Amissa Umbra

Coghlan’s priority is always to create imagery that has a deep and deliberate existence. It is curiosity which drives the creative need to explore the unfolding story, where not knowing the outcome is often the very reason for the doing. 

Coghlan’s current working practice uses medium format analogue photography taken with a 1935 Box Brownie camera. It is self-portraiture with the use of long and multiple exposure techniques where the artist becomes both part object and subject of the work. Coghlan is inspired by the tension of the object-subject reality and approaches such questions philosophically, as this draws upon issues of identity and story and questions the truth or lack thereof of these phenomena.  

Coghlan’s body morphing between itself in separate moments gives a sense of something vulnerable disappearing into its surroundings. Recording these tangible interactions of the body on different environments results in imagery which invites further examination that can result in questioning the photograph and also the context and place in which the work was made.

The project has in its three year journey, changed and evolved according to where and when he could work. From a controlled studio practice to domestic spaces utilising reflected natural light to remote forest environments each time approaching the situation openly and organically.

At the same time there is a psychological dimension to the work. It addresses our sense of individuality, our place of being in the world and a seeming need or desire to make a record of this.