I've always wanted to see the Chapman Brothers vast Hell diorama. I never got the chance as it was destroyed in a warehouse fire, along with Emin's Tent, and other major pieces of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi. Then they made Fucking Hell, and a number of other related dioramas of which The Sum Of All Evil is on display at the Jerwood. The work is contained in three large glass walled cases - the 'battlegrounds' raised up to waist height for a close inspection of the thousands of figurines - mostly engaged in torture and destruction. The majority of them are wearing Nazi uniforms - a theme that is used in all the other Chapman Brother's dioramas too.
A great deal of time can be spent absorbing the detail. Little scenes unfold against the larger tableau. In one of the cases a series of Capitalist Ronald McDonalds are being crucified by the Nazis; in a remote corner a blue cartoon figure from a happy meal is engaged in bulldozing a mass of naked dead bodies down an embankment; meanwhile Adolf Hitler quietly strolls alone through the trees, clutching some party balloons. A game of spot the Hitler ensues as I move around the cases. He is always tucked away in a quiet corner somewhere - just getting on with the business of destroying humanity. It always amazes me how willing the horde can be to do the work of psychopaths for them. Just who are the evil ones?
I know that the Hitler and Nazi figures are not to be taken too literally in this piece - but they play a big part; usually directing the larger operations of a scene, such as dealing with the lines of people queueing to be disemboweled or have their heads chopped off at the sideshow stalls in one of the other cases. Some of the Nazi soldiers have deteriorated into half skeletons. That doesn't stop them from doing their jobs though. The naked horde are still moved along the queue to their inevitable fate. The Nazi skeletons tell me that like the Hell diorama, all these figures are already dead too - presumable they're being tortured and ripped apart for eternity. Some of the body parts seemed to be reassembled into larger, human like, structures that have multiple heads or arms; weird twisted balls of walking limbs that seem to tower over and terrorise the horde wherever they go.
The Chapman Brothers also had other work on display; bronze sculptures of mechanical contraptions that consist of pulleys and levers that operate machinery to mutilate and maim. My favourite was 'The Little Death' a rather romantic and strange French phrase to describe the human orgasm. Sure enough the contraption consisted of a brain about to be hit by a hammer that would send signals to an attached penis to ejaculate into another brain. As the orgasm is considered to begin in the brain I thought it was quite a clever piece of work.
In another room a false ceiling had been installed at such a low height that it was impossible to walk without almost bending double. A single, small, oil painting hung on the far wall and after scrambling across the floor, finally on your knees before it, the fruit of all your effort and contortions, the viewer is confronted by an original oil painting by Adolf Hilter. 'Fuck Me' was my first thought - followed by shock and feeling slightly miffed into being tricked into this position of worship to kneel before a piece of dodgy art by an evil madman. Very clever.
As an exhibition I'd recommend it. A fun day out to be had by all...
The work is epic, grim, funny, thought provoking, enjoyable. There is a Guardian review of the whole show here:
Guardian Review
Wednesday 3 December 2014
Tuesday 25 November 2014
Jackson Pollock - Convergence
My first thoughts on analysing Jackson Pollock's 'Convergence' was that I was looking at a pleasing arrangement of coloured squiggles. I used to like Abstract Expressionism when I viewed it as decorative art - as something to hang on a wall to fit in with a room scheme. Then I grew tired of it. I know there is much more to this kind of art, and I don't intend to be dismissive, but I do find myself initially looking at the work from an aesthetic viewpoint. Once I get past this stage then I can look more deeply, but I do find this to be a problem for me that I don't usually have with photography.
'Convergence' is a four colour piece, co-ordinated using different paints with a background of black lines that seems to hold the 'design' very well. To review the work I really need to see it in its original form and at the correct size - which I understand is pretty big. Also, any painting would have texture that relates to the paint and its canvas which is lost when looking at a photograph. Once I began to spend time looking at the work I started to see patterns that evolved into faces and body parts - torsos, legs, a fleeting expression on two faces pressed close together - chest hair. Focusing on different colours bring alternative elements of the work into the foreground and it feels like the landscape of the painting changes and flows. The mind goes into free form and I understand from my research that abstract expressionism uses this style of painting to free up the mind and search for universal unconscious meaning. Pollock himself underwent Jungian Psychoanalysis and his drip painting method from which 'Convergence' is derived is a technique that helped the artist to express automatic unconscious emotions. The different coloured lines, swirls, whoops and whirls show depth in the work and I suppose the viewer brings what ever they want to the image when they view it.
This is not the sort of work I would usually make as a photographer. I can see though that free association of thoughts occur when looking at work that has no apparent narrative structure. The eyes and the mind work together looking for meaning and because of an absence the viewer constructs their own ones. This is a useful technique to be aware of that can be inserted into narrative sequences.
Tracey Emin - My Bed
This piece of work is in the form of an art installation. The bed in question needs to be walked around; the detritus of cigarette packets, empty bottles of booze, stained underwear, slippers, a razor, a cuddly toy and tangled sheets need to be analysed and viewed from all angles.
A photograph just shows us one viewpoint. With that said the image shows us work that is full of narrative possibilities. The discarded stockings, used condoms, and towel thrown on the bed, speak of a sexual encounter and the passing of time. Where are the occupants now? Who are they? The title 'My Bed' tells us this is the bed of the artist. By researching further I've found out that the work refers to Emin's 'Lost Weekend' after the breakdown of a relationship. Emin herself describes the work as a self portrait. But self reflection can allow us all through the commonality of experience to reflect on times in our own lives when, faced with a crisis, we may have responded with the heart and not the head.
I should imagine that to see the work in reality could be quite a visceral experience and touch the senses. I would personally feel slightly uncomfortable at the thought of being so close to a strangers bodily fluids and sweat stained sheets. Do these feelings bring me closer to the work? They are less likely to be conjured up quite so powerfully when looking at the image because we are one step removed from the work itself.
The crumpled sheets of 'My Bed' remind me of a photograph by Imogen Cunningham. 'Unmade Bed' is a Modernist study of form, using light and shadow to depict strong shapes and textures - raising the bed up from the banal and everyday. Even the hair clips that should provide context and narrative look carefully placed and formal. Whereas Cunningham's work is a piece of carefully composed Modernist still life - and a photograph; Emin's piece is more a metaphor for messy, complicated, illogical life - and of course, it is essentially a piece of contemporary installation art.
A photograph just shows us one viewpoint. With that said the image shows us work that is full of narrative possibilities. The discarded stockings, used condoms, and towel thrown on the bed, speak of a sexual encounter and the passing of time. Where are the occupants now? Who are they? The title 'My Bed' tells us this is the bed of the artist. By researching further I've found out that the work refers to Emin's 'Lost Weekend' after the breakdown of a relationship. Emin herself describes the work as a self portrait. But self reflection can allow us all through the commonality of experience to reflect on times in our own lives when, faced with a crisis, we may have responded with the heart and not the head.
I should imagine that to see the work in reality could be quite a visceral experience and touch the senses. I would personally feel slightly uncomfortable at the thought of being so close to a strangers bodily fluids and sweat stained sheets. Do these feelings bring me closer to the work? They are less likely to be conjured up quite so powerfully when looking at the image because we are one step removed from the work itself.
The crumpled sheets of 'My Bed' remind me of a photograph by Imogen Cunningham. 'Unmade Bed' is a Modernist study of form, using light and shadow to depict strong shapes and textures - raising the bed up from the banal and everyday. Even the hair clips that should provide context and narrative look carefully placed and formal. Whereas Cunningham's work is a piece of carefully composed Modernist still life - and a photograph; Emin's piece is more a metaphor for messy, complicated, illogical life - and of course, it is essentially a piece of contemporary installation art.
Thursday 20 November 2014
Matthew Barney - Cremaster Cycle
Cremaster Cycle - videos available on Youtube
What do you think was the artist's intent?
This work uses Surreal imagery to describe the formation and descent of the gonadal structure in the human male. By using a Surrealist style the artist can show parallels with the concept that occur in our larger society. For instance, the division, formation and re-formation of biological structures into more complex forms is used by Barney to show developing societies from their early pre-industrial formation to vast, complex, Capitalist ones.
What does the image make you feel? Does it create any questions or conflicts in your mind?
The images make me think about the complex nature of our bodies, lives and society. I think about the random chances that have affected changes in these structures and make them the way they are. For instance a pregnant mother can have an accident that will directly affect the formation of the foetus; a random occurrence in someones life pathway can steer them on a different course; technological changes, war, and religious doctrine have structured societies in a certain way. I have realised that there is no one 'right' way of living our lives (in Western society) they just turned out that way.
Why do you think the artist has chosen to work in this way?
By using video film and the Surrealist genre the artist has access to a rich visual language to explore and express ideas. The high production value of the five films show considerable attention to detail. The use of sets, clothes, props, and lighting make for very convincing fantasy worlds.
Is this art?
If the artist says their work is art then as far as I'm concerned then it is. Whether it is good, bad or mediocre art is another matter.
Write a short 250 word review of each work and its relevance to your practice (if any) in your learning log.
250 word review:
The reviews of the Cremaster Cycle, a five-part Surrealist extravaganza, talk about the cremaster muscle and its ability to raise and lower the male testes. Some of the reviews focus on male ejaculation and sex; others look at the gonadal structure and how it is formed from undifferentiated structures during growth; lastly, some reviewers write about wider concerns of life, birth and death, and how these are metaphors for the development and structuring of our societies.
The Cremaster Cycle is so vast in its scope that it is most probably all of these elements rolled up into one big filmic, Surrealist fantasy. Before reading the reviews I watched all of the films and certainly picked up biological aspects. All of Barney's films show structures that have an individual cocooned inside. They are shown underneath tables in twin airships; inside co-joined cars at petrol stations; and scaling the lift shaft of the Chrysler building. The individual always seeks to find a way out. They concoct ways of breaking free and there is an element of change that affects them during the struggle. All of the individuals have attendants that are waiting or observing the struggle/change. I'm reminded of biological systems that monitor growth and release hormones at appropriate times during development.
When I discovered through research the function of the cremaster muscle, the struggles and changes to Cremaster's characters became clearer and helped me understand the fundamental aspect of the work that Barney was seeking to portray. Playing out around these scenes of struggle are vast panoramic sequences - dancing girls, metal bands, masonic ritual, Celtic giant myth, motorbike sidecar racing, that to me all indicate the formation of Paternalistic societies into structures and systems for living. I see these scenes as metaphor for the organisation of the undifferentiated gonadal structure into fully formed and descended testes.
