Currently open (for a while longer at least, having formally opened in mid-November!) at the ground level gallery NovaOwl, operated and curated by ULi Jansma, Ceakay Ballyhoo & Owl Dragonash, is a small exhibition of Second Life photographic art by Lisa Dartmouth entitled See Through My Eyes.
The collection presents a baker’s dozen of images Lisa has put together, representing twelve of the places she has visited during her journeys through Second Life. For those – like myself – who are fellow travellers / explorers, these are places instantly recognisable by name, being some of the most enduring and photogenic spots in-world, popular for both their appearance and the fact that those responsible for them remain every willing to re-invent them and provide new visions and imaginings to be explored and appreciated, or for bring the beauty of the physical world to SL.
Thus, among this selection we can find Panjin with it brilliant “ref beach” growths of Suaeda salsa (see here for more), Whimberley, Grauland, Bella’s Lullaby, 80 Days (in its Wild West iteration, Wind River) and Elvion (featured twice in the exhibition), all of which have appeared in these pages multiple times over the years, thus imbuing for me, a real sense of attachment / recognition with Lisa’s work.
The displayed images are beautifully framed and cropped, with a lightness of post-processing to allow the natural beauty of the regions they represent to show through. Each one is also gently personalised by Lisa through the appearance of her avatar making her way through each location, generally (but not exclusively) on horseback. Further depth of touch is given to several of the images through the inclusion of 3D elements which help extend their presence into the gallery: a grass-tufted dune with feeding Avocets flowing outwards from the sandy expanse of Arum; a growth of yellow nanohana watched over by a scarecrow drawing the eye to the fields of rapeseed at Whimberley; a tall lighthouse sitting between coastal shots of Bella’s Lullaby and Fall @ Florence, and so on.
All of which makes See Through My Eyes both a personal personal retrospective by the artists and a veritable catalogue of reasons why exploring Second life can be so rewarding for the virtual traveller.
SLurl Details
- Lisa Dartmouth at NovaOwl (Novatron, rated General)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 