When conceptualizing “24hours” Eakin was looking for insight into the idea of solar time through the medium of photography. Traditional photographs depict a moment of time with an implied before and after. His intent was to create an image/illusion in which he would be able to compress all time. The works in this series function as timeless icons; working with subjects stripped to the barest essentials, they present the opposites of circle/square, figure/ground, black/white and positive/negative. Watch faces that are photographed without clock hands confound one’s ability to “tell the time” and thereby permit one to contemplate a fuller sense of the idea of time.
Biography:
William Eakin was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After having completed his studies at the Vancouver School of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston he worked in the film industry. As an advisor to the Sanavik Co-Op in Baker Lake, North West Territories, he assisted Inuit artists, printmakers and sculptors with the production and marketing of their work. Eakin uses photography to reinterpret and represent objects from his many carefully assembled collections of cultural artifacts; including bottle caps, figurines, decorative objects, electronics, photographs, etc. Eakin has taught at the School of Art, University of Manitoba and the Department of Fine Arts, University of Victoria. He has also travelled extensive in Europe, Asia, and North and South America and has exhibited internationally. Eakin has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the 1996 Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography, administered by the Canada Council. In 2009, he won the “Arts Award of Distinction”. This honour is bestowed annually by the Manitoba Arts Council upon the province’s most distinguished artist, and recognizes Eakin’s lengthy and significant contribution to the arts.