionately share our thoughts with friends and family, but in the public realm our convictions can sometimes become tempered and vague. This ambiguity is employed by design to protect the most important asset an islander can possess - a favorable reputation.

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