To what extent has Martin Parr incorporated the concept of ‘islandness’ in his work and in doing so how has he influenced the likes of those who nominated him.

‘Islandness’ is a shared sense that transcends the traditions of local island cultures. The concept is reinforced by being surrounded by bodies of water which illicit feelings of closeness to the natural environment. It is a metaphysical consciousness derived from experiences of isolation. ‘Islandness’ is a term which can be interpreted in a multiple of varied ways, for example, each photographer in this project has created their own perception of the idea. Ultimately, it links communities together forming a mini society and network.

This unique collection of artists have produced their individual portfolios of work which have explored the complexity and rarity of the term. I especially want to highlight the connections between certain photographers which have gained influence and passion from one another.

My own experiences of ‘islandness’ have been grounded in the morals and values of Jersey, Channel Islands.  The idea combines vulnerability and resilience. I think it is significant when considering the theme of Jersey and how you can represent the island and create art from it. Naturally, my research began into the Archisle where I could explore the talents of Martin Parr and the work he produced of the island. The Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive introduced in 2011, The Jersey Contemporary Photography Programme. The main goal of the scheme was to promote contemporary photography through a continuation of exhibitions and education links. The island itself has attracted millions of tourists and fellow artists as it is known for its natural beauty. The island’s identity evokes a sense of pride and enthusiasm for the project.

‘Island arts engage with the land and the sea and the community. They address the large questions of existence, but they do it within a context of shore-bounded particularity.’- Peter Hay

Focusing more on my intention, Martin Parr was commissioned in 2013 by the Archisle to photograph Liberation Day in Jersey. It is significant that of such a high esteemed photographer, Parr decided to indeed take notice of our small island and beautifully captured the light and importance of the day. In my opinion, Parr’s distinct style represented the happiness and joy of the day. However, his work also included the more solace and memorial moments of the day’s proceedings. With the world constantly being flooded with media, Parr offers a sanctuary of his unique perception of the world. His work tends to be exaggerated, the colours tend to be garish and the angles are normally strange. However, amongst the humour, Parr produces entertaining and insightful images which translate to our way of life. We can almost recognise ourselves in his art work, especially with the theme of ‘islandness’. When looking at Parr’s work and considering my hypothesis I think Parr’s photographs capture this concept exceptionally well (even if this had not been initially intended). This ‘feeling’ has been photographed in the light of Liberation Day, it exemplifies this particular meaningful and important day carefully and accessibly. I think it represents the islanders resistance and perseverance even at the most difficult and tragic of times.

With regards to the links between the photographers in the project, Martin Parr is an influential and inspiring artist who’s work has been and is an in depth observation of our personal identities and values we hold in society. The work he produces is innovative, intriguing and contemporary, strongly reflecting the way we act and our inner natures.

In conclusion, ‘islandness’ is much more than a concept, it is a feeling, an emotion, a community. Therefore, it has the potential to be photographed and interpreted in many different ways. The term has layers, which each artist in the project has stripped away and identified their own version of what ‘islandness’ is. Quintessence is a benchmark of the five years of the Archisle Programme. It is a success of contemporary photography and shows the work of native islanders and welcomed visitors. The project enables inspired artists to shed light on the shifting society of today and produce art for public enjoyment.

This photographer was chosen by the creator of the whole exhibition event Gareth Syvret. Jem Southam is a landscape photographer who makes rural landscape images used as a way to document man’s intervention in nature. Something that Southam does is photograph the same locations over months and years to show the difference that mankind has made in such a short period of time. Southam has photographed places across England. Southam was born in Bristol in 1950 and is one of the UK’s leading photographers.

Jem Southam on Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/artist/jem-southam

“I became heavily influenced by the Bechers, and pursued architectural landscape work.” – Jem Southam [interview with Seesaw Magazine]

Overview | What I think

After having a look at Jem Southam’s work I have actually been quite inspired by how beautiful his images look. I think that they are all effortlessly beautiful images and I also like the way that Southam makes images of the same locations over a period of months and years, this is really interesting and shows how we are constantly changing as a society and how much people can effect the way the natural world is and looks. I find it so interesting that Southam makes images from the same locations and tends to stick to around the same area when usually quite a lot of photographers will travel around to a load of different locations and places. I do think that Southam is working on a huge project to make images of the same places which will give the most effect in years to come when spectators will be able to see how much has changed and how much people have changed it.

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Q. How does the work of Jem Southam reflect the way we are as a society?

