Artist's Statement

Jeremy Chandler

Spotted At First-Light is a body of photography and video works comprised of allegorical imagery and performance documentation. The title alludes to themes of passive searching and laying-in-wait, which run throughout. Male figures are pictured embedded in a variety of terrain, engaged in moments of still introspection, seemingly in cryptic dialogue with one another and the landscape. Through a cultivated visual language that references methods utilized by hunting and military culture, the work aims to subvert ritualistic expressions of masculinity and to poetically disarm otherwise weaponized techniques, converting them into benign aesthetic devices. Using my camera as a stage, I often incorporate props, costuming, lighting and cinematic composition techniques, creating windows for the viewer to enter. Thus, the landscape becomes a character within the narratives and is used as both a setting and medium for communication.