I sat down with photographer and author Rhiannon Adam during week four of lockdown in London to talk about two projects, Bigfence/Pitcairn Island and a project in progress about the community living on the Salton Sea. In part one we discuss some of her personal history and what lead to her interest in Pitcairn, stranger danger, agency in chaos and the desire to emerge from isolation. Part two about her experiences thus far in the Salton Sea is out in two weeks on June 3rd.

Show Notes for EP03 Part01 of 2: TRT 01:06:21

Rhiannon Adam (Guest):

Rhiannon Adam was born in Co. Cork, Ireland and was educated at Central Saint Martins college of Art and Design (London), and at the University of Cambridge.

Adam's work is heavily influenced by her nomadic childhood spent at sea, sailing around the world with her parents. Little photographic evidence of this period in her life exists, igniting an interest in the influence of photography on recall, the notion of the photograph as a physical object, and the image as an intersection between fact and fiction – themes that continue throughout her work.

Her long-term projects straddle art photography and social documentary, while subject matter is often focused on narratives relating to myth, loneliness, and the passage of time. The results of these explorations are captured almost exclusively in ambient light through the hazy abstraction of degrading instant-film materials and colour negative film, and are often contrasted with the stark reality of archive material.

Gabrielle Motola (Host):

Episode Image by Rhiannon Adam (Cushana and the Frigates) see: rhiannonadam.com/big-fence-pitcairn-island)

The Soundtrack and sound effects for the show’s opening and transitions were taken from the piece “Organ” by Áslaug Magnúsdóttir with permission.