Untitled from the series Embedded, 2011, diptych of digital inkjet prints (image & text), 85 x 185cm
Untitled from the series Embedded, 2011, diptych of digital inkjet prints (image & text), 85 x 185cm. Embedded explores the production, dissemination, authorship and censorship of images taken by anonymous photographers during times of conflict. The works employ a deliberate mismatch of language, interpolating people's names into the digital encoding process and then rendering the corrupted JPEG files back into a visual form. The fragmented images from one historical event mirror computer code containing the names of casualties from a related event for which no photographs exist, creating a correlation between the loss of human life and the loss of information that characterizes representations of war.
Untitled from the series Flay, 2011, decommissioned British military uniforms (disassembled & reconfigured), dimensions variable.
Untitled from the series Flay, 2011, decommissioned British military uniforms (disassembled & reconfigured), dimensions variable. Flay comprises a series of textile sculptures that are the result of unstitching and reconfiguring decommissioned military uniforms. The works attempt to physically deconstruct the hierarchical language of the ceremonial dress code and reassemble it in ways that suggest new forms, based on a policy of minimal intervention and surgical precision.
Fray, 2010, woollen military uniform, wardrobe, clear perspex, light bulb, moth eggs, 97 x 215 x 58cm. Fray is a time-based installation. A tall, monolithic wardrobe stands in the centre of a dimly lit space: its doors sealed shut, its contents inaccessible when scrutinized from the front. To the rear, a single sheet of clear perspex replaces the structure's fourth wall to reveal the back of a contemporary British army uniform hanging from a rail and illuminated by a small light bulb. Encased within and hidden from sight, an infestation of moth eggs are left to incubate inside the garment's breast pocket. As the eggs hatch, the larvae consume the woollen uniform, destroying its fabric as they pupate and complete the animals' life cycle.
David Birkin's work reflects on the idea that photography is often as much about what cannot be seen as what is depicted visually. Combining sculpture, performance art and lens based media with a conceptual approach, his practice deals with the ephemeral: loss, transience and a recurring tension between the concealed and the revealed.