Stornoway (Series), 2012

Stornoway, named after the small town on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, chronicles a journey through Scotland.

One way to apprehend a world that seems chaotic is to frame what we see and experience within a narrative of time; giving it an order and a space. Thus the Stornoway series is made of triptychs, three photographs of a similar subject captured only moments apart, from a different angle. The sequencing introduces movement, building an atmosphere and a sense of the place. Each panorama is named after the specific timeframe at which it was taken, allowing the viewer to follow traces of a story.

By leaving apparent the negative frame, reminiscent of film reel, of the traditional 35mm black-and-white film she uses, Colbert has introduced a distance between the viewer and the work, a reminder that we are not just looking at a record of a place, but a photography as creative process.