Collaborative Photos by Julia Coash & Phillip Jones

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Our collaborative photography project began in Charlottesville, Va. We had exhibited our artwork at the same gallery and had similar backgrounds in photography, drawing, painting, and set design. 

At this time, Coash was working on paintings that were abstractions referencing found objects like tomato cages, paper cones, darts, etc., and was concerned with the archaeology of our cultural debris. Jones was at work on both figurative paintings and photographs of industrial landscapes. 

When Jones was preparing for a yard sale, we discussed the idea of photographing some of the weirder objects before they were sold. We began juxtaposing unlikely combinations of objects within the same composition, developing surreal dialogues between the forms. We continued by mining objects gleaned from our personal collections of miscellanea, from junkyards (metal tailings, etc.), flea markets, and even from debris found on sidewalks, in the woods (pods, leaves, and caterpillar nests), or trash bins. No place or thing was off-limits. 

The hunt for compositional elements had an “open season”. We found excitement in keeping our art connected to the routine aspects of our daily lives. Like, “Wow! I found the coolest smashed plastic doll face on the sidewalk today!”

The photographs are captured on 4x5” black and white fine-grained film. We enjoy exploiting the photograph’s power to transform the commonplace into something more mysterious. By placing objects in atmospheric environments or submerging them in aquariums full of goo, they become less familiar and more enigmatic. 

Our roles are interchangeable. We begin by setting up an environment or tableau and take turns inserting objects and materials, alternating who will take the lead, like a game of visual chess. At intervals, we stop, assess the set-up, discuss the composition, lighting, make adjustments, and shoot several exposures. 

Our goal is to create tension between the literal and the abstract. Recognizable forms allow access into the works, while the abstract elements invite interpretation. Painterly associations are evoked with flourishes of wrinkled fabrics or appear, creating gestural movements, while wirers and vines animate the surface like drawn marks. Scrims, layering, and manipulated lighting draw on our backgrounds in set design and provide spatial depth and potential narratives. 

In sum, we liken ourselves to alchemists transforming the ordinary into something more meaningful. We hope to compel each viewer to project their own associations and reading into the mysterious and enigmatic worlds captured in our photographs.