I've used metaphor and allusion quite strongly in my own practice and can certainly see some parallels with Barney's work. I quite like to leave open-ended meaning in my images. I work on a much smaller scale - on sequences of stills that are constructed; it is possible they could be viewed as Surreal. I have no plans to move toward film. The rich visual tapestry of Barney's work is inspiring and certainly a goal that I would like to move towards achieving at some point.
What do you think was the artist's intent?
This work uses Surreal imagery to describe the formation and descent of the gonadal structure in the human male. By using a Surrealist style the artist can show parallels with the concept that occur in our larger society. For instance, the division, formation and re-formation of biological structures into more complex forms is used by Barney to show developing societies from their early pre-industrial formation to vast, complex, Capitalist ones.
What does the image make you feel? Does it create any questions or conflicts in your mind?
The images make me think about the complex nature of our bodies, lives and society. I think about the random chances that have affected changes in these structures and make them the way they are. For instance a pregnant mother can have an accident that will directly affect the formation of the foetus; a random occurrence in someones life pathway can steer them on a different course; technological changes, war, and religious doctrine have structured societies in a certain way. I have realised that there is no one 'right' way of living our lives (in Western society) they just turned out that way.
Why do you think the artist has chosen to work in this way?
By using video film and the Surrealist genre the artist has access to a rich visual language to explore and express ideas. The high production value of the five films show considerable attention to detail. The use of sets, clothes, props, and lighting make for very convincing fantasy worlds.
Is this art?
If the artist says their work is art then as far as I'm concerned then it is. Whether it is good, bad or mediocre art is another matter.
Write a short 250 word review of each work and its relevance to your practice (if any) in your learning log.
250 word review:
The reviews of the Cremaster Cycle, a five-part Surrealist extravaganza, talk about the cremaster muscle and its ability to raise and lower the male testes. Some of the reviews focus on male ejaculation and sex; others look at the gonadal structure and how it is formed from undifferentiated structures during growth; lastly, some reviewers write about wider concerns of life, birth and death, and how these are metaphors for the development and structuring of our societies.
The Cremaster Cycle is so vast in its scope that it is most probably all of these elements rolled up into one big filmic, Surrealist fantasy. Before reading the reviews I watched all of the films and certainly picked up biological aspects. All of Barney's films show structures that have an individual cocooned inside. They are shown underneath tables in twin airships; inside co-joined cars at petrol stations; and scaling the lift shaft of the Chrysler building. The individual always seeks to find a way out. They concoct ways of breaking free and there is an element of change that affects them during the struggle. All of the individuals have attendants that are waiting or observing the struggle/change. I'm reminded of biological systems that monitor growth and release hormones at appropriate times during development.
When I discovered through research the function of the cremaster muscle, the struggles and changes to Cremaster's characters became clearer and helped me understand the fundamental aspect of the work that Barney was seeking to portray. Playing out around these scenes of struggle are vast panoramic sequences - dancing girls, metal bands, masonic ritual, Celtic giant myth, motorbike sidecar racing, that to me all indicate the formation of Paternalistic societies into structures and systems for living. I see these scenes as metaphor for the organisation of the undifferentiated gonadal structure into fully formed and descended testes.
I've used metaphor and allusion quite strongly in my own practice and can certainly see some parallels with Barney's work. I quite like to leave open-ended meaning in my images. I work on a much smaller scale - on sequences of stills that are constructed; it is possible they could be viewed as Surreal. I have no plans to move toward film. The rich visual tapestry of Barney's work is inspiring and certainly a goal that I would like to move towards achieving at some point.
Monday 17 November 2014
Elina Brotherus - Wapping Project Artist's Talk
I went to a fascinating talk by the Finnish artist Elina Brotherus on Wednesday. The Wapping Project in London's Mayfair was showing her '12 Ans Apres' exhibition. The work is very poignant and compares double images of photos taken in the same place but twelve years apart. Brotherus lived and worked in France at one point as a newly graduated artist. She had limited French language skills and made some self portrait work showing french words for things dotted on notes about her apartment. In the accompanying images Brotherus returns, older and with much more life experience, to the same dorm room. This time the notes contain complete thoughts - reflecting on her life so far.
By pairing these works Brotherus is inviting the viewer to reference the hopes and dreams of a young person embarking on an adult life. The images feel calm and have a melancholy stillness to them. But they are also quite emotive in that I think a lot of viewers would be able to recognise the sense of lost hopes and different life paths taken from what was originally hoped.
After the viewing, the OCA students sat on the floor and listened to Brotherus speak about her work. She translated her thoughts written on the notes in the later images. The complete sentences highlight the passage of time and it was quite painful to hear Brotherus read them. The notes referenced getting older and looking back on what might have been - Brotherus's 'Annunciation' work which looked at the chronology of going through IVF treatment and gradually losing hope is clearly a big part of the artist's life experience.
The session was videoed by the OCA so I look forward to re-watching. I made some notes of points from her talk that particularly struck me:
By pairing these works Brotherus is inviting the viewer to reference the hopes and dreams of a young person embarking on an adult life. The images feel calm and have a melancholy stillness to them. But they are also quite emotive in that I think a lot of viewers would be able to recognise the sense of lost hopes and different life paths taken from what was originally hoped.
After the viewing, the OCA students sat on the floor and listened to Brotherus speak about her work. She translated her thoughts written on the notes in the later images. The complete sentences highlight the passage of time and it was quite painful to hear Brotherus read them. The notes referenced getting older and looking back on what might have been - Brotherus's 'Annunciation' work which looked at the chronology of going through IVF treatment and gradually losing hope is clearly a big part of the artist's life experience.
The session was videoed by the OCA so I look forward to re-watching. I made some notes of points from her talk that particularly struck me:
- Just make the work! Never feel blocked. The photographer does not have to have a concept or a plan or an idea at the beginning. Just go out and make images.
- Once the work is made then it is time to analyse. Lay the work on a table and look for connections, ideas, resonances. Sometimes place ALL work, even from previous pieces together so that over-arching themes and new connections can be seen and worked on.
- Feel better about making my own personal work. It is OK to continue making work about life experience. You have to trust that people will see the honesty and integrity in this kind of work. This reminds me of OCA tutor, Clive White's comment about 'commonality of experience' during my assignment review at Brighton recently.
- Although very open in discussing the series '12 Ans Apres'; when Brotherus was asked a question that appeared to delve too deeply into her thought process behind the chosen location for a Landscape, she declined to comment further. She stated that these were her personal choices and not necessarily intended or necessary for public reading of the work. Brotherus also re-iterated the notion of the image having different readings than intended by the artist. Keep something back. Make the work accessible but it is okay to not discuss all aspects of a piece of work if it is too personal.
Friday 7 November 2014
Exercise - artistic styles
Write 150 words on a subject that is important to you. Then make images in the style of Constructivism, Surrealism, and Conceptual Art.
I am interested in looking into the hidden histories of minorities. This is important because most cultures will have a dominant history that will always be viewed as the 'natural' and 'real' interpretation of the facts. But historians are not objective. They are not robots. They are human just like the rest of us - and as such, they will always interpret facts according to their own cultural, political and emotional bias. This means that other histories, such as those of women, minority races, and people of sexualities outside the heterosexual binary gender norm, are suppressed or misrepresented.
It is important for a balanced and equal society that these people are able to represent themselves. They need to take control of their own identities and not have one mirrored back to themselves by a majority that often sees no value in their existence.
Here's my attempt to express the above sentiments in the Constructivist style. Firstly I looked at a number of images made by El Lissitzky and noted the use of bold geometric shapes in his work. I took inspiration from his designs and then gathered a number of images from the Internet and tried to place them in a way that would show how learning about minorities has traditionally been interpreted via the dominant establishment. The guarded doorway shows this idea. I don't think it is too bad for a first attempt - particularly the idea to show alarm clocks being lobbed through the gateway and past the policeman. I played around with the placement of the objects quite a bit until I was happy with the design. It probably could be improved a bit further but I am now ready to move on and create a Surrealist version.
Constructivist:
Edit: 10th Nov
This time I have chosen to produce a piece of work that looks specifically at the issue of control and representation of sexual minorities. I have used the LGBT Rainbow flag on my painted tanks and show a citadel of learning under siege. The hegemonic citadel is made up of pieces of cityscape and library books with a picket fence encircling it. The rainbow tanks attempt to storm the citadel and set up their own representation. In doing so they have to contend with resistance from the jellyfish. These creatures stand for the all-encompassing and insidious suppression that attempts to silence minorities in mainstream society.
I think my image is not a bad attempt at Surrealism. I could spend a few more hours on Photoshop pulling the image together but I have made my point quite strongly and am more inclined to move on with the course.
Surrealist:
I am interested in looking into the hidden histories of minorities. This is important because most cultures will have a dominant history that will always be viewed as the 'natural' and 'real' interpretation of the facts. But historians are not objective. They are not robots. They are human just like the rest of us - and as such, they will always interpret facts according to their own cultural, political and emotional bias. This means that other histories, such as those of women, minority races, and people of sexualities outside the heterosexual binary gender norm, are suppressed or misrepresented.
It is important for a balanced and equal society that these people are able to represent themselves. They need to take control of their own identities and not have one mirrored back to themselves by a majority that often sees no value in their existence.
Here's my attempt to express the above sentiments in the Constructivist style. Firstly I looked at a number of images made by El Lissitzky and noted the use of bold geometric shapes in his work. I took inspiration from his designs and then gathered a number of images from the Internet and tried to place them in a way that would show how learning about minorities has traditionally been interpreted via the dominant establishment. The guarded doorway shows this idea. I don't think it is too bad for a first attempt - particularly the idea to show alarm clocks being lobbed through the gateway and past the policeman. I played around with the placement of the objects quite a bit until I was happy with the design. It probably could be improved a bit further but I am now ready to move on and create a Surrealist version.
Constructivist:
Edit: 10th Nov
This time I have chosen to produce a piece of work that looks specifically at the issue of control and representation of sexual minorities. I have used the LGBT Rainbow flag on my painted tanks and show a citadel of learning under siege. The hegemonic citadel is made up of pieces of cityscape and library books with a picket fence encircling it. The rainbow tanks attempt to storm the citadel and set up their own representation. In doing so they have to contend with resistance from the jellyfish. These creatures stand for the all-encompassing and insidious suppression that attempts to silence minorities in mainstream society.
