In Focus: Ivan Oyarzun/Selected Images

June 25, 2009

ivan-oyarzun_cover “…the sectors of the city are to some extent decipherable but the personal meaning they have had for us is incommunicable…we are seperated from the city by our own non-intervention.”
- Guy Debord
(Critique de la Seperation: Paris 1961)

You can approach the city as a Flaneur, capturing images and engaging with the city in a way that places the changes you see in a ‘romantic’ light. Navigating through spaces with some visual intention gathering ’scenes’ to define the city in your own image or you may feel that the city should be understood anonymously as a ‘passer-by’ creating a visual language that forms a narrative of urban life: As a ‘Usager de la Ville’ who acts similarly to the Flanuer. Walking dictates certain choices when navigating a city, hence a ‘passer-by’ has a choice in how they view/experience urban scenes. Walking as a physical act is a way to create or appropriate space which similar to writing creates meaning to a text; therefore a photographic visualization of space/place is a “spacialized” text which a ‘passer-by’ creates with their own body and focused intent.

The French Situationists approached the city through the Derive, which was described as an aimless walk through the streets following ones whims or instincts or even allowing oneself to be guided and carried by life within these spaces. It was a way for them to break free from a daily routine and explore the city rediscovering places free of any preconceptions. For me, routine affects my experience of space/place within our city. Like most people certain obligations or means limit our capabilities to expand the physical and perceptual depth of our surroundings. Often a change in this standard daily pattern or a new means of direction can alter our sensibilities to be more aware or uncertain of our immediate environment. It is up to our own individual character to determine what we represent and interpret.

I am interested in how urbanized spaces control and designate our daily life. Personally, my aim is to break free from that prison cell of consistant routine which is ultimately informed by space/place. Following the Situationists, I am inspired to be free and open as I walk the city finding common or atypical locales highlighting hidden or productive places in order
to understand my existence within our city..

Ivan Oyarzun was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied Architectural Technology at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2000. After moving to Vancouver in 2004, he studied art and photography, recently earning an honours degree in Environmental Design from the University of British Columbia. He lives and works in the heart of East Vancouver.

Ivan’s work is now available for purchase in Book form, please follow the link below to order your copy.