Riley Kosmac
St Paul's Catholic College
RED LIGHT-GREEN LIGHT
Photomedia
Digital photography, print on paper
Red Light, Green Light represents the pace of modern life, where events collide in constant motion. With its pop-culture reference to Squid Game, my body of work conveys how a symbol of tension and urgency can be transformed into a call for pause, presence and reflection amid relentless change. My intention was to examine the uneasy rhythm of a world that never stops. The flicker that I saw between stillness and movement became both question and mirror, and my work an illustration of how we rush through moments meant to be felt.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Justine Varga, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall.
Marker's Commentary
Red Light, Green Light explores the dissolution of individual identity within collective motion. Shot in natural light and rendered in black and white, the strategic use of tone denies the image easy resolution. Dense blacks anchor the frame while ambient light bleeds through where figures once stood. This choice accentuates the panoramic format's refusal of a focal point entirely. The frame stretches without clear beginning or end, forcing the crowd to read as continuous, uncontained mass rather than a collection of individuals. The photographer's sophisticated use of slow shutter speed combined with horizontal panning and erratic camera movement during exposure transforms figures into sweeping, agitated lines closer to gestural mark-making than documentary record. Glimpses of a half-formed face, a suspended gesture, the weight of a body caught mid-stride mirror the fleeting glimpses we catch in peripheral vision walking through a crowded street. Three square close-ups isolate partially dissolved faces from within this blur.
Traditionally, proximity in photography promises clarity or a closer view and deeper understanding of the subject. However, in these photographs, the sophisticated use of sustained abstraction means the decision to present three square enlargements only deepens the ambiguity. We are no closer to knowing these people as individuals than we were from a distance. These deliberate technical choices underpin the conceptual strength of the work, allowing the tension between individual presence and collective erasure to resonate.