Robert BEAN

ÉTUDE (POUR MAREY), Juin / June 2020

The project

The three images that comprise Étude (pour Marey) were made specifically for the exhibition Image...envoyée/ Image...Sent. The work is an homage to the French scientist and chronophotographer Étienne-Jules Marey (1830–1904). Marey’s time/motion photographs reveal the curious attributes of human perception in relation to temporality, movement and space. The multiple flights of a red-tailed hawk presented in Étude (pour Marey) are discontinuous and utilize non-linear moments that fragment temporality. The work considers the human relation to the environment, the atmosphere and the ancient divination associated with the flight of birds. The photographs used in the montage were made on June 1 & 16, 2020, during two visits to Caribou, Nova Scotia, to carefully visit friends during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.