Twice - Sharon Morris

Although this publication is not strictly a retrospective of Helen Sear's work, it examines her two ongoing bodies of work - the photographically based double portrait series: "Twice", "Once" and the digital animal landscapes series "Grounded" in the context of her earlier i nstallation, performance and constructed photographic work. The central theme is the relationship between fine art, photography and digital art and the book explores an art practice that draws on a singular approach to conceptual image making and language. Essays by David Bate and Sharon Morris respond to Sear's work from the perspective of art/photographic critical theory and psychoanalytic theory - drawing heavily on a Freudian and post-Freudian perspective. Both writers are also artists of the same generation as Sear, and this close alignment also informs their responses. Sharon Morris examines Sear's work by closely connecting it with the photographs of Surrealist artist Claude Cahun, whilst David Bate explores ideas of the Arcadian landscape and notions of the sublime and picturesque.