Kim Dijkstra

Behind the cultural myths in our society there lie far more interesting realities and elements that go unnoticed. Our cultural understanding of what is ‘truth’ is often created by repeating the same stories until they are commonly accepted. People regularly overlook the base elements of how our lived reality is constructed and created in favour of the cultural myths which are more rampant in our shared knowledge. In my work I like to take an investigative approach to understanding how these myths are generated and focus on the things that people tend to overlook. I examine how the actualities that I find compare to these stories, and create a new myth based on the realities that lie behind the myths; showing mythical qualities of the situation that are often more exhilarating than the dominant cultural narratives. Through this process I want to create a new perspective from which to understand these cultural myths and find my own way into that space; to talk further about the stories and narratives that we construct. My aim is to create this moment of illumination for the audience; where the commonly held cultural narratives and myths are disrupted or presented in a new light. I want to disrupt our understanding of what is a ‘myth’ and what is ‘reality’, as a way to breakdown our understanding of both these concepts. As I progress with my work, I also want to further explore the relationship between how our ‘real world‘ experiences are influenced by our digital memories.

I am inspired by scientific exploration, classic romantic landscape photographers, and contemporary screen experiences such as computer games and movies. I like to play with the concept of the artist as an adventurer or pioneer; taking up the role of an explorer in order to observe and report back to home base. I use a broad range of media, often working with photography, video, text, and installation. However, my work is not medium-specific, and the importance lies in bringing across a feeling, or an experience, in the piece itself, rather than highlighting the tools that are being used. An important element of my practice is that I build and make all aspects of my work. Physically building my own work allows me to engage with the interaction between technical skill (the process to build the work) and concept. My work develops, shifts, and grows through a process of iteration that comes with the physical construction of the work, and not just through (re)theorizing a specific idea. I am interested in making site-specific installations which change depending on the environment and the space that they are in, with an aim to create an immersive experience for the audience that goes beyond images and moves into the realm of physical experiences.