Not So Ordinary
Deborah Marshall’s The Abstract Gaze
WENDY CLARKE
DEBORAH MARSHALL Ferry Road 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
STOP. Take a moment to inhabit the space where you are right now; breathe the aromas, isolate the sounds, observe the play of light, find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Deborah Marshall’s abstract glimpses remind us to appreciate the apparently insignificant by experiencing everyday life through contemplative observation. She is a visual magpie who is consistently attracted to scenes that most people walk by or over without a second glance.
Born and raised in Christchurch, Marshall has spent much time in Kaikōura with family and friends. Childhood days were spent rock-hopping on the peninsula staring down into the magical worlds of rockpools.
Those memories resurfaced when the artist struggled to find time to be creatively active. Swamped by work and life commitments, she re-fertilised her artistic vision, forcing herself to take time to study her local environment. Her commute became a purposeful walk, looking at details and capturing one picture a day. The custom has become a compulsion, a brief meditative interlude in a busy life to pause and appreciate the present.
The Abstract Gaze is a captivating series of photographs that provide unique impressions of a neighbourhood. The world is reflected in puddles and is peculiarly reminiscent of days treasure hunting in a constantly changing environment. Evaporation and altering light conditions make everything transitory; the photographer memorialises the impermanent, challenging her viewers to be still and cognisant of their surroundings.
Marshall’s perspective frames shimmering mirages and gravity defying realities that are themselves distorted and interrupted. Objects float precariously in space, inhabiting two planes simultaneously. The didactic surfaces speak metaphorically of a solid foundational existence, interrupted by bright, dream-like, unresolved scenarios that are tantalisingly inviting.
Each photograph serves as an aide-mémoire for Marshall, grounding her in the moment when the picture was taken, a reminder of what was happening and who else was in the vicinity. The collection thus serves as a true visual diary, pivotal in feeding her creative spirit and embedding links to her local community.
These images delight and confuse simultaneously as beneath blends with above. Somerfield Street traps branches, suspended in an inverted teardrop. Objects lean at oblique angles, the grey of the concrete melds with stormy skies, and floating foliage contributes a third layer. The muted palette of D Block, Madras Street evokes a Japanese painting with its smattering of leaves decorating the edges like blossom.
A surprising trait detected in several pictures is a small triangle sequestered in the corners. They generate an edge tension and hint at tableaux beyond the viewer’s reach.
The Abstract Gaze is an ongoing project that discerns beauty in the mundane and is reflective in composition, concept and contemplation.
DEBORAH MARSHALL D Block, Madras Street 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
DEBORAH MARSHALL Dundas Street 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
DEBORAH MARSHALL Somerfield Street 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
DEBORAH MARSHALL Hagley Netball Courts 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
DEBORAH MARSHALL Colombo Street 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.
DEBORAH MARSHALL Disraeli Street 2021 Pigment ink on paper, 150 x 150 mm.