John Lister, III was born in Shreveport, LA in 1985 on July 8th. Lister spent a majority of his life between Maryland and Louisiana. He claims his first stint at creating, was at a very young age with his food, i.e. oatmeal. The child would take his toddler hands and draw abstractly in the overturned bowl remnants of oatmeal. Upon seeing this, his educator of a grandmother Ella D. Douglas, whom he affectionately named "Grants." Grants then thought it be wise to introduce crayons and coloring books to the young child.
Memory Foam
Password: fo4m
(Please use headphones when viewing in order to get the full impact of the sound.)
Working with video is a recent development in my practice. For many years, still photography has been my choice of medium. Exploring the space between still and moving imagery, has created an opportunity to harness light in a different way in order to forge connections between people, places, and objects. I am drawn to architecture and interiors, and what these spaces disclose about our social and personal lives.
A hybrid work combining black and white photographs with sound, Memory Foam depicts an imaginary house that is a composite of views assembled from twenty-six different homes. The video features ordinary lamps that illuminate a variety of situations and objects. The soundtrack, composed by Jason Sloan, is drawn from audio recordings of the sound generated by the electromagnetic field unique to each light source depicted in the video.
For most of us, “home” connotes a personal space and, as such, may be thought of as a reflection of the self. Memory Foam attempts to blur the boundary between the individual and the world through shared experiences as evidenced, for instance, in the overlapping infrastructure collaged from several basements or the number of ubiquitous framed photographs of family and friends that appear throughout the video. Clock faces serve as pauses or intervals between groups of images. The presence of digital technology explores how our personal environment is increasingly mediated and monitored by technology.
I believe that Memory Foam is a unique way of investigating the interface between still imagery, animation, and sound. Throughout the film, light and sound are the connecting threads as the camera makes its way from the basement foundation to the attic eaves, highlighting intimate details of domestic life along the way.
(Please use headphones when viewing in order to get the full impact of the sound.)
Working with video is a recent development in my practice. For many years, still photography has been my choice of medium. Exploring the space between still and moving imagery, has created an opportunity to harness light in a different way in order to forge connections between people, places, and objects. I am drawn to architecture and interiors, and what these spaces disclose about our social and personal lives.
A hybrid work combining black and white photographs with sound, Memory Foam depicts an imaginary house that is a composite of views assembled from twenty-six different homes. The video features ordinary lamps that illuminate a variety of situations and objects. The soundtrack, composed by Jason Sloan, is drawn from audio recordings of the sound generated by the electromagnetic field unique to each light source depicted in the video.
For most of us, “home” connotes a personal space and, as such, may be thought of as a reflection of the self. Memory Foam attempts to blur the boundary between the individual and the world through shared experiences as evidenced, for instance, in the overlapping infrastructure collaged from several basements or the number of ubiquitous framed photographs of family and friends that appear throughout the video. Clock faces serve as pauses or intervals between groups of images. The presence of digital technology explores how our personal environment is increasingly mediated and monitored by technology.
I believe that Memory Foam is a unique way of investigating the interface between still imagery, animation, and sound. Throughout the film, light and sound are the connecting threads as the camera makes its way from the basement foundation to the attic eaves, highlighting intimate details of domestic life along the way.
Medium: Video
Year: 2022
Details: 13'51"