Zack Spencer: Mutilation

October 30 - November 10

Mutilation is a collection of photographs embodying the catalyst that originally piqued my interest in photography: an outlet through which to explore my own mind.

Coming from a background in filmmaking, where thousands of still moments make up the moving image, I have had the freedom to expand on stories over longer periods of time. It can be difficult to tell a story with just one still image. In an attempt to replicate the feeling of watching a film, each of these photographs go through a rigorous process of costume design, location scouting, and set design.

Typically at the beginning of this process, a song will spark an image in my mind. Once that image appears, I start translating it into a tangible reality that can be captured with the camera and shared with others. I believe that within my work there are clues for viewers to discover more about their subconscious. Like the ambiguity of a Rorschach test or a Dali painting, each image begs the viewer to create a story of how the scene that they are viewing came to be, and what will happen afterwards. 

Zack Spencer is a senior Media Arts major at the University of South Carolina.