Eye to Eye VIII
– Monologues and Art by Becca Thorne and Jeffrey F. Barken –
The following interactive series of photographs, monologues and polls continues the international collaboration begun in our 2021, “Visibility” themed edition of Monologging. I initially embarked upon this venture with UK-based photographer, Simon Ashmore, in late 2020. Via Twitter, we had invented a speaking game geared at exploring the ever-daunting process of titling photographs. Our ambition was to muse openly about each other’s work and to record spontaneous monologues on our phones during spirited Zoom calls. “Eye to Eye,” as we came to call the project, was at once a revelatory experience. Not only did our spoken stream-of-consciousness evoke individual artistic processes, and foundational inspirations, we were equally spell-bound to hear each other interpret new imagery upon first glance. Challenged to steer our monologues to culminate in the proposal of two possible titles for each image, we planned to invite readers to decide between the four titles we’d come up with together in online polls. This year we’ve expanded our vision for “Eye to Eye” to go beyond the realm of photography, including other expressive, visual arts media. We were pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Canadian artist Laura Kerr and Ireland-based artist, Becca Thorne. The below presentation pairs Becca’s work with mine. Viewers are invited to tour a unique gallery, listen to the featured artists muse collaboratively about possible titles for work, and then to provide a decisive verdict in the accompanying polls. Thanks for playing!
– Jeffrey F. Barken
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Becca Thorne is a self-taught artist based in rural Ireland. Her subjects are varied, but predominantly inspired by nature and the environment: the shapes, textures and colours of the landscape, from mountains to oceans. Becca enjoys working with fairly diverse media: graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolour and acrylic, mixing figurative and abstract. The latter are often expressions of emotions, born out of a life-time of learning to live with c-PTSD. Becca’s hope, above all, is that her work will draw the observer in, provoke questions and evoke emotions.
Jeffrey F. Barken is an author, photographer, and the creator of Monologging.org. Follow his “open journal” on Twitter and Instagram for a window into his creative process and to join in collaborative ventures. A list of his recent publications is available here.