Wonder Foto Day評審講評 - Pam Virada B.

「每一件作品都反映了一段記憶。我們擁有我們的記憶，我們喜歡重複的一遍又一遍、逐層的反芻它們，或是選取其中一段，看著它在空中漂浮，模糊、飛舞、再逐漸的淡去。」

2018 Wonder Foto Day Grand Prix／張雯評審獎得主－Pam Virada B.
文字／張雯（藝術學者／收藏家）

我承認初見 Pam Virada 的作品時，其實並沒有放太多的注意力在上面。在她的展示桌面上分散擺著許多小小的物件，當然一點也不壯觀，甚至是很難令人注意到的。或換句話說，那些是攝影作品嗎？

然而在我稍作逗留一陣後，卻被她令人驚嘆的觀點所吸引：透明幻燈片。她所使用的媒介、主題、以及關於攝影的意義，都隨著透明幻燈片所進化。

作品：回憶是她重製學生時代時的照片，印在小小的幻燈片上，有著多層的層次。有些有著鮮明的顏色，有些是已褪色的黑白色調。

因為這個作品只能在使用光源投影的時候被看見，所以當參訪者試圖要拍下這個系列作品呈現時的照片時是無法做到的。
裝幀在透明的框當中，透過窗框顯象，或直接刻在背景上。而牆壁卻同時也是半透明的。這是一個纖細又精緻的多層次作品。

「這個作品是否像是類似記事的型態？」我問到。
「是的，我希望可以保留關於某些地區的回憶，那些情境。現在我正在探索新的方式來輸出這些影像。」

Pam向我展示她現在正在進行的實驗作品：印在一塊纖細、有光澤的長方形布料上。它並不是一個完美的標準長方形，Pam說是她自己進行的布邊處理。在這塊半透明的布料的中間，建築物的一部份，一扇窗戶、幾扇窗戶、一塊屋頂....中間有一塊白色的正方形在其中。

將這些直線與形狀呈現在一塊不完美的長方形布料上....將它掛在空中，這塊長方形賦予了圖像動態，模糊的、舞動的、漸漸淡去，就像是一段記憶。

就像班雅明所指出，藝術作品是可以複製的。但科技技術所複製的藝術作品「正在強烈的無限增加」，即是如此造成了藝術作品被崇拜價值的貶值。

攝影實際上正是一種以機械複製自然型態的藝術作品，同時因為身處於數位時代，我們正活在大量進行複製圖像的年代。

社群媒體解放了圖像被無限的製作、使用與複製。所以在某種形式上精確來說，像Pam這樣的幻燈片作品的獨特性與吸引人之處，正是在於它是無法被再拍下，用手機螢幕秀給你的朋友看的。因為那樣便毫無意義。

這是一個需要實際在現實中觀看的作品！它所選擇材料的觀點，也正反映了作品的主題，也是它的目標：與回憶的再次連結。回憶這個容易消散、凋零的部份在物質上會失去，但它會持續的留存、徘徊、縈繞或陪伴在我們身邊。

Pam的作品都相當獨特，同時是無法複製的。每一件作品都反映了一段記憶。我們擁有我們的記憶，我們喜歡重複的一遍又一遍、逐層的反芻它們，或是選取其中一段，看著它在空中漂浮，模糊、飛舞、再逐漸的淡去。這正是Pam所精確的建構出來，帶給我們的藝術經驗。

When I first saw Pam Virada’s work, I did not pay too much attention, I must admit. There were tiny things here and there spread on her table, not spectacular for sure, and barely even noticeable. Actually, were those photographic works?

Then I had to linger, and I was captured by the striking aspect of her work: transparency. The medium she chooses, the themes, and the meaning of the photographs all evolve around transparency. Memories, memories are what she has been reproducing since she was a student, with images printed on small slides, in several layers, some with vibrating colours, some in a fading black and white. It is impossible for the visitor like me to take picture of this serie, of course, as they are to be seen only in the light. Casted in transparent frames, the windows pictured, or carved on some pieces open directly to the background, whereas the walls are translucid. A delicate and sophisticated work on superimposition. 

“Oh, it’s like a journal of some kind” I said, “Yes, I wanted to keep those memories of the places, the moments, and now I am exploring new ways of printing those images”.
Pam ran to show me her current experimentation: printing on a slightly shinny rectangle of fabric. The rectangle is not perfect, she hemmed it herself she said. In the middle of this, translucid, fabric, a part of a building, a window, several windows, a roof… with a white square somewhere in the middle.  Straight lines and forms on a non-perfect rectangular fabric… Once hanging in the air, the rectangle gives movement to the image, blurry, dancing, and fading, like a memory.
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As Walter Benjamin pointed out, the work of art has always been reproducible, but the technological reproduction of artworks « is now being adopted with ever-increasing intensity », thus devaluating art pieces. Photography is actually a form of art which mechanically reproducible by nature, and since the digital age, we live in an era of massive reproduction of images. The social media has unleashed an unlimited production, use and reproduction of pictures. So in a way, one of the specificities and fascinating part of Pam’s work on transparency is precisely that it is not easy to be photographed, and shown on a phone to your friends. It is just meaningless to do so. Well, it is art that needs to be seen in real ! And this material aspect of it reflects its theme, its goal, to reconnect with memories, with this evanescent part of us which has lost materiality but remains, lingers, haunts us or accompany us. Pam’s works are all unique, and not reproducible, because each piece reflects a memory. We own our memories, we like to flip through them, slide by slide, layers over layers, or we can pick one and stare at it floating in the air, blurry, dancing, and fading. This is precisely what Pam builds upon and brings to us as an artistic experience.