Overview

Susan McWilliam was selected for the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection 2018.

‘Pull Down’ (2016) by Susan MacWilliam is a black and white silent video which uses reconstruction and detailed editing to explore forms of portraiture and the mechanics of looking and recording. ‘Pull Down’ continues the artist’s exploration of the phenomena of spiritualism and conjures up the dark spaces of the séance room. It intimately observes the repeated collapsing and slumping of a girl through the viewing lens of a camera and draws attention to the role of the camera as observer of the spirit medium within historical psychical research studies (the study of paranormal, especially parapsychological, phenomena).