Collecting Tasker is a study in the creation and documentation of ʻauraʼ. It
tackles the question of authenticity and reproduction as posed by Walter Benjamin
and investigates this through the medium of documentary cinema, the vehicle for this
interpretation. The location of aura in a particular place or environment is unique; in
turn provoking an individual response. A product of close observation and involvement
in an environment, aura is fueled by the individual imagination. It is a visceral, physical
feeling, rooted in the authenticity of objects and the observersʼ prior experience, in
response to a given environment. This places aura in a realm beyond emanation and
casts it into the role of communication. Access to past histories through close observation
feeds aura, while allowing it to communicate and inspire new beginnings, creating “a
dialogue between an incomplete reality and the imagination of the spectator” (Trigg,
139).

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