PAINTBALL FIELD ZINE – msdm: London-based House—Studio—Gallery for photographic art and curatorial research, an expanded practice of the artist's book, photobook publishing and peer-to-peer collaboration operating through mobile strategies of display & mediation by contemporary artist paula roush

TITLE: Paintball field
Author: paula roush
MEDIUM: photozine
PAGES: 28
DIMENSIONS: 20 x 28.5 cm
PAPER: Canon ivory paper 80gsm
BINDING: hand-bound, 3-hole pamphlet stitch
PROCESS: toner
COLOUR: Black and white
TEXT: Paintball safety rules
PUBLISHER: msdm publications
YEAR: 2018
£28 (free shipping)
shop here [+]

Paintball Field was made during a residency in the ‘schist’ mountain villages of Portugal. The area has become depopulated and is now being developed as a destination for tourists. The title of the work refers to a local recreation area where visiting families come with their children to play war games using guns firing balls of paint. The photographs conjure up a hunting scene in which a female figure wearing a cork mask – resembling those that were used by the original villagers during carnival – is being pursued. More than a simple ironic take on violence and war, the work draws on ethnographic connotations, evoking a dramatic encounter between the rural traditions of the past and present-day cultural practices