Opera interna: first act

Wright, A. 2007. Opera interna: first act. Incheon Multicultural Centre, Korea 10 Oct - 16 Dec 2007

CreatorsWright, A.
Description

Two linked photographic projects (exhibited together) exploring the physical expression of human emotion and the capacity of photographic media to capture this through facial expressions. These images photographed opera singers consciously performing intense feelings. These two inter-linked projects explore the physical expression of human emotion. Opera Interna focuses on facial expression,

whilst First Act also incorporates the physicalisation of emotion elsewhere in the body. The work was inspired by social and

scientific research conducted for Alter Ego (output 1). This research, which involved communication with leading face scientists,

Paul Ekman and Vikki Bruce, examined how facial expressions may be a direct, unmediated manifestation of subjective feeling,

or they may unconsciously be performed to elicit a social effect. This body of photographs was designed to explore these

themes by capturing opera singers in the process of consciously performing intense emotions.

This work builds on and visualises Wright’s primary art/science research into the expression of human emotion. These images

provide a purely artistic outcome for scientifically based research. Drawing on both painterly and photographic techniques, these

digitally manipulated images refer to and then subvert some of the traditions of portraiture. The large, high definition, digitally

manipulated images are intended to reveal fine details that would normally be hidden from public view and to expose a human

vulnerability behind the public performance of emotion, revealing the singers' unconscious expression of physiological or

psychological states that contrast with the emotions they are performing.

The work was developed out of close observation and documentation of the expression of emotion in opera conducted during

six-week residencies at Welsh National Opera and Opera North.

This work has been contextualised by art historian and writer on photography, Simon Watney, and is published alongside his

essay in Portfolio Magazine 42, November 2005. The work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, in Korea alongside

co-exhibitors Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Candida Hofer.

KeywordsFace, emotion,expression, performance, photograph
Year2007
Publication dates
Published2007
Output mediaDigitally manipulated Lightjet prints

Related outputs

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Wright, A. 2020. Parallax, a story in two parts. in: Tammer el Sheikh (ed.) Entangled Bodies: Art, Identity and Intercorporeality Wilmington, USA Vernon Press. pp. 64 - 90

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Poole, J., Shildrick, M., Abbey, S., Bachmann, I., Carnie, A., Dal, D., De Luca, E., El-Sheikh, T., Jan, E., McKeever, P., Wright, A. and Ross, H. 2019. Donor Family and Recipient Anonymity: Time for Change. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. 38 (4, supp.), pp. S92-S93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healun.2019.01.214

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Wright, A. and Redler Hawes, Hannah 2019. Sutured Selves, Remapping the Boundaries between our bodies, our selves and our kin. Representing the Medical Body. London Science Museum 28 Mar 2019

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Wright, A. 2018. Hybrid Bodies Chiasma Exhibition. The Winchester Gallery, Hampshire 14 - 27 Apr 2018

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Wright, A. 2018. Papworth Hospital Heart Transplant Recipient Workshop.

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Wright, A. 2018. When Words Fail, an interdisciplinary investigation into the phenomenological effects of heart transplantation. Art Materiality and Representation (Royal Anthropological Society). British Museum/ SOAS, London 01 - 03 Jun 2018

Messy entanglements: research assemblages in heart transplantation discourses and practices
Shildrick, M., McKeever, P., Abbey, S., Poole, J., Wright, A., Bachmann, I., Carnie, A., Ross, H., Jan, E., De Luca, E., Dal Bo, Dana and El Sheikh, T. 2018. Messy entanglements: research assemblages in heart transplantation discourses and practices. Medical Humanities. 44 (1), pp. 46-54. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2017-011212

The Heart Project (exhibition and symposium)
Wright, A. 2017. The Heart Project (exhibition and symposium). London Gallery West 20 - 24 Nov 2017

BBC Radio 4: interview and excerpts of audio from Heart of the Matter in Print Me A new Body programme
Wright, A. 2017. BBC Radio 4: interview and excerpts of audio from Heart of the Matter in Print Me A new Body programme. BBC Radio 4.