I think my image is not a bad attempt at Surrealism. I could spend a few more hours on Photoshop pulling the image together but I have made my point quite strongly and am more inclined to move on with the course.
Surrealist:
Wednesday 29 October 2014
Exercise - Getting the Parr Feel
This morning I've been practising with my flashgun. The exercise involves making work like Martin Parr. I thought I'd start off by practising indoors on some bright and shiny objects. The images look quite 'harsh' and I've cranked up the contrast and colour saturation. This step was easy and now I really need to go outside and take some more in daylight this time. The object of shooting flash outside is to learn how to successfully balance ambient light with the use of flash to get those strident colours so characteristic of much of Parr's work. I'm not sure about photographing strangers using my flash though - I think that is a step too far. I will try to make some people shots with friends and family with this exercise.
Monday 27 October 2014
Psychoanalysis and the Photographer - University of Westminster
I attended a seminar on Saturday and one of the speakers was Darian Leader, a psychoanalyst. I was intrigued by what he had to say regarding the way we look at, and are looked at by others. He spoke about scopic drive and scopic desire, explaining that when we look or are looked at there is:
scopic desire, that can be thought of as like a quest - such as the search for the Holy Grail. In other words, the desire to find something in what we see.
scopic drive on the other hand, can be seen as the drive to lose something - think the Lord of the Rings; a journey to get rid of something.
So when we look we either want to find or lose something. It occurred to me that this thought process is independent from what we look at. For example an image of a teddy bear could incite in the viewer feelings of nostalgia, longing, or fear - depending on the viewers own memories and experiences. I guess this is where the idea of scopic drive and scopic desire comes into play.
Leader also spoke about emotions being sometimes too much to bear and that they can create bodily tension. I am intrigued by this notion and as a photographer I realised that the physicality of this concept is a good way to visually express an emotion or metaphor in an image.
He also made a very interesting observation about the gaze of the other. He pointed out that when we are looked at we have no defence from the gaze of another. That look could be friendly, puzzled, disgusted, hostile - how do we interpret and internalise that look? Does it form part of our own self image?
He spoke about 'presence and absence' and how looking and not looking creates a structure. How the subject follows or does not follow the gaze of the other and that we are always looking in relation to what someone else is looking at.
He mentions how we defend ourselves from the look. How we use masks, screens, etc, to distract the look of the other away from ourselves. In the animal world this defence works when a lizard loses its tail, a bird loses feathers, and in the human world masks attract the evil eye and artists create work to keep away the gaze of the other.
I found the talks quite inspiring and a lot to take in. I need more time to think and assimilate and I can certainly see myself incorporating aspects of the interpretation of the look into my own work.
scopic desire, that can be thought of as like a quest - such as the search for the Holy Grail. In other words, the desire to find something in what we see.
scopic drive on the other hand, can be seen as the drive to lose something - think the Lord of the Rings; a journey to get rid of something.
So when we look we either want to find or lose something. It occurred to me that this thought process is independent from what we look at. For example an image of a teddy bear could incite in the viewer feelings of nostalgia, longing, or fear - depending on the viewers own memories and experiences. I guess this is where the idea of scopic drive and scopic desire comes into play.
Leader also spoke about emotions being sometimes too much to bear and that they can create bodily tension. I am intrigued by this notion and as a photographer I realised that the physicality of this concept is a good way to visually express an emotion or metaphor in an image.
He also made a very interesting observation about the gaze of the other. He pointed out that when we are looked at we have no defence from the gaze of another. That look could be friendly, puzzled, disgusted, hostile - how do we interpret and internalise that look? Does it form part of our own self image?
He spoke about 'presence and absence' and how looking and not looking creates a structure. How the subject follows or does not follow the gaze of the other and that we are always looking in relation to what someone else is looking at.
He mentions how we defend ourselves from the look. How we use masks, screens, etc, to distract the look of the other away from ourselves. In the animal world this defence works when a lizard loses its tail, a bird loses feathers, and in the human world masks attract the evil eye and artists create work to keep away the gaze of the other.
I found the talks quite inspiring and a lot to take in. I need more time to think and assimilate and I can certainly see myself incorporating aspects of the interpretation of the look into my own work.
Thursday 23 October 2014
Anthony Luvera: Assembly - Brighton Biennial
On reading the photographer's supporting statement for 'Assembly' it is clear that Luvera works in collaboration with groups of people over a period of time, producing what he terms 'Assisted Self-Portraits'. His work is collaborative, providing technical and artistic support to his subjects as they work together, talk over issues, and move towards producing a final self-portrait that the subject feels best represents them. The sessions can take a number of weeks and Luvera makes use of digital medium format, voice recorders and disposable cameras. Luvera's projects have covered queer identity and I was hoping to get a glimpse of his Queer Brighton work at the Biennial but seemed to have missed it somehow.
The Assembly work deals with homelessness and all his portrait projects feed into his long term goal of making Assisted Self-Portraits that are collaborative 'exploring the tension between authorship (or artistic control) and participation, and the ethics involved in representing other people's lives.' Brighton Photo Fringe (2014).
Unfortunately a photo book fair was taking place in this exhibition space and the place was packed with people browsing the books. It wasn't possible to stand and view Luvera's work without feeling that I was in someones way.
The Assembly work deals with homelessness and all his portrait projects feed into his long term goal of making Assisted Self-Portraits that are collaborative 'exploring the tension between authorship (or artistic control) and participation, and the ethics involved in representing other people's lives.' Brighton Photo Fringe (2014).
Unfortunately a photo book fair was taking place in this exhibition space and the place was packed with people browsing the books. It wasn't possible to stand and view Luvera's work without feeling that I was in someones way.
There was a discussion amongst the group afterwards in relation to the way in which the portraits all look like they are posed in a similar way. Some of the students felt that Luvera still had too much artistic control over the subjects for the work to be truly participatory. I can see that whilst working with a photographer over a period of time, looking at portraits and other work, the group could form a consensus about how they think they should appear in a piece of photographic art. The group dynamic itself can influence thinking and outcomes. I can see where the 'tension' element comes into play as the whole process is changing the way the subjects view themselves and the end portrait could be wholly different from one taken at the start of the process.
Reference:
BFP14 (2014) Assembly Anthony Luvera.
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Amore E Piombo (Years of Lead) - Brighton Biennial
This exhibition takes work from the photographic archive of Team Editorial Services, a photographic agency based in Rome. The selected images taken by the agency's photographers documented the extreme political situation in the late 1960s and 70s. I know nothing about this period of Italian history but the exhibition curated by Roger Hargreaves and Federica Chiocchetti proved very informative. Around the walls were old wooden bookcases. The framed images placed on the shelves showed gritty black and white scenes of street violence and extremism in the photojournalistic tradition. Mixed in with these were images of the popular celebrities of the time. The photographers were constantly shifting between these two worlds in their work for the agency.
Along one of the walls a large printed poster showed a collection of images showing the juxtaposition of violence, sex and entertainment. For me this brought to mind the Society of the Spectacle. The way in which the media mixes up and packages all sorts of images for consumption. The violence is reduced to the level of drama for consumption by the masses with light relief provided by film stars that take the edge off the more political shenanigans taking place behind the scenes.
In the centre of the room a collection of variously sized plinths held graphic images of death on the street. Bodies leaking blood from assassinations were framed and placed face up on the plinths. I felt like I was moving through a series of tombs towards a large monument that stood at the head of the room. This moment or memorial had a collection of colour images that referred to the assassination of Aldo Moro, the Italian president, who had been taken hostage by a political organisation. I think it was Gareth Dent that mentioned they reminded him of floral tributes placed against a memorial.
Behind the plinth and hidden away, were other images that hinted at subterfuge and secret political dealings. Overall the exhibition was curated in such a way that it felt to me that it raised questions about the nature of society and how much decision making and control is hidden away from the general populace. These questions are just as relevant today as they were back then.
Along one of the walls a large printed poster showed a collection of images showing the juxtaposition of violence, sex and entertainment. For me this brought to mind the Society of the Spectacle. The way in which the media mixes up and packages all sorts of images for consumption. The violence is reduced to the level of drama for consumption by the masses with light relief provided by film stars that take the edge off the more political shenanigans taking place behind the scenes.
In the centre of the room a collection of variously sized plinths held graphic images of death on the street. Bodies leaking blood from assassinations were framed and placed face up on the plinths. I felt like I was moving through a series of tombs towards a large monument that stood at the head of the room. This moment or memorial had a collection of colour images that referred to the assassination of Aldo Moro, the Italian president, who had been taken hostage by a political organisation. I think it was Gareth Dent that mentioned they reminded him of floral tributes placed against a memorial.
Behind the plinth and hidden away, were other images that hinted at subterfuge and secret political dealings. Overall the exhibition was curated in such a way that it felt to me that it raised questions about the nature of society and how much decision making and control is hidden away from the general populace. These questions are just as relevant today as they were back then.
Thursday 16 October 2014
Research Point: Contemporary Awareness 1
Richard Billingham - Ray's A Laugh
Ray's a Laugh
The first few times that I looked at the work of Richard Billingham's 'Ray's A Laugh' project, I was struck by the strong narrative dynamic unfolding within the photo-story. In his photographs the subjects are always on the move as they fight, argue, avoid flying cats, or in the case of Ray, keel over from too much drink. Even when at rest, seated or slumped on the ground, there is a sense of impending conflict about to flare up again. The main strength of the work comes from the opportunity to be able to be so close to a subject and yet go unobserved. The photographer is completely embedded in the situations unfolding and his unrestricted access has furnished him with some very strong images. These characters are Billingham's own family and looking at other work by Billingham since, I think that Ray's A Laugh remains his most influential piece of work to date.
I have engaged with the work a number of times now and the narrative element although still very strong has subsided somewhat and I find myself admiring the colour tones and aesthetic of the work too. Liz in particular, with her colourful and highly patterned dresses always catch my eye. The image of her stretched out on a couch has a very Odalisque pose about it; one that must have been encouraged, if not observed, by Billingham who was an art student at the time. Another similar image of Liz, seated by a highly complex jigsaw puzzle with many scattered and colourful pieces that compete with her equally opulent dress, also seems to incorporate a sense of richness and vibrant squalor. I feel these aesthetic elements pull the whole work together in a way that I had not consciously noticed before.
