Tethered
In 2011, I began conceptualizing and creating Tethered. Tethered was based on images I photographed over a 4 month period of time, documenting my life every 30 minutes, as I performed my daily roles of artist, mother, teacher, wife and daughter. Tethered is a life-long body of work investigating the tethering-effect we experience every day, by portraying what a specific period of time looks like during different days of the week as we perform our different roles.
Tethered utilizes slices from everyday imagery to convey both the intimacy and diverse roles and relationships individuals play within a twenty-four hour period of time. These roles can create contrasting moments ranging from the mundane to the chaotic. This body of work was originally created in 2011–2013 when the artist was in graduate school, the mother of two toddlers and teaching adjunct at night at the local community college. Tethered, revisited 5 years later, documents the same two-hour blocks of time throughout the day, however today, the artist is now a tenured professor, mother of a 9 and 11 years old, and active artist in her studio.
Sheffield’s work is based on images she photographed over a four-month period of time; documenting her life every 30 minutes as she performs her daily roles of artist, mother, professor, wife, and daughter. Utilizing her family as inspiration, she explores the multiplicity of identity we all experience as we navigate our daily roles. The performance of each individual role is constantly being encroached upon by the demands of the other roles, thus, creating the tethering-effect.
Using a mathematical formula, each image illustrates what a two hour period of time looks like balancing the various roles throughout the week. As unique as each two-hour interval is, certain consistencies also run through our scheduled days. The look and feel of a two hour period in the morning versus a two hour period in the afternoon conveys a very different set of characters, circumstances, interactions, responsibilities, and roles.
In comparison to today, past generations whether by choice or not were very segregated --work and family life rarely converged. However with technology, today our lives have become more confused, intermingled, and merged -- thus creating the tethering-effect.
Pulling from thousands of images, I chose 4 to 6 images from the same time of day, but on different days of the week (e.g. 2:00pm-4:00pm). Once selected, I digitally slice the chosen images into vertical strips of information. I then reintegrate all the vertical slices to create a single, compressed image of time. Each print illustrates a two hour period. Tethered consists of nine large format prints (43" x 28" x 4 1/2") that document my waking hours of 6 am to midnight. Once compressed, and as in real life, all the the different events and interactions inevitably merge into a singular life experience.
Due to the mathematical equation used to create the work, the images appear to shift and change depending on the distance and the angle from which they being are being viewed. Because of the illusion produced, the work has been mistaken for lenticular prints, however, they are flat prints.
Tethered utilizes slices from everyday imagery to convey both the intimacy and diverse roles and relationships individuals play within a twenty-four hour period of time. These roles can create contrasting moments ranging from the mundane to the chaotic. This body of work was originally created in 2011–2013 when the artist was in graduate school, the mother of two toddlers and teaching adjunct at night at the local community college. Tethered, revisited 5 years later, documents the same two-hour blocks of time throughout the day, however today, the artist is now a tenured professor, mother of a 9 and 11 years old, and active artist in her studio.
Sheffield’s work is based on images she photographed over a four-month period of time; documenting her life every 30 minutes as she performs her daily roles of artist, mother, professor, wife, and daughter. Utilizing her family as inspiration, she explores the multiplicity of identity we all experience as we navigate our daily roles. The performance of each individual role is constantly being encroached upon by the demands of the other roles, thus, creating the tethering-effect.
Using a mathematical formula, each image illustrates what a two hour period of time looks like balancing the various roles throughout the week. As unique as each two-hour interval is, certain consistencies also run through our scheduled days. The look and feel of a two hour period in the morning versus a two hour period in the afternoon conveys a very different set of characters, circumstances, interactions, responsibilities, and roles.
In comparison to today, past generations whether by choice or not were very segregated --work and family life rarely converged. However with technology, today our lives have become more confused, intermingled, and merged -- thus creating the tethering-effect.
Pulling from thousands of images, I chose 4 to 6 images from the same time of day, but on different days of the week (e.g. 2:00pm-4:00pm). Once selected, I digitally slice the chosen images into vertical strips of information. I then reintegrate all the vertical slices to create a single, compressed image of time. Each print illustrates a two hour period. Tethered consists of nine large format prints (43" x 28" x 4 1/2") that document my waking hours of 6 am to midnight. Once compressed, and as in real life, all the the different events and interactions inevitably merge into a singular life experience.
Due to the mathematical equation used to create the work, the images appear to shift and change depending on the distance and the angle from which they being are being viewed. Because of the illusion produced, the work has been mistaken for lenticular prints, however, they are flat prints.