Shortlisted Photographers 2012 – Richard Kolker
“My project explores escapism and how we engage with the immersive virtual reality of the online video game. The images are constructed using a combination of traditional photography and the 3D modelling techniques of the video game industry. But instead of portraying the escapist fantasy sought in the online world, they reflect the more mundane nature of the player’s everyday life and the moment when the real and virtual worlds meet. They act both as a mirror and as a conscience as he confronts the psychological realisation of the blurring of the real/unreal boundary and recognises his roles and responsibilities in the real world. Unlike the narrative of a movie or novel, the first person immersive involvement of a computer game and an online virtual world enables us to participate emotionally and socially in an alternative dimension to our familiar physical life.”
Richard Kolker (United Kingdom) graduated from the University of the Arts in London in 2009 and the following year took part in the exhibition ReGeneration: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today, organised by the Musée de l’Élysée. Richard Kolker lives in Surrey.
