P3DatagraphyDigital PhotographicsHelen Williams300 153 726

Process: I am a music enthusiastand have always been interestedin album art as an extension of anartist’s musical work. I also likelists and often engage inconversation about the ‘top tensongs or albums’ with most of myclose friends and sometimes withcomplete strangers. For thisproject I decided to formally collectdata about my friends’ favouritealbums via my Facebook page.I asked my friends to nominatetheir favourite albums for themusic or the art and received 20responses within 24 hours. Mostpeople gave a reason for their choice (even though I hadn'tasked them to) and many took thetime to post the cover even if itwas well-know.

Album Art

I hadn't decided how I would use the data before starting, however once I saw the response, I quickly started toying with the idea of recreating (or remediating) the album covers photographically. I thought about my husband’s choice and because it involved photographing a woman's bare breasts I started to wonder who might pose for me and then realised I could make the project about asking my friends to recreate their choices. To be inside the album cover.I chose the four friends I thought I could work with, although one friend was unable to pose for me on the day we had arranged so I am going to come back to this one in the future. I was interested in making subtle statements about gender in my work so this informed my choices as well.I found images of the original covers (we owned all except one) and used them as templates for shooting and post-production.

Album Art

This is a continuation of my exploration into remediation. I enjoy revisiting existing work particularly if I succeed in teasing extra meaning out of images that may already seem to have been thoroughly explored.

Remediation

I am very satisfied with the images I produced for this project. I really enjoyed the process of really investigating the design, photography and lighting of each image and have decided to turn it into a larger, ongoing series that my friends (and others) will be able to access online. The possibilities for the work are really motivating – it has also been a great source of conversation among my friends particularly those who posed for me. This has been a way for me to connect to my friends in a rewarding way. They enjoy the experience too. I think this is because it almost transforms them into celebrities for the occasion. In the case of Jim, it also had the effect of connecting him to his idol. Collecting data about their interests has helped me to learn more about my friends.

Outcome

Jim | Madonna's first album (1983)

Daisy & Hayden | Sonny & Cher's Greatest Hits (1973)

Greg | Surfer Rosa | The Pixies (1988)