Using long exposures, swift camera movements and cropping, Lawler creates abstract images of this well-known motif, which seems to vanish before the viewer’s eyes like a blurry memory—transcendent images that perpetually move and shift. By adding a ‘swiped’ effect to each photo, Lawler has taken her long standing investigation into the making of pictures yet further. The verb ‘to swipe’ refers to the omnipresent gesture of our time which nods to the ephemeral nature of an image as well as to the way we consume visual information today. Additionally, the works are cropped specifically to a 16:9 aspect ratio, the same as contemporary television broadcasts, putting the images in a familiar fast-paced format. These analog manipulations comment on both the distorted perception of reality and the fast-paced flood of images that marks everyday life in the digital era.
Sprüth Magers
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