The images have a snapshot quality to them. They are in a similar tradition to Nan Goldin's work, although the difference is that Goldin herself is often featured and Billingham stays firmly behind the camera. Goldin's photographs feel more formally composed. They have more of a sense of calmness about them that is absent in Billingham's work. There is also the sense of a subversion of the 'family album' aesthetic in both of these practitioners work. Real conflicts would never normally appear between the pages of a traditional family album as they tend to follow a much more rigid and structured format that portray the 'good times'.
Briony Campbell - The Dad Project
The Dad Project
The Dad Project also takes a look at personal relations within the photographer's family. This project looks at the end of a life. Campbell uses film, stills, music, recorded dialogue, and family album imagery to pull together an effective portrait of her father as he approaches death. The dying father articulates his fears of not being able to continue to support his family or watch it grow and change. In turn the children and wife provide reassurance and the whole package is very poignant and skilfully edited.
Again the main strength of the Dad Project is the photographer's closeness to her subject, providing her with access at a time that would normally be closed off to outsiders. Campbell covers a sensitive subject matter with honesty and integrity. The pace of the work was gentle and reflective but by using various different elements, stills, album snaps, soundtrack, the visual language is dynamic and therefore held the viewers interest. Unlike 'Ray's A Laugh' Campbell used a number of self portraits in the piece, often holding her camera, as she documented her father's decline. This time family album images that portray the good times are used; they poignantly highlight the father's spoken dialogue as he speaks about his feelings of not being able to be the person he once was within his family.
David Gillanders - The 13th Floor
The 13th Floor
David Gillander's photo-story for German GEO magazine follows the lives of a couple and their children living in a damp and cramped housing block in Scotland. The images portray the poverty of the subjects lives and is filmed in black and white. The choice to not use colour is interesting. Social Documentary and Photojournalism has traditionally shied away from using colour for both technical and artistic reasons. Black and white images do tend to add depth and a sense of gritty realism to images. This can lull the view into believing that black and white images are more real than colour, when in fact both mediums are actually part of a hyper reality.
Unlike the previous two photographers in this post Gillanders is not related to his subjects. The work was part of an ongoing personal project that was subsequently funded by a magazine. Gillanders would have to have worked hard to gain the trust of the family and apparently as is often the case lived with them for a few days at a time to obtain his images. I wonder how differently the family reacted to a stranger in their household compared to Briony Campbell or Richard Billinghams subjects. Did they act up for the cameras - conscious that they were in front of a camera that would eventually lead to publication of their images? And is that any different to any subject that knows they are part of a piece of work?
There are no real detail shots in the work. The focus is always directly on the action, mostly taken in the middle distance, and follows the subjects closely. The work is similar to Billingham's 'Ray's a Laugh' in this respect although the colour tones soften Billingham's work and make more of an artistic statement. Gillanders black and white images follow the tradition of black and white Social Documentary.
Albrecht Tupke -
Albrecht Tupke
It is difficult to see the work of Albrecht Tupke as forming part of the Social Documentary genre. His portrait work has a typological slant to it. The subjects are always posed in a similar fashion facing the camera and shown full body - similar in style to Rineke Dijkstra. Some of the subjects are approached on the street so I can see that there is a Social Documentary element present but the work appears to address wider themes relating to humankind (the gaze, representation, masks,) than the more focused themes that a Social Documentary photographer would usually follow. The work is more likely to be made for the gallery than a publication. With that said there is a lot of cross-over between genres these days and the categories themselves are not always that helpful.
Tupke's work has a very different feel to it. Apart from the typological aspect the images appear to be exposed towards the high-key range so they are very light. They make quite a contrast to the black and white and darker look of much Social Documentary. The photographer also creates other typologies, animals, objects, landscapes, etc.
Ray's a Laugh
The first few times that I looked at the work of Richard Billingham's 'Ray's A Laugh' project, I was struck by the strong narrative dynamic unfolding within the photo-story. In his photographs the subjects are always on the move as they fight, argue, avoid flying cats, or in the case of Ray, keel over from too much drink. Even when at rest, seated or slumped on the ground, there is a sense of impending conflict about to flare up again. The main strength of the work comes from the opportunity to be able to be so close to a subject and yet go unobserved. The photographer is completely embedded in the situations unfolding and his unrestricted access has furnished him with some very strong images. These characters are Billingham's own family and looking at other work by Billingham since, I think that Ray's A Laugh remains his most influential piece of work to date.
I have engaged with the work a number of times now and the narrative element although still very strong has subsided somewhat and I find myself admiring the colour tones and aesthetic of the work too. Liz in particular, with her colourful and highly patterned dresses always catch my eye. The image of her stretched out on a couch has a very Odalisque pose about it; one that must have been encouraged, if not observed, by Billingham who was an art student at the time. Another similar image of Liz, seated by a highly complex jigsaw puzzle with many scattered and colourful pieces that compete with her equally opulent dress, also seems to incorporate a sense of richness and vibrant squalor. I feel these aesthetic elements pull the whole work together in a way that I had not consciously noticed before.
The images have a snapshot quality to them. They are in a similar tradition to Nan Goldin's work, although the difference is that Goldin herself is often featured and Billingham stays firmly behind the camera. Goldin's photographs feel more formally composed. They have more of a sense of calmness about them that is absent in Billingham's work. There is also the sense of a subversion of the 'family album' aesthetic in both of these practitioners work. Real conflicts would never normally appear between the pages of a traditional family album as they tend to follow a much more rigid and structured format that portray the 'good times'.
Briony Campbell - The Dad Project
The Dad Project
The Dad Project also takes a look at personal relations within the photographer's family. This project looks at the end of a life. Campbell uses film, stills, music, recorded dialogue, and family album imagery to pull together an effective portrait of her father as he approaches death. The dying father articulates his fears of not being able to continue to support his family or watch it grow and change. In turn the children and wife provide reassurance and the whole package is very poignant and skilfully edited.
Again the main strength of the Dad Project is the photographer's closeness to her subject, providing her with access at a time that would normally be closed off to outsiders. Campbell covers a sensitive subject matter with honesty and integrity. The pace of the work was gentle and reflective but by using various different elements, stills, album snaps, soundtrack, the visual language is dynamic and therefore held the viewers interest. Unlike 'Ray's A Laugh' Campbell used a number of self portraits in the piece, often holding her camera, as she documented her father's decline. This time family album images that portray the good times are used; they poignantly highlight the father's spoken dialogue as he speaks about his feelings of not being able to be the person he once was within his family.
David Gillanders - The 13th Floor
The 13th Floor
David Gillander's photo-story for German GEO magazine follows the lives of a couple and their children living in a damp and cramped housing block in Scotland. The images portray the poverty of the subjects lives and is filmed in black and white. The choice to not use colour is interesting. Social Documentary and Photojournalism has traditionally shied away from using colour for both technical and artistic reasons. Black and white images do tend to add depth and a sense of gritty realism to images. This can lull the view into believing that black and white images are more real than colour, when in fact both mediums are actually part of a hyper reality.
Unlike the previous two photographers in this post Gillanders is not related to his subjects. The work was part of an ongoing personal project that was subsequently funded by a magazine. Gillanders would have to have worked hard to gain the trust of the family and apparently as is often the case lived with them for a few days at a time to obtain his images. I wonder how differently the family reacted to a stranger in their household compared to Briony Campbell or Richard Billinghams subjects. Did they act up for the cameras - conscious that they were in front of a camera that would eventually lead to publication of their images? And is that any different to any subject that knows they are part of a piece of work?
There are no real detail shots in the work. The focus is always directly on the action, mostly taken in the middle distance, and follows the subjects closely. The work is similar to Billingham's 'Ray's a Laugh' in this respect although the colour tones soften Billingham's work and make more of an artistic statement. Gillanders black and white images follow the tradition of black and white Social Documentary.
Albrecht Tupke -
Albrecht Tupke
It is difficult to see the work of Albrecht Tupke as forming part of the Social Documentary genre. His portrait work has a typological slant to it. The subjects are always posed in a similar fashion facing the camera and shown full body - similar in style to Rineke Dijkstra. Some of the subjects are approached on the street so I can see that there is a Social Documentary element present but the work appears to address wider themes relating to humankind (the gaze, representation, masks,) than the more focused themes that a Social Documentary photographer would usually follow. The work is more likely to be made for the gallery than a publication. With that said there is a lot of cross-over between genres these days and the categories themselves are not always that helpful.
Tupke's work has a very different feel to it. Apart from the typological aspect the images appear to be exposed towards the high-key range so they are very light. They make quite a contrast to the black and white and darker look of much Social Documentary. The photographer also creates other typologies, animals, objects, landscapes, etc.
Wednesday 8 October 2014
Joan Fontcuberta - Stranger Than Fiction
It is very easy to take a stroll though the Stranger Than Fiction exhibition and be amused by the fakery of it all; after all who doesn't enjoy seeing body parts of various animals joined together and shown as real specimens in glass cases; or fake plaster casts of fossilised mermaids, supposedly discovered on archaeological field trips; star charts that are really photographic paper taped to a car windscreen and driven through the night, to end up covered in constellations - that are actually insect smudges...
But, once I saw past the highly creative and entertaining aspect of this exhibition by Joan Fontcuberta I began to ask the real questions. The ones around the notion of truth. How can we know that what is presented to us is real or factual? Just because a museum exhibits an animal in a glass display case or an archive collection of plant photographs should we just blindly accept that they are the real deal? We do though. We treat the museum as a sacred space - one of science, knowledge and learning that isn't to be questioned. We know that science gets it wrong though as over time hypotheses taken as fact can turn out to be proved incorrect. We also assume that science is unbiased and neutral. When people and money are involved science is often used to promote an ideological or political position. Just look at the smoking lobby that for many decades has used science to further its own agenda. Not to mention the whole Eugenics debacle between the world wars.
Religion also gets a scathing sideswipe by Foncuberta. His section on miracles uses digitally manipulated images that show priests surfing on sharks or teaching meercats to read from holy scripts. The photographic documentary proof is there to be seen at the Media Space in the Science Museum - it must be true.
Fontcuberta works very hard in this exhibition to provide supporting documentation and artifacts to back up his work. They help to validate the photographs. If you can read the letter sent to a colleague regarding a mysterious animal species, and then look at the old black and white picture of a white-coated scientist holding it up for the camera, then it is very convincing. As a viewer of the work I found myself sucked into the created worlds of each piece and the minute attention to detail in creating objects, back-story, characters and images.
I can see how these kind of constructed images along with supporting documentation could fit within my own practice. For my next assignment I want to work in a similar way, not only creating staged images but going deeper and making artifacts too that help to substantiate the story that I am trying to tell.
