Hannah Shepherd’s piece, 35 mm, expands on the concept of her last piece. Again, she arranges slides—created using two transparencies: one, the original undistorted image, placed on top of a second, the same image as the first, but modified using Photoshop—in chronological order. However, unlike the composition of her previous work, the slides create a continuous line of images, two hundred inches in length, at two inches per slide. This unique composition creates movement within the piece: the viewer follows the slides from left to right, while focusing on one image at a time. I find this considerably more successful than the composition of her first piece, a collage of images with a less obvious direction in which the images should be viewed.

The contrast between the scale of the individual slides and the scale of the piece as a whole is extremely appealing. While the slides draw the viewer in, I found myself stepping back from the work in order to appreciate its extensive length, as well. Considering its dimensions, the construction of this piece is incredibly impressive. Hannah obviously learned from her previous work, and considered areas of possible improvement while building the support for the slides. The wood used to construct the framework keeps the slides in line, without overpowering their delicateness. Hannah’s decision to install this work in a dark hallway was also well thought-out. Not only is there a complete lack of competition with anything else remotely visually intriguing, but the “direction” of the space parallels that of her work, as well, further adding to the sense of movement within 35 mm.

The editing technique used to distort images divides their compositions into distinct areas of color. When covered with their original images, this distortion has a blurring effect on the overall aesthetic. I’m particularly drawn to this aspect of Hannah’s work. Because the details of the images are lost in the distortion process, the piece seems to emphasize non-specific—almost insignificant—moments in time, rather than the individual identities of the people represented in the slides.

An aspect of the piece I think could be improved is Hannah’s selection of images. While all slides are compositionally strong, I find the colored images more aesthetically successful than the black and white images, which don’t allow light to filter through as well. Additionally, the colored images are more appealing from a distance—the contrast between the abstract shapes of intense colors is compositionally interesting even when the images themselves aren’t recognizable, while the black and white images lose some of their attraction when viewed from several steps back. But overall, this is an interesting, conceptually strong, successful piece.