Brisbane Artist Series: Charlotte Tegan

Charlotte Tegan describes herself as a mixed bag. Like many creative professionals she wears multiple hats ranging from visual artist to curator, producer and writer. Her impressive CV includes stints at the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum and the Third Line Art Gallery, Dubai; a Master of Creative Industries from Queensland University of Technology; several curatorial projects and published writing; and current success as the Projects and Exhibitions Coordinator at Flying Arts Alliance, Inc. Although a natural creative, Charlotte’s trajectory towards her own practice was not clear-cut. Although expressing a desire to become an artist from a young age, this was stifled by a belief that artists were either starving or dead. As a result, she began studying science at the University of Queensland with plans to become a chemical engineer. Luckily, her plans were waylaid as she later switched majors to Art History and Media Studies and came back to herself. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Charlotte about her artistic practice, through which she demonstrates a preoccupation with both light and time through an exploration of analogue film photography. Charlotte works to expand our experience of expected and projected realities, juxtaposing these with actual physical spaces. Through her camera lens, she explores ideas about how these realities affect our lives and how we continually aim to manipulate them.

Charlotte Tegan, “Physical, Memory” (2014 – 15), manually manipulated 35mm film print. Image courtesy of the artist.

There are many terms in the English language that deal with memory. ‘Selective memory’, ‘Short term memory’, ‘Memory trigger’ are among a few examples. Charlotte herself has always been interested in memory and is proud of her own ability to easily recall figments of the past and rely on memory rather than note taking. While she is cognizant of memory loss in general, it is the way that humans re-call memories that are most intriguing to her and has formed the conceptual reasoning for her first major body of work, the aptly titled If memory serves.

Charlotte Tegan, “Physical, Memory” (2014 – 15), 35mm film print on plastic transparency. Image courtesy of the artist.

Composed of eight atmospheric landscape photographs shot with Charlotte’s 35mm analogue camera, this series explores our ‘under’ understood memory and how we remember. Through physically and digitally manipulated prints, charlotte investigates the ephemeral nature of memory and how we manipulate our reminiscences to serve ourselves. Each image is drawn from Charlotte’s personal archive of travel photos, allowing us to bear witness to the visual unravelling and distortion of her own memories. If memory serves encompasses two parts, Physical, Memory and Digital, Memory. In the former Charlotte plays with the physicality of the photographic medium by shredding, tearing and crumpling the prints. Just as external influence affects memories, the spliced parts move in the wind and eventually form new shapes, never to return to the pristine original. Along with their crumpled counterparts, these new shapes form ridges, folds and shadows just like the corners of the human mind.

Charlotte Tegan, “Digital, Memory” (2014 – 15), giclee print. Image courtesy of the artist

Conversely, Digital, Memory visually replicates memory manipulation through digital means. These images focus on the replication and repetition of memory through techniques such as inversion, mirroring and superimposing. Using a subtle hand, Charlotte subverts the central pane to confuse our perspective, hiding parts of the original image behind the selected sections and making the final product more visually appealing and symmetrical than the original. The final outcome is a suite of pictures that represent our destined human behaviour – regardless of how conscious we may be of it or how hard we may fight against it.

Charlotte Tegan, “Digital, Memory” (2014 – 15), giclee print. Image courtesy of the artist.

A theoretical approach to human behaviour is a theme that runs through the conceptual reasoning behind Charlotte’s practice. As begun in If memory serves, this theme is continued in her forthcoming series, entitled Signal. Although still under development, Charlotte revealed that Signal will be an intimate investigation of how we live our lives through the filter of technology. The series responds to her morbid fascination with technology and its destructive aspects, creating a backlash against our constant connection and availability. The absurdity of how quickly modern technology has shaped our experiences is a mentality that will be evoked through a series of photographs set in rural Queensland. I look forward to the completion of Signal and witnessing further expansion of Charlotte’s practice. If, If memory serves is anything to go by, she has an exciting future ahead of her. Charlotte Tegan will be exhibiting photographic works at the Hold Artspace, Brisbane from 22 April to 2 May and at Aspire Gallery, Brisbane from 8 April to 25 April. As a finalist in the Milburn Art Prize exhibition at the Brisbane Institute of Art (BIA), Charlotte will be part of the group exhibition from 1 to 13 May. All details on her website.