Fontcuberta wants us to look at these representational aspects of our society. How we are so easily duped and controlled by our political leaders and ruling elites. How evidence, records, photographs, are too easily assumed to be a factual representation of the truth that cannot be questioned. We can't question everything. We don't have the time. We have to take on faith that a lot of what we are told is factually correct. But at least it helps to be aware that some, if not most of, the time we are being duped.
But, once I saw past the highly creative and entertaining aspect of this exhibition by Joan Fontcuberta I began to ask the real questions. The ones around the notion of truth. How can we know that what is presented to us is real or factual? Just because a museum exhibits an animal in a glass display case or an archive collection of plant photographs should we just blindly accept that they are the real deal? We do though. We treat the museum as a sacred space - one of science, knowledge and learning that isn't to be questioned. We know that science gets it wrong though as over time hypotheses taken as fact can turn out to be proved incorrect. We also assume that science is unbiased and neutral. When people and money are involved science is often used to promote an ideological or political position. Just look at the smoking lobby that for many decades has used science to further its own agenda. Not to mention the whole Eugenics debacle between the world wars.
Religion also gets a scathing sideswipe by Foncuberta. His section on miracles uses digitally manipulated images that show priests surfing on sharks or teaching meercats to read from holy scripts. The photographic documentary proof is there to be seen at the Media Space in the Science Museum - it must be true.
Fontcuberta works very hard in this exhibition to provide supporting documentation and artifacts to back up his work. They help to validate the photographs. If you can read the letter sent to a colleague regarding a mysterious animal species, and then look at the old black and white picture of a white-coated scientist holding it up for the camera, then it is very convincing. As a viewer of the work I found myself sucked into the created worlds of each piece and the minute attention to detail in creating objects, back-story, characters and images.
I can see how these kind of constructed images along with supporting documentation could fit within my own practice. For my next assignment I want to work in a similar way, not only creating staged images but going deeper and making artifacts too that help to substantiate the story that I am trying to tell.
Fontcuberta wants us to look at these representational aspects of our society. How we are so easily duped and controlled by our political leaders and ruling elites. How evidence, records, photographs, are too easily assumed to be a factual representation of the truth that cannot be questioned. We can't question everything. We don't have the time. We have to take on faith that a lot of what we are told is factually correct. But at least it helps to be aware that some, if not most of, the time we are being duped.
Monday 6 October 2014
Francesca Woodman - Study Visit
The exhibition of Francesca Woodman's work at The Miro gallery was simply laid out in the tiny gallery space - just a single room really, with a section off to the side. The images were small, square in format (mostly), and hung in grey frames with generous white borders. As one of my fellow OCA students observed, the size, frames, and mounts seemed to 'contain' the work.
Thinking about this comment later I find it to be very true. Woodman's images are complex and surreal; juxtapositions between objects and the subject - namely Woodman herself, posed mostly naked or sometimes wearing shoes or single items of clothing, can be difficult to read. They are bursting with richly complex meanings and suggestions of intent. I feel the choice and size of hanging seemed to shut that down to some extent. I'm not saying the images should be huge but printing the photographs larger would have helped me to navigate the visual complexity to be found in her work. With that said the gallery space is small so the choice of small images is probably wise to avoid a feeling of overcrowding.
It is clear from the images (mostly taken in an abandoned house) that Woodman is working through her artistic process. Woodman is playing with materials, objects, poses, using her own body to ask questions about herself and the wider world. I find the images fascinating in this respect and can relate this process to myself and the way in which I approach making work. I only wish I was as daring as this young woman and could unburden myself of many of my own hangups around my body that come with age and maturity.
The theme chosen for the exhibition was the compositional use of the zig-zag. I found this idea to be somewhat annoying to be honest. I have always approached Woodman's images from the viewpoint of content and meaning - tried to decode the images. 'Why has she placed herself naked in a glass display case with stuffed animals?' 'Why peel the paper from the walls of an abandoned house and try to position herself between the torn sheets and wall?' 'Why the strange blurring of hands and head at times?' Some of my favourite Woodman images were absent from the exhibition as these did not fit the zig-zag theme. The concept is different, I suppose, and as someone else pointed out it does help to lighten the mood of the exhibition and unburden the viewer of the baggage that one brings to reading a Woodman image. It is hard to distance oneself from the knowledge that Woodman committed suicide at 22 and look for a troubled mind in the darker elements of her work.
There is a kind of formal, Modernist element to Woodman's work. The square format (making all four edges of the frame equally powerful) reinforces the compositional and aesthetic aspects. Woodman is very adept with these skills. But looking at the exhibition from a curatorial point of view, should her intrinsic ability to make work in this way be foregrounded? It seems to me that side of Woodman is a background skill - albeit one used with strong effect to convey her intent. The content and meaning of Woodman's work speaks to me much more strongly than her compositional skills or dalliance with the zig-zag - one that might have lasted no more than for a small series of images (when flipping through a book of her work the zig-zag as a recurring motif does not particularly stand out from any other compositional element). Using the zig-zag motif seems to me to trivialise her images. Although to be fair, in the side gallery is a larger image, constructed of multiple photographs, in a linear format. Woodman's comments can be read and it is clear that she is trying to use the form of the zig-zag to match the images together. My concern is was this just a small part of her artistic process; one that has been blown up and taken to an extreme to try and encompass more of her images than is necessary? Unfortunately Woodman is not around to confirm or deny.
Wednesday 10 September 2014
Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord
This book is a tough read. Although the ideas are intriguing:
'In Societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.' Debord (2009).
In other words our society is over saturated with images churned out by the media; that we can no longer see ourselves, and mediate with each other through a set of image-based cliches and stereotypes.
The book reads as statement after statement without pause to clarify, reflect, or give examples. I think I got the gist of Debord's argument but another read through is required - if not multiple reads over time. I also looked online for further clarification. I came across a Guardian review that neatly clarified some of the books concepts and helped to cement the various ideas that are thrown up - putting them into a more simpler form than I could manage.
'All told, the book is full of sentences that describe something simple, but profound: the way that just about everything that we consume - and, if we're not careful, most of what we do - embodies a mixture of distraction and reinforcement that serves to reproduce the mode of society and economy that has taken the idea of the spectacle to an almost surreal extreme.' Harris (2012).
So, we're just a bunch of factory worker drones that produce and consume in equal measure. We are kept at peace by shiny things (celebrity culture, passive consumption of television) waved in our faces as a method of distraction so that we don't become too aware of our enslavement. I use the term 'factory worker drones' merely as a euphemism for everyone that has a salaried job and works within Capitalist commodity culture. Debord points out that we actively participate in the spectacle. Even our leisure time that has expanded greatly in the last century is focused into shopping, eating out, exercising, holidaying - all of these activities are designed to make us consume. The system reinforces itself.
I'm not even pretending to fully understand this book. I'm sure some of my points don't quite hit target with the book's core ideas. But I will give it another read soon - after I've had time to ponder and maybe do some more research.
References:
Debord, G. (2009) Society of the Spectacle. London, UK: Anthony Rowe, CPI Group
Harris, J. (2012) Guy Debord predicted our distracted society. The Guardian. Ed: 30th March 2012.
'In Societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.' Debord (2009).
In other words our society is over saturated with images churned out by the media; that we can no longer see ourselves, and mediate with each other through a set of image-based cliches and stereotypes.
The book reads as statement after statement without pause to clarify, reflect, or give examples. I think I got the gist of Debord's argument but another read through is required - if not multiple reads over time. I also looked online for further clarification. I came across a Guardian review that neatly clarified some of the books concepts and helped to cement the various ideas that are thrown up - putting them into a more simpler form than I could manage.
'All told, the book is full of sentences that describe something simple, but profound: the way that just about everything that we consume - and, if we're not careful, most of what we do - embodies a mixture of distraction and reinforcement that serves to reproduce the mode of society and economy that has taken the idea of the spectacle to an almost surreal extreme.' Harris (2012).
So, we're just a bunch of factory worker drones that produce and consume in equal measure. We are kept at peace by shiny things (celebrity culture, passive consumption of television) waved in our faces as a method of distraction so that we don't become too aware of our enslavement. I use the term 'factory worker drones' merely as a euphemism for everyone that has a salaried job and works within Capitalist commodity culture. Debord points out that we actively participate in the spectacle. Even our leisure time that has expanded greatly in the last century is focused into shopping, eating out, exercising, holidaying - all of these activities are designed to make us consume. The system reinforces itself.
I'm not even pretending to fully understand this book. I'm sure some of my points don't quite hit target with the book's core ideas. But I will give it another read soon - after I've had time to ponder and maybe do some more research.
References:
Debord, G. (2009) Society of the Spectacle. London, UK: Anthony Rowe, CPI Group
Harris, J. (2012) Guy Debord predicted our distracted society. The Guardian. Ed: 30th March 2012.
Wednesday 3 September 2014
Assignment 1 - I make myself in your meme
My artistic practise involves looking at memory from my own past or doing research into cultural themes that I want to explore further. My photographic and creative output is then formed into narrative sequences, of found objects, places, people, that say something to me. I also incorporate constructed scenes or portraits that enhance the narrative in some way. Although the narrative is usually linear in format I've lately been trying to develop a more non-linear narrative style. This allows for a more conceptual outlook by de-centering the subject and making the viewer more able to follow different narrative pathways of their own. I do find this quite hard to do as storytelling feels quite natural to me. For this project I have used a dual narrative that links in some way. There are also a number of images that are more a conceptual comment on the narrative theme than part of the narrative themselves.
I am aware that I am pushing at the boundaries of what is essentially a documentary assignment with my work. But, the research that I've recently done into documentary photographers such as Richard Mosse, Broomberg and Chanarin, etc, means that I am more than comfortable with my interpretation of the documentary brief.
Some of my images are appropriated from the Internet and adapted or cropped to suit my purposes. So, unfortunately, because of copyright constraints, I am not able to publish the full sequence here.
Note: Since this initial posting the working title of 'Gay4pay pornstar boat-trip' has changed to 'I make myself in your meme'.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
By looking at the images here the viewer will be unaware of the dual narrative element to my sequence. It is just unfortunate that copyright restrictions stop me from posting all of the work. The essence of my project is to take a look at sexuality, and how difficult it can be for a non-heterosexual person to adjust to a society that is not only Patriarchal, but aligned to a Heterosexual Binary Gender Matrix. I've tried to make the work from both a narrative and conceptual viewpoint. Construction of identity features highly in the work and tries to show how all of us are subject to family, cultural, societal and political influences - all of that comes together and forms who we are and ultimately the masks, both public and private, that we wear.
