Doherty
examines and deconstructs the representation of his homeland and its people,
using the tools and languages of the news media,
producing photographs, video
and audiovisual installations.
In the photograph
'Critical Distance' (right), the dusk shot of the city is actually taken
from the point of view of surveillance cameras. From this position, the
viewer becomes involved in the act of monitoring the scene, along with
the security forces. The camera/viewer's point of view is used to great
effect again in the video installation 'The Wrong Place'. Here we follow
the camera as it moves down a darkened staircase and travels through an
abandoned building, illuminated only by the videocamera's light, as if
searching for something. The effect is enhanced by the sound of footsteps.
At the end of the sequence the footsteps break into a run, the screen
plunges into darkness and a moment later, the search begins again. Here
the codes of documentary and fiction film blur into a narrative which
prompts us to question any notion of photographic truth.
The presentation of
Doherty's work is central to its meaning, the video installations in particular
requiring precise staging, where possible in consultation with the artist.
His projections are large scale, often taking up several walls or the
corner of a room to enclose the viewer. His photographs too are large
scale, the apparent emptiness of each scene becoming magnified. On the
surface they appear calm and still, but because of their location, there
is a sense barely concealed chaos. Their silence reminds us of the broadcasting
ban from 1988-94, when the words and voices of Republicans were banned
from the British media, and of the desperate need for dialogue between
all sides of the conflict.
In much of Doherty's
work, people are conspicuous by their absence, as in the video piece above
or the photograph, 'The Outskirts', where the car tire marks suggest that
a car skidded passed, although the frame is now empty. In some ways the
viewer stands in for all those absent people. A recent exhibition of Doherty's
work at the Tate Gallery, Liverpool,entitled 'Somewhere Else', served
to commemorate all the people who have suffered loss in this conflict
and to remind us that this place and these events are inextricably linked
with our own lives, in mainland Britain.
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Doherty, 'Critical
Distance', col. photograph,1997 (3)
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"The best example
for me is Bloody Sunday in Derry when, as a 12-year-old, I witnessed 13
people being shot, and then to be told afterwards it didn't happen. It
was an incredibly influential experience, it was very clearly crystallised
that all those photographs were unreliable." Willie
Doherty
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