Christy Speakman was born in New Orleans, spending her childhood between
Louisiana and her mother’s home in Caribbean Honduras. After studying
art as an undergraduate at the University of New Orleans, she was awarded
a residency in the Czech Republic at the Middle European Colony of Contemporary
Arts. She recently received her M.F.A. from Ohio University resulting in
a photographic and video installation dealing with post-colonial and feminist
views of the landscape. Her involvement with the medium includes teaching
in The Athens Photographic Project, a program designed to teach photography
to mentally ill individuals living in rural Appalachia. Her work has also
been exhibited in New Orleans, Prague, Croatia, and in Sao Paulo, Brazil
during Latin Month of Photography.
RESIDENCY WORK
INTERVIEW
Name: Christy Speakman Where are you from: Born/raised- New Orleans, Louisiana Where do you live/work: Currently- Brooklyn, New York
How do you normally come up with an idea or project for your artwork?
I am influenced by natural phenomena, through a process rooted primarily
in vision. My work evolves from a fluid process of observing, finding,
and fixing. Making photographs is the way of pointing the element
of contemplation that extends toward other media.
How has the specific site of Lower Manhattan influenced and/or made
its way into your works?
I am using the windows of the space as a link to the city's landscape,
an act influenced by the frenzied sight of traffic fighting to enter the
Holland tunnel. By covering the surface with vinyl silhouettes of
birds, flight-forms become a void of stunted interaction. Each form
is taken from a video still – the actions stopped, frozen and displaced.
What influences/inspires you?
My grandmother’s stories of the Caribbean, vapor trails, oil slicks,
crows. The flow of friendship,
the smell of the swamp, my mother’s magnolias, red beans and rice,
coffee. Seeing and hearing stories of survival. My aunt returned
to her flooded home after Hurricane Katrina to find limes and papayas still
on the trees.
How has the LMCC Residency affected your work?
The LMCC has given me the opportunity not only to continue working, but
also to push my ideas into new and unexpected directions. I came
to New York because I wanted to be surrounded by other artists and their
work. From the LMCC, I received financial resources as well as a
sense of community, and most importantly, a space at a time in my life
when I needed a sense of territory more than ever.