The assignment is now posted to my tutor so I await my feedback.
Edit 7th October:
I've had my feedback for a while now and haven't got around to updating my blog. The feedback was good in general, stating that I was clear in my approach to research and conceptualisation of ideas. I backed up my ideas and explained what I wanted to achieve well. The academic side of my studies is on track basically, with a few tweaks needed to improve my analysis of my own work and more contextualisation in regard to other practitioners. I'm working on this and will make a conscious effort to cover these areas more in the future.
The not so good news was that my tutor found my assignment images to be somewhat confused. He felt that I had tried to cover too many topics and that I need to reign it in. There is a danger that the viewer would get lost in the work with no real sense of what I was trying to say. He advises that I re-look at the work with the intention of focusing more narrowly on fewer topics.
He does have a point. I'd been reading a lot of critical theory lately around representation of minorities and had expanded my initial thoughts to much wider concerns on how we are all affected by cultural representation in our society. I think I took on a bit more than I could deal with in an assignment that required only twelve images. I provided double that. I've had time to ponder all this and think I know how I want to amend the assignment. I am behind with my studies at present so need to move on with my coursework and assignment 2, so this one will be on the back burner for a while.
I also had some suggestions on photographers to look up that my tutor thinks will be of benefit. I will come back and post the links to my analysis here when it is written.
Edit 21st October:
This past weekend I attended the Brighton Biennial two day study visit. I found inspiration both in the work exhibited and in the review/crit session that was held for the students on the Sunday morning. I took along this piece of work in the hope that I would be able to make more sense of it and move it forward.
I made some notes and have outlined some of the thoughts that came out and my subsequent response to them:
I was inspired to use the Leporello book format when I saw a piece of work at Vantage Point by one of the exhibitors. I have all the details collected in various notes and postcards and will have to come back here to update this post.
Edit 22nd Oct:
Although this project should be on the back burner so that I can continue to push ahead with the next section of the coursework I couldn't help but want to have a stab at making a basic Leporello. I had some index cards that I sellotaped together and printed out some small versions of my assignment images. I played around with the positioning of the images for a while and printed out some larger ones too, so that there would be variety of size to create a more dynamic feel to the book.
I made what could only be considered a very rough first draft. There is so much more to think about. The sizing is not right of either the white Leporello card or the images themselves. Then there is still the issue of sequencing. I thought I had it more or less sorted but now the images are finally in book form I can see that there are problems to be resolved.
I also need to think about the issue of printing. How exactly do I get a Leporello printed? I want the finished version to look as professional as possible - not hand made. I have plenty of time yet to think about these issues but I must really place this work on hold now and just get on with my studies.
A VERY rough draft of 'fantasy gay4pay pornstar boat-trip'.
Edit 27th Oct:
I'm thinking about pairing selections of images on pages. They seem to work much better as a narrative when there is juxtaposition to reinforce the groupings. This will make the Leporello shorter too - no bad thing. The image sizes need adjusting in relation to each other though. They can't all be the same size. One image needs to be visually dominant with the others having a subordinate role.
Edit 28th Jan:
My tutor feedback for this assignment suggested I look at a number of sources. I will post a link here as and when I've completed a review of each one.
Alan Clarke - Elephant
Philip-Lorca diCorcia - Hustlers
Edit 9th Jan:
Wow, it has been almost a year since I last updated this assignment! I've been working towards the final output and even taken a one day course on bookbinding. I learnt how to make a Leporello (concertina book) and a couple of pamphlets with different types of binding. The course was most enjoyable and enlightening. I got to be hands on with bookbinding tools and glue and cover fabric and papers. Although fiddly (and neatness isn't my strong point) it wasn't too difficult to put a book together. I can thoroughly recommend the course to anyone that wants to learn the techniques for making handmade books.
London Centre for Book Arts
Edit 15th Jan:
So today I pulled some sheets of cartridge paper together and tried to work out what the dimensions of my Leporello were going to be. I thought that the height needed to be taller than the average greetings card as I didn't want the images inside to be too small. This is because I might lose detail with smaller images. I began with card that was 10 inches high. I made up three separate strips and taped them together to make a long strip.
I laid the strip out on the bed and then began placing my images to try and arrive at a sequence. The narrative already directs this to a certain extent but I do have too many images at the moment. After some time and a bit of shuffling I was able to drop the image count from 23 to 15. The sequence is much tighter now and anyway the final Leporello would have been too unwieldy to accommodate so many images.
Once I had the sequence more or less set I began to look at image sizing. I need to make the images smaller or larger depending on their juxtaposition to other images. They can't all be the same size as they will compete with one another. Each set of three needs to have a dominant image that dictates the intent of the narrative.
I began making changes to the image sizes and stuck them to the cartridge paper with tape. It was at this point that I realised that the 10 inches height parameter that I'd begun with made the book look too cumbersome. So I cut off a strip at the top to lose 2 inches. I'd already made folds to create concertina pages in the cartridge strip. With the shortened height the page widths now looked too wide so the width needs adjusting.
I've made a lot of progress today but I need a break. Tomorrow I will remake a new strip from cartridge paper with the new height and width in place. Then I will continue working on image sizing and placement.
Edit 25th:
I made up my new Leporello in the size and began making small adjustments to the sequencing and image size and placement on the page. Once I was happy I began translating the physical book to Adobe's inDesign application ready for digital upload to my online printer.
Edit 28th:
To accompany this book there will be an artist statement to contextualise the work around identity politics. But on reflection when perusing the actual book I wanted to add an element that humanises those concepts in some way. I've decided to add text to the work. I've spent some time thinking about this; working the flow of text and placement; swapped words around and writing them on my physical copy of the Leporello to see how they fit. I think I've arrived at text that I'm happy with and have even managed to take a line from one of the pages to make a new title for the work. The work is now called 'I make myself in your meme' and I'm very happy with my new title!
I just have the text placement to put into inDesign now and it will be ready for printing! The whole process has been quite difficult because I've had to plan the work on three sheets of A2 that, once printed, I will need to cut and fold into the form of my book. This means that it has been quite tricky to ensure that the images are placed correctly and once folded will not appear on the wrong page or even across folds!
Edit 4th Feb:
A very busy week with lots of progress made! I've received the A2 sheets back and I'm very happy with both the paper and print quality. A couple of prints are a little dark but it's all a learning curve. I've not used hand pressed fine art paper before. It also looks like my image and text placement is correct. I won't find out until I start cutting.
I started by cutting the three A2 sheets in half. This gave me six strips that would need to be glued together to make one long strip. So far so good!
The strips had a noticeable paper curl so they had to be pressed for 24 hours to get them as flat as possible before folding and gluing.
The folding required concentration and constant re-checking to ensure a seam wasn't folded the wrong way. Luckily I had the paper maquette to refer to as I went along. I was pleased to see that my measurements had worked successfully. My images and text were all in the correct places! The paper was quite difficult to handle and very easy to crease if handled clumsily.
On each of the strips I'd allowed for an extended edge so that they could be glued together. It is all the measuring at the planning stage that is so crucial to get right. It is no good spending £70 on expensive paper to realise the images are misaligned or there is not enough space for joining edges together.
The gluing was the most worrying part. So easy to get glue everywhere. A top tip I learned on the recent bookbinding workshop was to wear an apron! This isn't just to stay clean but very useful to quickly rub the glue from sticky fingers! Having a cloth lying around means that with all the other tools lying around it can easily come into contact with clean paper and cause marks. Lining up the glued edges to join the pieces was fraught with worry. So easy to make a mistake at this stage.
It's all coming together! Very pleased with the result! Only two small minor mistakes made that I'm sure can be rectified at the tidying up stage.
Once glued and folded and with loads of blotting and greaseproof sheets added for protection it was all back into the press (a pile of heavy books on a hard flat surface) for another 24 hours.
Edit 12th Feb:
My trip to the bookbinders was successful. I'd planned in advance the cover material I needed for both this book and for assignment 2 as well. Although it would have been easy to get carried away with fancy cloth and elaborately designed paper I need to remember that it is the work that has to be the primary concern. It mustn't be overshadowed by other design elements. So for assignment 1 I've chosen white bookcloth material. This is to match the white paper of the interior pages. Hopefully the images inside will then stand out.
Compared to making the book pages, the covers were easy. Well, they would have been a lot easier if I hadn't decided to print my titles using my crappy inkjet printer! My test piece using a scrap of coloured bookcloth went well. Printing my title using black ink on a white piece of bookcloth was a whole other matter! The curl in the material was a problem and I resorted to dry ironing it, which seemed to work. Although the small piece of fabric still kept touching the rollers, and collecting ink splodges. It took quite a few attempts to get it right. Once the printing was sorted it was a relief to start making the covers.
I used special board from the London Centre for the Book Arts for the stiff covers. I made sure there was enough space on my bookcloth to wrap around and then glued the cloth to the board. Once the covers were made they were pressed under weighted books and left to dry for 24 hours.
The finished covers were then glued to the interior concertina pages. This stage was also fraught with worry. It would have been so easy to get glue everywhere or make a mistake when attaching the pages to the covers and ruin the whole book. Thankfully it is now finished - with some minor errors. But it was a positive experience, and for a first attempt at making a handmade book, went well. I'm very pleased with the results.
I am aware that I am pushing at the boundaries of what is essentially a documentary assignment with my work. But, the research that I've recently done into documentary photographers such as Richard Mosse, Broomberg and Chanarin, etc, means that I am more than comfortable with my interpretation of the documentary brief.
Some of my images are appropriated from the Internet and adapted or cropped to suit my purposes. So, unfortunately, because of copyright constraints, I am not able to publish the full sequence here.
Note: Since this initial posting the working title of 'Gay4pay pornstar boat-trip' has changed to 'I make myself in your meme'.
1.
By looking at the images here the viewer will be unaware of the dual narrative element to my sequence. It is just unfortunate that copyright restrictions stop me from posting all of the work. The essence of my project is to take a look at sexuality, and how difficult it can be for a non-heterosexual person to adjust to a society that is not only Patriarchal, but aligned to a Heterosexual Binary Gender Matrix. I've tried to make the work from both a narrative and conceptual viewpoint. Construction of identity features highly in the work and tries to show how all of us are subject to family, cultural, societal and political influences - all of that comes together and forms who we are and ultimately the masks, both public and private, that we wear.
