W: Using images as a starting point, your work often heads towards something more sculptural. Through collages, cuts out or ways of printing, the images you re-use become 3D somehow. How do you relate 2D space to 3D space?

 

Eli Craven: I was always attracted to the physical side of photography. I preferred working in the darkroom to being behind the camera. I think that is why collage and sculpture came so natural to me. I am excited by the photograph as a physical object and as a representation of another time or place. In my mind I find myself getting lost somewhere between the 2D image and the physical 3D reality that once existed, and physically working with the imagery is my way of pointing at something tangible beneath the surface of a photograph.

 

W: Beyond the specific themes you spoke about, how would you define your work in term of re-thinking the nature of image/photography itself?

 

Eli Craven: I like to think my work functions as an interruption to the typical ways in which images are viewed. If photography is all about the act of looking and images are meant to be seen, I use methods of concealment, obstruction, and manipulation to peak the desire to look. In our culture, images are created so quickly and in such large numbers that I think there is a tendency to ignore or neglect their power and influence. I think my work interrupts that continuous stream of looking and asks the viewer to slow down, pay attention, and use their imagination while re-considering the nature of the image and its original context.

 

All images © Eli Carven.