Art/Sci Nexus, 9 Evenings Revisited
Wright, A. and Carnie, Andrew 2016. Art/Sci Nexus, 9 Evenings Revisited. 9 Evenings Revisited, in Theory as in Practice. KKW, Leipzig, Germany

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Wright, A. 2016. Visual Narratives of Embodied Experience at RPsych Conference. Royal College of Psychiatrists Annual Conference. Cardiff 25 - 27 Apr 2016

Phantom Limb
Wright, A. 2016. Phantom Limb. Victoria Museum and Gallery, Liverpool 09 Jul 2016 - 11 Feb 2017

Hybrid Bodies at KKW
Wright, A. 2016. Hybrid Bodies at KKW. Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig, Germany 18 - 26 Sep 2016

Seeing Things As They Are : Visual Narratives of Embodied Experience
Wright, A. 2016. Seeing Things As They Are : Visual Narratives of Embodied Experience. Disability, Arts and Health Conference. University of Bergen, Norway 01 - 02 Sep 2016

Hybrid Bodies
Wright, A. 2016. Hybrid Bodies. Silent Signal. University of Derby, Derby 26 Feb 2017

Piecing it Together
Wright, A. 2016. Piecing it Together. St Pancras Hospital.

There's So Much More I Want To Tell You
Wright, A. 2016. There's So Much More I Want To Tell You. Visions in The Nunnery, Bow, London

Heart of the Matter - Crafting Anatomies
Wright, A. 2015. Heart of the Matter - Crafting Anatomies. Nottingham 07 Jan - 04 Feb 2015

Piecing It Together Blog
Wright, A. 2015. Piecing It Together Blog.

Hybrid Bodies: the Heart Project
Wright, A. 2014. Hybrid Bodies: the Heart Project. University of Westminster. https://doi.org/10.34737/qqw60

Heart of the Matter
Wright, A. 2014. Heart of the Matter. London

Cadenza
Wright, A. 2014. Cadenza.

Monstrosity: the human monster in visual culture
Wright, A. 2013. Monstrosity: the human monster in visual culture. London I.B. Tauris.

A View From Inside
Wright, A. 2012. A View From Inside. London White Card.

A view from inside: portraying the experience of psychosis
Wright, A. 2012. A view from inside: portraying the experience of psychosis. Harris Gallery, Preston 6 - 19 Oct 2012

Cover story
Wright, A. 2010. Cover story. DaDaFest International, St George, Liverpool 12 Nov - 03 Dec 2010

Alter Ego
Wright, A. 2010. Alter Ego. Kreuzberg, Bethanien, Berlin, Germany 22 May - 8 Aug 2010

After Image
Wright, A. 2010. After Image. 21_21 Design Sight Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 16 Jul - 3 Nov 2010

Conversation Piece
Wright, A., Linney, A. and Lincoln, M. 2009. Conversation Piece. Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast 07 - 29 Aug 2009

Out of Order
Wright, A. 2009. Out of Order.

Alter ego
Wright, A. and Linney, A. 2008. Alter ego. BM Suma Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey 07 - 16 Nov 2008

Opera interna
Wright, A. 2008. Opera interna. Centro the Historia , Zaragoza, Spain 18 Mar - 11 May 2008

Cover story
Wright, A. 2008. Cover story. Bow Arts Trust, London 06 - 15 Jun 2008

Conversation piece: a speech-based interactive art installation
Wright, A., Linney, A., Evans, A. and Lincoln, M. 2007. Conversation piece: a speech-based interactive art installation. Augsburg, Germany 25 - 27 Sep 2007

Alter Ego
Wright, A. and Linney, A. 2007. Alter Ego. SESI Art Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil 13 Aug - 09 Sep 2007

Semblance and resemblance: the face in art and medicine
Wright, A. and Clarke, A. 2007. Semblance and resemblance: the face in art and medicine. Intersections of Life and Death: Artistic and Philosophical Representations of Organ Donation and Transplantation Conference. University of Toronto 26 - 27 Apr 2007

Interactivity and identification: alter ego and conversation piece
Wright, A. 2007. Interactivity and identification: alter ego and conversation piece. FILE Symposium. SESI Arts Centre, Sao Paolo, Brazil 14 - 17 Aug 2007

Interactivity and identification: a discussion of conversation piece and other recent works
Wright, A. 2007. Interactivity and identification: a discussion of conversation piece and other recent works. Healthcare, Technology and Place Conference. University of Toronto 03 - 04 May 2007

'I'
Wright, A. 2007. 'I'. National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh 06 Jun - 02 Sep 2007

Cover story
Wright, A. 2006. Cover story. The Forum, Norwich 05 - 30 Sep 2006

At the edge of my-self
Wright, A. 2003. At the edge of my-self. Digital Creativity. 14 (3), pp. 139-143. https://doi.org/10.1076/digc.14.3.139.27869

Intimate strangers
Wright, A. 2003. Intimate strangers. London, UK CARTE, University of Westminster.

'I'
Wright, A. 2001. 'I'. Public Culture: society for transnational cultural studies. 13 (3), pp. 506-510.

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