The assignment is now posted to my tutor so I await my feedback.
Edit 7th October:
I've had my feedback for a while now and haven't got around to updating my blog. The feedback was good in general, stating that I was clear in my approach to research and conceptualisation of ideas. I backed up my ideas and explained what I wanted to achieve well. The academic side of my studies is on track basically, with a few tweaks needed to improve my analysis of my own work and more contextualisation in regard to other practitioners. I'm working on this and will make a conscious effort to cover these areas more in the future.
The not so good news was that my tutor found my assignment images to be somewhat confused. He felt that I had tried to cover too many topics and that I need to reign it in. There is a danger that the viewer would get lost in the work with no real sense of what I was trying to say. He advises that I re-look at the work with the intention of focusing more narrowly on fewer topics.
He does have a point. I'd been reading a lot of critical theory lately around representation of minorities and had expanded my initial thoughts to much wider concerns on how we are all affected by cultural representation in our society. I think I took on a bit more than I could deal with in an assignment that required only twelve images. I provided double that. I've had time to ponder all this and think I know how I want to amend the assignment. I am behind with my studies at present so need to move on with my coursework and assignment 2, so this one will be on the back burner for a while.
I also had some suggestions on photographers to look up that my tutor thinks will be of benefit. I will come back and post the links to my analysis here when it is written.
Edit 21st October:
This past weekend I attended the Brighton Biennial two day study visit. I found inspiration both in the work exhibited and in the review/crit session that was held for the students on the Sunday morning. I took along this piece of work in the hope that I would be able to make more sense of it and move it forward.
I made some notes and have outlined some of the thoughts that came out and my subsequent response to them:
- move image 12 (production assistant) to end of sequence to complete ending.
- will image 12 at end of sequence lessen impact of final porn image?
- this work needs to be a photo book
- work needs commonality of experience
- remove jarring key lines from images
- edit images - remove image 6 (tear sheet image)
- think about final format - print work as a Leporello - this will enable dual narrative to flow and cross over
- think about non standard aspect ratios of porn images - Leporello format will counter this issue
- re-investigate dots - look at recent work of Bloomberg and Chanarin
I was inspired to use the Leporello book format when I saw a piece of work at Vantage Point by one of the exhibitors. I have all the details collected in various notes and postcards and will have to come back here to update this post.
Edit 22nd Oct:
Although this project should be on the back burner so that I can continue to push ahead with the next section of the coursework I couldn't help but want to have a stab at making a basic Leporello. I had some index cards that I sellotaped together and printed out some small versions of my assignment images. I played around with the positioning of the images for a while and printed out some larger ones too, so that there would be variety of size to create a more dynamic feel to the book.
I made what could only be considered a very rough first draft. There is so much more to think about. The sizing is not right of either the white Leporello card or the images themselves. Then there is still the issue of sequencing. I thought I had it more or less sorted but now the images are finally in book form I can see that there are problems to be resolved.
I also need to think about the issue of printing. How exactly do I get a Leporello printed? I want the finished version to look as professional as possible - not hand made. I have plenty of time yet to think about these issues but I must really place this work on hold now and just get on with my studies.
A VERY rough draft of 'fantasy gay4pay pornstar boat-trip'.
Edit 27th Oct:
I'm thinking about pairing selections of images on pages. They seem to work much better as a narrative when there is juxtaposition to reinforce the groupings. This will make the Leporello shorter too - no bad thing. The image sizes need adjusting in relation to each other though. They can't all be the same size. One image needs to be visually dominant with the others having a subordinate role.
Edit 28th Jan:
My tutor feedback for this assignment suggested I look at a number of sources. I will post a link here as and when I've completed a review of each one.
Alan Clarke - Elephant
Philip-Lorca diCorcia - Hustlers
Edit 9th Jan:
Wow, it has been almost a year since I last updated this assignment! I've been working towards the final output and even taken a one day course on bookbinding. I learnt how to make a Leporello (concertina book) and a couple of pamphlets with different types of binding. The course was most enjoyable and enlightening. I got to be hands on with bookbinding tools and glue and cover fabric and papers. Although fiddly (and neatness isn't my strong point) it wasn't too difficult to put a book together. I can thoroughly recommend the course to anyone that wants to learn the techniques for making handmade books.
London Centre for Book Arts
Edit 15th Jan:
So today I pulled some sheets of cartridge paper together and tried to work out what the dimensions of my Leporello were going to be. I thought that the height needed to be taller than the average greetings card as I didn't want the images inside to be too small. This is because I might lose detail with smaller images. I began with card that was 10 inches high. I made up three separate strips and taped them together to make a long strip.
I laid the strip out on the bed and then began placing my images to try and arrive at a sequence. The narrative already directs this to a certain extent but I do have too many images at the moment. After some time and a bit of shuffling I was able to drop the image count from 23 to 15. The sequence is much tighter now and anyway the final Leporello would have been too unwieldy to accommodate so many images.
Once I had the sequence more or less set I began to look at image sizing. I need to make the images smaller or larger depending on their juxtaposition to other images. They can't all be the same size as they will compete with one another. Each set of three needs to have a dominant image that dictates the intent of the narrative.
I began making changes to the image sizes and stuck them to the cartridge paper with tape. It was at this point that I realised that the 10 inches height parameter that I'd begun with made the book look too cumbersome. So I cut off a strip at the top to lose 2 inches. I'd already made folds to create concertina pages in the cartridge strip. With the shortened height the page widths now looked too wide so the width needs adjusting.
I've made a lot of progress today but I need a break. Tomorrow I will remake a new strip from cartridge paper with the new height and width in place. Then I will continue working on image sizing and placement.
Edit 25th:
I made up my new Leporello in the size and began making small adjustments to the sequencing and image size and placement on the page. Once I was happy I began translating the physical book to Adobe's inDesign application ready for digital upload to my online printer.
Edit 28th:
To accompany this book there will be an artist statement to contextualise the work around identity politics. But on reflection when perusing the actual book I wanted to add an element that humanises those concepts in some way. I've decided to add text to the work. I've spent some time thinking about this; working the flow of text and placement; swapped words around and writing them on my physical copy of the Leporello to see how they fit. I think I've arrived at text that I'm happy with and have even managed to take a line from one of the pages to make a new title for the work. The work is now called 'I make myself in your meme' and I'm very happy with my new title!
I just have the text placement to put into inDesign now and it will be ready for printing! The whole process has been quite difficult because I've had to plan the work on three sheets of A2 that, once printed, I will need to cut and fold into the form of my book. This means that it has been quite tricky to ensure that the images are placed correctly and once folded will not appear on the wrong page or even across folds!
Edit 4th Feb:
A very busy week with lots of progress made! I've received the A2 sheets back and I'm very happy with both the paper and print quality. A couple of prints are a little dark but it's all a learning curve. I've not used hand pressed fine art paper before. It also looks like my image and text placement is correct. I won't find out until I start cutting.
I started by cutting the three A2 sheets in half. This gave me six strips that would need to be glued together to make one long strip. So far so good!
The strips had a noticeable paper curl so they had to be pressed for 24 hours to get them as flat as possible before folding and gluing.
The folding required concentration and constant re-checking to ensure a seam wasn't folded the wrong way. Luckily I had the paper maquette to refer to as I went along. I was pleased to see that my measurements had worked successfully. My images and text were all in the correct places! The paper was quite difficult to handle and very easy to crease if handled clumsily.
On each of the strips I'd allowed for an extended edge so that they could be glued together. It is all the measuring at the planning stage that is so crucial to get right. It is no good spending £70 on expensive paper to realise the images are misaligned or there is not enough space for joining edges together.
The gluing was the most worrying part. So easy to get glue everywhere. A top tip I learned on the recent bookbinding workshop was to wear an apron! This isn't just to stay clean but very useful to quickly rub the glue from sticky fingers! Having a cloth lying around means that with all the other tools lying around it can easily come into contact with clean paper and cause marks. Lining up the glued edges to join the pieces was fraught with worry. So easy to make a mistake at this stage.
It's all coming together! Very pleased with the result! Only two small minor mistakes made that I'm sure can be rectified at the tidying up stage.
Once glued and folded and with loads of blotting and greaseproof sheets added for protection it was all back into the press (a pile of heavy books on a hard flat surface) for another 24 hours.
Only the covers to make now! I've decided to use white buckram, as close to the paper colour as possible. This is so that the book's content will be the main focus. With my book drying my thoughts turned to how to put a title on the material cover. I'm visiting Shepherd's the bookbinding store in London for the materials. I checked on their website and was pleased to see that the buckram is suitable for inkjet printing. I did a test print on a small piece of buckram that I had handy and the results are good. Can't wait to visit their store on Monday. It is supposed to be an amazing place stocked with goodies!
My trip to the bookbinders was successful. I'd planned in advance the cover material I needed for both this book and for assignment 2 as well. Although it would have been easy to get carried away with fancy cloth and elaborately designed paper I need to remember that it is the work that has to be the primary concern. It mustn't be overshadowed by other design elements. So for assignment 1 I've chosen white bookcloth material. This is to match the white paper of the interior pages. Hopefully the images inside will then stand out.
Compared to making the book pages, the covers were easy. Well, they would have been a lot easier if I hadn't decided to print my titles using my crappy inkjet printer! My test piece using a scrap of coloured bookcloth went well. Printing my title using black ink on a white piece of bookcloth was a whole other matter! The curl in the material was a problem and I resorted to dry ironing it, which seemed to work. Although the small piece of fabric still kept touching the rollers, and collecting ink splodges. It took quite a few attempts to get it right. Once the printing was sorted it was a relief to start making the covers.
I used special board from the London Centre for the Book Arts for the stiff covers. I made sure there was enough space on my bookcloth to wrap around and then glued the cloth to the board. Once the covers were made they were pressed under weighted books and left to dry for 24 hours.
The finished covers were then glued to the interior concertina pages. This stage was also fraught with worry. It would have been so easy to get glue everywhere or make a mistake when attaching the pages to the covers and ruin the whole book. Thankfully it is now finished - with some minor errors. But it was a positive experience, and for a first attempt at making a handmade book, went well. I'm very pleased with the results.
Friday 29 August 2014
Research Point - Diane Arbus
'A lot of nonsense is talked about Arbus's empathy with her subjects; what is mirrored on most of those faces is faint bewilderment and timid resentment. The subjects have no names because Arbus neither knew nor cared who they were.' Greer (2005).
