Steph
Brandt’s Artist Statement
As a photographer I am
inspired by past, pain and the super natural. As a 26 year old female with
plenty of emotional baggage and an unfortunate past, I have chosen to let my
past go, with a photographic interest that redirects my stress and energy from
my own life toward those whom are no longer living their lives.
The past can be a dark
and scary place; discovering those who lost their lives and might still be
walking among us, somehow makes my life seem mundane; how can I be stressed
about the little to severe? When there are spirits of those that have passed,
co-existing with the undead, sharing stories that triumph any other.
I am recreating an
enthralling space that borders the same level of anxiety and stress that other
aspects of life can bring, but toned down to a black and white subject matter
than isn’t so personal to me. Layered photographs of my own hauntings, lost in
someone else’s. I tone the photographs to black and white as it relates to my
once diagnosis of a black and white personality, unable to see the gray area. I
am forcing layers together to push forth that gray area that I was told I
couldn’t see on my own. For some these places and experiences are very real and
personal. For me, it is an interest in exploring the lives of those less
fortunate than myself, because I am still alive and I still have time.
I use the spaces as a
therapeutic environment, capturing current photos of popularly discussed
haunted places, retelling the story as a photographic space to enter, a story
that so many people share. Let go of
one’s own life and experience the pain and never dying journey of someone
else’s. Layered in the black and white compositions is the word
“re-visualization,” a strikingly personal word for me or anyone who has been
through trauma and asked to “re-visualize” the situation and share what one
sees. Recalling mental images and making them visible, I hide my own
visualizations deep within someone else’s.
Since
the beginning of my interest in photography, I have been inspired by the black
and white photographs of Anthony Goicolea and his raw photographs that deal
with issues of androgyny, homosexuality, and child sexuality. In my most recent
years I have been inspired by Cole Thompson, who masters fine art black and
white photographs and also dabbles in spirit photography.
Looking at the
photographs, I draw myself into the space, the haunted, the eerie, the
unknown….anything to escape my own world and remind myself that I still have
time here, time to help others, time to be happy, time to share experiences
like no other through the eye of a lens. Standing in front of the images wasn’t
enough; I wanted to be there even when I wasn’t, I wanted the viewer to see my
presence, myself looking in on painful past covered in the hauntings of
Milwaukee.
