Owen Mosley 5/28/24 Owen Mosley 5/28/24

Papercut Dæmons

Stories are what make us human.

Papercut Dæmons is a collection of masks created in the Parsons School of Design Integrated Design Studio Intensive, lead by Marisa Morán Jahn. The class was tasked with creating a collection of images based on the idea of Dæmons as agents of chaos. My concept for the “Folklore Group” was Papercut Dæmons, the agents of chaos inherited as stories are passed down through generations.

Each generation inherits its forebearers' thoughts, morals, ideas, loves, hurts, and contradictions through the everchanging play that is storytelling. These plays often feature a similar set of characters. The Daemons Folklore Group wanted to recast this eternal cast, obscuring their features with cut paper masks, to understand the energy loss, the chaos, and the ideological papercuts that can appear with the turning of generational pages.

Sometimes the stories we tell cut deep. Each Dæmon design features a cut paper mask designed and built by me. I served as the director of the shoot and conceptualized the idea. The lighting, photography, and additional costuming were collaborations with other students in the class.

Final Images

Early Character Concept Designs

The initial idea of the project was to pull figures from old Scottish and Welsh mythology, like Myrddin, and then abstract their forms in the masks. While some of the inspiration stayed others were added like Tsuru no Ongaeshi, The Crane Wife. All forms were intentionally abstracted beyond specifics into archetypal forms.

Owen Mosley 12/18/23 Owen Mosley 12/18/23

Pools_IRL @ Little Island

Pools_IRL @ Little Island, NYC

The Same Skies project aims to make the abstract issue of greenhouse gas emissions tangible by creating an Earth community, through the sharing of memory.

As a part of the Same Skies Project, Pools_IRL aims to do the same.

Pools_IRL is fashioned in a shape meant to resemble a pool of water, or mercury. The inspiration came from C.G. Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, specifically Jung’s analysis of the divination bowls alchemists used. These bowls were filled with quicksilver, or mercury, and allowed alchemists to divine the future in their search for the magnum opus. Jung believed that like the bowls of mercury consciousness itself is a liquid, a beautiful reflective substance that fills the container it is in. Mercury, the messenger of the Gods seemed to me to be the perfect merger of sky and water, prompting me to create my own pools of reflection. Pools_IRL allows the intangible and ever changing sky to be held, seen, and reflected upon. Memory pools in strange ways.

No matter the shade of blue we all live under the same sky.

Owen Mosley 12/15/23 Owen Mosley 12/15/23

SAME SKIES FILM

The film was created, shot, edited, and scored by the artist Owen Mosley inspired by the stories of the wonderful people around him. Inspired by the alchemists of old this mercurial film aims to capture the spirit of breath and reflection.

SAME SKIES FILM

The Same Skies project aims to make the abstract issue of greenhouse gas emissions tangible by creating an Earth community, through the sharing of memory.

The inspiration came from C.G. Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, specifically Jung’s analysis of the divination bowls alchemists used. These bowls were filled with quicksilver, or mercury, and allowed alchemists to divine the future in their search for the magnum opus. Jung believed that like the bowls of mercury consciousness itself is a liquid, a beautiful reflective substance that fills the container it is in. Mercury, the messenger of the Gods seemed to me to be the perfect merger of sky and water, prompting me to create my own pools of reflection resulting in the Pools Posters, the Pools IRL Sculpture, and finally the Same Skies Film.

During the summer of 2023, like many before I spent my days paddling and backpacking through the kind and subtly stunning beauty that is the Northwoods of Upper Michigan, Minnesota, and my home state Wisconsin. Throughout the summer, I connected with so many beautiful people in this landscape I love so much. The key to this connection was listening. Listening to others. Listening to myself. Listening to the land. Looking for richer shades of blue.

I always remember Bon Iver, Holocene: “And at once, I knew I was not magnificent.” Not apart but a part of a greater whole.

This deep listening is something I always remember when in direct relationship with the land and community and I wanted to bring it to IDS 3. The goal of this project was to continue the sharing of memory through the tool of the Sky, connect others to themselves, a memory community, and an Earth community, and create something beautiful that listened and drew breath. The goal is to connect individuals to an intangible issue, combating climate change with a love of self, community, and Earth.

As human-caused climate change continues to pose massive problems for life on our beautiful planet we must forge stronger, kinder, and more understanding relationships with each other, ourselves, and the land we inhabit. Strong relationships are based on listening and love.

A huge thank you to Shannon Ross, Beth Ott, Mike Neil and the rest of my wonderful family, and everyone who submitted a sky. More Same Skies Project to come.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-leading-us-conservationists-manage-hold-hope

*Pools_IRL* Reflecting a beautiful Sky at Little Island, NYC. Thank you Nate, Sofia, and Quinn.

Owen Mosley 2/13/23 Owen Mosley 2/13/23

Coney Island

A freezing trip to the beach.

A freezing commute to the Atlantic with Bruke Marew.

Listening:

“Rooftop Dancing,” Sylvan Esso

“Master of None,” Beach House

“Angelina,” Pinegrove

Owen Mosley 2/13/23 Owen Mosley 2/13/23

Reflections on the Matterhorn.

Looking back at 14,692′.

Listening

“Simulation Swarm,” Big Thief

“Family and Genus,” Shakey Graves

“iMi,” Bon Iver

“Since the source of blood that follows the shrouding of the sun is also the source of the new life.” C.G. Jung in Liber Novus

Emotional weight finally resolved. A icy baptism and a fiery proclamation of faith. Mental and physical synchronicity.

Owen Mosley 2/8/23 Owen Mosley 2/8/23

Best of the West Highland Way

A 2022 trip through the sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny, always stunning Highlands of Scotland.

Listening:

“The Glow Pt. 2,” The Microphones

“Humbug Mountain Song,” Fruit Bats

“On Blue Mountain,” Foxygen

“And I walked off you

And I walked off an old me”

Maggie Rogers “Alaska.”

“The pattern of my life laid out

And I asked what I’d been asking you

Like trees repeat, like numerals do”

Pinegrove “Alaska.”

Owen Mosley 12/31/21 Owen Mosley 12/31/21

Gas Station Solstice

Small shoot from a snowy night in and around Madison, WI.

I was back home in Wisconsin for the Holidays and convinced my brother to trudge around our suburb in a snow storm that whipped itself up on December 21st. After many hours of peering over Robert Adams’ American Silence and a few read ups on Ed Hopper the idea of shooting local gas stations felt rather natural. Snow always provides an interesting silence and changes how light interacts with the environment. This paired with the odd liminal spaces of gas stations at night created a really memorable shooting experience.

This shoot also helped me to work on freeing myself from the confines of social media and the type of photo that an algorithm favors. Moving away from social media posting as an end product allows photographers to begin to compose more organically. I am personally trying to give in to the wisdom of natural or original composition of photos, instead of trying to correct or pull out an image that didn’t exist in Lightroom. I’m hoping that as I move down this path my natural compositional skills will improve and my images will begin to feel more personal and human, less dictated by algorithm.

Papercut Dæmons

Final Images

Early Character Concept Designs

Pools_IRL @ Little Island

SAME SKIES FILM

Coney Island

Reflections on the Matterhorn.

Best of the West Highland Way

Gas Station Solstice

OWEN MOSLEY