Germaine Greer posed for Arbus in a hotel room in 1971. Arbus kneeled astride her, pinning Greer to the bed. With her lens just inches from Greer's face, Arbus waited for her moment.
'I understood that as soon as I exhibited any signs of distress, she would have her picture. Immobilised between her knees I denied her, for hour after hour. Arbus waited me out. Nothing would happen for minutes on end, until I sighed, or frowned, and then the flash would pop. Greer (2005).
The above snippets are from a Guardian article that Germaine Greer wrote in 2005, shortly after an Arbus retrospective in London. The piece gives an interesting insight into the methods Arbus used. I've read elsewhere that once she had permission to make a portrait she would follow her subject about for days - back and forth from their home to work until she had what she wanted.
From what I've read about Arbus she was a troubled person. She knew she had flaws and was able to easily detect them in others. Arbus manner was apparently quiet and non-confrontational. She would ingratiate herself with her subjects, use flattery and niceness, to disguise a ruthless streak. Arbus was always open to that moment when a person would briefly drop their public mask - and Arbus was ready with her camera.
From a moral standpoint I don't think Arbus really considered her subjects. Most of her images are captioned in a way that people are types rather than individuals. In my view she was making a kind of typology of the masks that people wore. This is why Arbus was so interested in 'freaks.' Being on the margins of society and cast as 'Others' their masks were easily discernible (and often worn with pride) and therefore of much value to her. I think in Arbus's view the gap between normalcy and 'freakdom' is not so great. She saw that in herself and looked for it in others.
Arbus also emphasised the oddness in people. We all know that the photographer can choose to flatter or insult their subject. One only has to take a look at the contact sheet for 'Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City' Arbus (1962). The contact sheet shows a normal looking boy posing for the camera. Arbus specifically chooses one frame, the most oddball shot, because it fitted her intent - to find the oddness in everyone.
'The camera has the power to catch so called normal people in such a way as to make them look abnormal. The photographer chooses oddity, chases it, frames it, develops it, titles it.' Sontag (1977).
I think, like most of photography, it come down to intent. What was Arbus looking for when she took those photographs? Was she looking for the oddness in everyone - our flaws and insecurities in a damaged world of our own making? And If so, did she have the right to project her personal and creative view onto her subjects?
I agree that we all wear masks, both public and private. I think about this a lot with my own photography. I like to make work that highlights this in some way. But I don't think I could ever prowl around a subject, trying to get them to react or pose in a way that exposes them as Arbus work seems to do. The Greer article continued with her thoughts on her experience with Arbus in that hotel room in 1971.
"She may have thought she was getting the mask off, but what she was photographing was actually the clumsy ill-drawn mask itself." Greer (2005).
That's a view I find quite intruiging.
References:
Arbus, D. (1962) Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City 1962.
Greer J. (2005) Wrestling With Diane Arbus. The Guardian. Ed: 8th October 2005.
Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography: America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly. London, UK: Penguin Books Ltd.
Washington Post. (2005) [online] Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051102052.html [Accessed 29th August 2014]
Germaine Greer posed for Arbus in a hotel room in 1971. Arbus kneeled astride her, pinning Greer to the bed. With her lens just inches from Greer's face, Arbus waited for her moment.
'I understood that as soon as I exhibited any signs of distress, she would have her picture. Immobilised between her knees I denied her, for hour after hour. Arbus waited me out. Nothing would happen for minutes on end, until I sighed, or frowned, and then the flash would pop. Greer (2005).
The above snippets are from a Guardian article that Germaine Greer wrote in 2005, shortly after an Arbus retrospective in London. The piece gives an interesting insight into the methods Arbus used. I've read elsewhere that once she had permission to make a portrait she would follow her subject about for days - back and forth from their home to work until she had what she wanted.
From what I've read about Arbus she was a troubled person. She knew she had flaws and was able to easily detect them in others. Arbus manner was apparently quiet and non-confrontational. She would ingratiate herself with her subjects, use flattery and niceness, to disguise a ruthless streak. Arbus was always open to that moment when a person would briefly drop their public mask - and Arbus was ready with her camera.
From a moral standpoint I don't think Arbus really considered her subjects. Most of her images are captioned in a way that people are types rather than individuals. In my view she was making a kind of typology of the masks that people wore. This is why Arbus was so interested in 'freaks.' Being on the margins of society and cast as 'Others' their masks were easily discernible (and often worn with pride) and therefore of much value to her. I think in Arbus's view the gap between normalcy and 'freakdom' is not so great. She saw that in herself and looked for it in others.
Arbus also emphasised the oddness in people. We all know that the photographer can choose to flatter or insult their subject. One only has to take a look at the contact sheet for 'Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City' Arbus (1962). The contact sheet shows a normal looking boy posing for the camera. Arbus specifically chooses one frame, the most oddball shot, because it fitted her intent - to find the oddness in everyone.
'The camera has the power to catch so called normal people in such a way as to make them look abnormal. The photographer chooses oddity, chases it, frames it, develops it, titles it.' Sontag (1977).
I think, like most of photography, it come down to intent. What was Arbus looking for when she took those photographs? Was she looking for the oddness in everyone - our flaws and insecurities in a damaged world of our own making? And If so, did she have the right to project her personal and creative view onto her subjects?
I agree that we all wear masks, both public and private. I think about this a lot with my own photography. I like to make work that highlights this in some way. But I don't think I could ever prowl around a subject, trying to get them to react or pose in a way that exposes them as Arbus work seems to do. The Greer article continued with her thoughts on her experience with Arbus in that hotel room in 1971.
"She may have thought she was getting the mask off, but what she was photographing was actually the clumsy ill-drawn mask itself." Greer (2005).
That's a view I find quite intruiging.
References:
Arbus, D. (1962) Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City 1962.
Greer J. (2005) Wrestling With Diane Arbus. The Guardian. Ed: 8th October 2005.
Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography: America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly. London, UK: Penguin Books Ltd.
Washington Post. (2005) [online] Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051102052.html [Accessed 29th August 2014]
Monday 25 August 2014
Exercise - shooting from the hip
I chose Leysdown, a seaside town in Kent, that seems to attract a large number of Londoners for my shooting from the hip exercise. I'm not quite sure what the attraction is for so many Londoners to this place but it is very popular and compared to some south coast towns it is bustling with people and energy. I looked at the course notes for this exercise and followed some of the advice in the web links - mainly to take care and not appear too obvious. I wasn't going to be putting my camera in anybody's faces like Martin Parr or Gary Winogrand.
One useful tip was to put my camera on a strap and use the interval timer to take surreptitious photos. That was definitely more me. I set the camera to quiet mode too which stopped the tell-tale focus beep from going off. As it happens the biggest problem was hearing the shutter going off on the crowded town streets. I could turn and point the camera, strung sideways across my body, to point at interesting people or situations but I had no idea if the shutter was due to fire in the 40 second intervals selected. I overcame this by taking out my phone and using its stopwatch feature. Every 40 seconds or so I prepared to compose a picture and that helped a lot.
This exercise is quite hard to do. The images are all slanted so the camera needs adjusting for the next time I try this exercise. I don't mind that too much but for every image it can get a bit monotonous. I've found that street photography isn't really my thing anymore. I feel I've moved on from it. I did enjoy the exercise but I wasn't entirely comfortable photographing people without their knowledge to be honest. There are certain shots that I've left out because of this. A shot of a bare chested, overweight man with his dog, springs to mind.
I think the images are fairly honest. I have gone for an edit that shows colour and pattern by focusing on the slightly gaudy seaside surroundings. I can see that using this technique on multiple trips to the same location could be quite rewarding in terms of achieving a coherent photo-set for a project. It feels a bit like 'fishing' though? Going back again and again to capture compositions to fit a sequence is not something that particularly interests me. That is probably why I have moved more towards constructed imagery in my own work.
One useful tip was to put my camera on a strap and use the interval timer to take surreptitious photos. That was definitely more me. I set the camera to quiet mode too which stopped the tell-tale focus beep from going off. As it happens the biggest problem was hearing the shutter going off on the crowded town streets. I could turn and point the camera, strung sideways across my body, to point at interesting people or situations but I had no idea if the shutter was due to fire in the 40 second intervals selected. I overcame this by taking out my phone and using its stopwatch feature. Every 40 seconds or so I prepared to compose a picture and that helped a lot.
This exercise is quite hard to do. The images are all slanted so the camera needs adjusting for the next time I try this exercise. I don't mind that too much but for every image it can get a bit monotonous. I've found that street photography isn't really my thing anymore. I feel I've moved on from it. I did enjoy the exercise but I wasn't entirely comfortable photographing people without their knowledge to be honest. There are certain shots that I've left out because of this. A shot of a bare chested, overweight man with his dog, springs to mind.
I think the images are fairly honest. I have gone for an edit that shows colour and pattern by focusing on the slightly gaudy seaside surroundings. I can see that using this technique on multiple trips to the same location could be quite rewarding in terms of achieving a coherent photo-set for a project. It feels a bit like 'fishing' though? Going back again and again to capture compositions to fit a sequence is not something that particularly interests me. That is probably why I have moved more towards constructed imagery in my own work.
Thursday 14 August 2014
The 'truth' of a photograph
I watched the above video of photographer, Gary Winogrand, as he shared his thoughts on the truth of street photography. I made some notes of his points below:
- Photographing something changes it.
- There is not a photograph in the world that has any narrative ability - any of them.
- Photographs are mute. They cannot tell you what is happening. They do not tell stories. They tell you what something looks like to a camera.
- The minute you relate this thing [an image] to what was photographed, it's a lie.
I do wonder about his point that photographs do not have a narrative ability. I am curious about what Winogrand would make of conceptual photography. In this genre images are often specifically made to convey a narrative message. I'm thinking here of photographers like Jeff Wall.
I think that because Winogrand is specifically speaking about street photography he is conflating narrative with truth. In his view the actual narrative events taking place in reality can be misrepresented by an image - a slice of time that is frozen can easily be used to deceive. In that sense he is right. But I do not think it is true that all photographs (I'm thinking of constructed images here) are without narrative ability.
Although it is also true that the reader of an image will add much more in a narrative sense to an image than may be there in truth or reality. The viewer can add many levels of denotation or even connotation and take the reading in a completely different or oppositional direction. In this respect Winogrand is right.
'All images are mute. They tell you what something looks like to a camera.'
It is only through reading the Semiotic signs and symbols correctly, based on mutual cultural assumptions, that an image creator can hope to convey an intended message.
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