About This Work
The magic tricks used to produce the effects seen in spirit photography and other “trick” forms of photography and film are the reason I was first drawn to the craft. Rather than CGI effects, I’ve always preferred the poetic reality contained within the films of Mèliès or Alice Guy-Blachè; or the double-exposures causing the uncanny effects within the spirit photographs of William H. Mumler. The examples of photography and film that I gravitate towards may not expose the means of production completely, but they definitely show a bit of the sleeve in their sleight of hand. Photography and film enchant me not only through the finished product but also through the alchemical-like process of production. The moment the white page of print paper begins to develop feels as magical as any reveal Houdini could have planned. For this reason, much of my experience with film and photography has been an experiment to uncover some of the illusions I’ve witnessed. I approach the process as similar to conjuring or channeling ghosts of previous media, and in an age of remix, that is often what the process becomes.
Photography
“An Out of Body Experience,” Black and White Photograph, 2011
“The Spirit Called,” Black and White Photograph, 2011
Biography
Lindsay Greer holds an interdisciplinary MFA from the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and a B.A in Media Studies from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D in Performance Studies and Visual Rhetoric from the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where her current research interests blend literary adaptation and media archeology.
© 2013 Lindsay Patrice Greer, used by permission
