Abby Storey

In The Analogue, Abby Storey examines the relationship between the photographer and the subject, as well as the relationship between humanity and nature. The series is an extension of Observer, where the photographer’s silhouette was transferred via stencil and spray paint. In The Analogue, the photographer is shown as a transparent figure, her head bowed over the camera and eternally photographing that which we cannot see.

The project speaks of humanity’s increasing isolation from the environment. Although we have come from the land our contemporary and urban experience somehow detaches us from it. Storey suggests that most nature is experienced through a lens, both literally; through photography, television and video, and figuratively; through the lens of our lifestyles and experiences.

The girl photographer, placed in various natural landscapes, is an acrylic cutout silhouette of Storey. The girl acts to represent humanity and to provide the lens through which we have come to view the natural world. Both physically and metaphorically, she is a direct product of developed human society, made by an industrial process and synthetic material, which will last many lifetimes. Through this woman-made object Storey provides a portal through which the space between humanity and nature can be negotiated and experienced.