Tim Silver

Born 1974 in Hobart. Lives and works in Sydney.

 

Tuvalu is situated in the remote Pacific. The highest point reaches just two metres above sea level. In recent years, journalists have descended on Tuvalu when the ‘king-tide’ hits annually in late February, to report on the ‘frontline of climate change’.

 

In The Tuvaluan Project, Silver presents a collision between the site of Tuvalu and Italian Cannibal Cycle films. This genre of exploitation films from the mid-1970s to early 1980s often featured illogical narratives and clichéd representations of foreign cultures in a surreal mix of travelogue, found footage and gore.

 

Working with a cast of non-actors, Silver’s constructed scenarios, with little interference into the locations or wardrobe, consisting of a loose and sometimes illogical photo-narrative. Toying with ideas related to entropy, decay, and the passing of time, the Tuvaluan Project embraces humor and irony in its playful take on issues of human consumption.



Tim Silver, Untitled (The Tuvaluan Project), C type photograph, from a series of 21 type C photographs, 2006