In this essay I will reflect on how much our society can be changed and re-moulded just by the environment we are living in and how much manmade objects change even the natural world.
Firstly, I really like the work of Jem Southam as it is really visually pleasing and interesting as the natural beauty of the images is really intriguing to look at. I can really relate to this work as growing up I always found the beauty in the natural environment around me like around an area where Liberty Warf and the office buildings are now. I had so many memories of playing and running around with my friends along there and memories with my family just from that patch of grass but now it seems that all those memories have been taken from me with the creation of offices and shops. I find that we live in a world that wants to become a lot more corporate and we tend to forget about the natural world and how beautiful it was before humans inhabited it. This is why I like to look at the work of Jem Southam so much as I feel that I can personally relate to it.
Another way that Southam’s work reflects our society is that his images are so simple yet is really interesting.
Secondly, I chose this mini set of images above as I found them really interesting. It looks so lovely and almost like a fairytale book, where you would expect a fiction character or someone to live. I like that there is one house in the far distance on the left hand side of the image as it shows how much the natural world rules over this part of the countryside but it also shows how our buildings and our society have moulded themselves and pushed into the natural world making more of a manmade one. This image interests me as I want to find out more and see what that particular location looks like in  a couple of years and to see whether or not the natural beauty is still there or if the corporate world has taken over. To me Southam’s work represents the greed of people and how much we seem to benefit from creating more and more corporate and unnatural environments just to make a bit of money. It really is fascinating to think about the lengths people will actually go to in order to make money, even destroy the natural habitat of so much wildlife, creates and just natural beauty and plants.
I really like the work of Southam as it is so interesting and he somehow makes his images look really beautiful even though the message is showing how much man has changed the way our world looks. Southam seems to make images more in the woodland areas or around the coastline to show how different these places may look after months and years. I think that Southam’s work reflects our society in somewhat of a beautiful and positive light with all of his images being visually pleasing and almost magical looking, however the meaning behind these images is a really strong one showing how much society has changed and how quickly we are expanding in the world and how much the populations are growing that we have to go into natures territory and claim it for our own. 

I wanted to look more into these two as I have studied the work of Tom Pope and found it really interesting and unique. I find the chosen photographs of Peter Finnemore’s really interesting and engaging, they are strangely unique linking to the work of Pope. I find the two have very unique styles and the idea of performance really shows through their work. Finnemore was Pope’s teacher who he looked up to and was influenced by in photography.

Tom Pope’s website: http://www.tompope.co.uk/index.html
Peter Finnemore website: http://www.peterfinnemore.com/main.html

About Tom Pope

Tom Pope was the photographer in residence at the Jersey Archisle in 2015. He is a performance photographer and is currently living in London after graduating with a Ma in Photography from The Royal College of Art back in 2011.. Pope’s work is very unique and has strong political and social messages behind it. Much of Pope’s work is based around his project of Weak Anarchy and challenging the way we think as a society and what is right and wrong in the eyes of the community surrounding us.

Interview with Tom Pope: 

About Peter Finnemore

Peter Finnemore is a photographer born in Llanelli, Wales. He was one of the first students at the new Fine Art Photography Course, set up in 1984 by Thomas Joshua Cooper, at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland. Finnemore gained an MFA in Photography at the University of Michigan, USA. Finnemore is a visiting professor in Photography at the University of Derby. He also lives and works in Llanelle, Wales. Finnemore’s work consists of many landscape images, environmental images that show the natural world.

Comparison | Tom Pope and Peter Finnemore

Q. How has Peter Finnemore influenced the style and genre of Tom Pope’s photography?

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast photographers Tom Pope and his chosen artist, from the Quintessence exhibition, Peter Finnemore. I really love the style of Finnemore and wanted to explore it further and find out more about the location of his work as well as how Pope relates to him and how their work differs.
I find that Pope and Finnemore have similar styles of photography. They tend to take the element of performance to the next step and really get into their role and what they want to do. One thing that they differ in is that Finnemore seems to prepare a lot of his work and knows what he wants to do and will usually make all of his images in his back garden whereas Pope tends to have a basic idea of what he wants to do and leaves it all up to chance in one image taken on a film camera and will perform in public and not stop if there are any passersby. Their work differs in the sense that Pope is very classic with the types of cameras that he decides to use and Finnemore is more modern using newer digital cameras as you are able to tell in the different ways that the images above look, with the way they capture the light and everything in the frame of the image.
I chose the two images above as they interested me the most. I really love the photograph by Finnemore, there is just something about it that is really intriguing and makes me want to find out more about what is going on in this image and possibly a deeper meaning behind it. It reminds me of war and how during the war, in Jersey, they had to cover up an underground hospital with grass and dirt to make it just look like more land when the enemy flew over looking down and not actually being able to see that something is there. This image really interests me as the subject in the image, a man, blends in with his atmosphere and at first glance I didn’t even notice him at all. I really do find this image engaging as it is so odd and random yet it seems to remind me of war and how the world was at one stage in our recent history. To me it looks as though the subject just jumped at the shed and is clinging onto it to try and hold himself up. It’s also interesting to know that this was all taken in his back garden. Something that I really like about this image is that I am so interesting in it and really would like to find out more about it and if the meaning that I have generated from looking at it is actually the meaning and the message that Finnemore is trying to put across.
Contrary, I find Popes image very different. It doesn’t really make me think of anything political at all, I like the image but I am unsure as to what influence it has over me. I guess I could say that it makes me think we should all just be as carefree as Pope is and do things in public without worrying or being overly aware of the other people around, to be the real you. This image also reminds me of going on holiday as the lane and the brick flooring just reminds me of a place like Portugal or Spain or even the South of France. I do find this image interesting and almost amusing because of the way Pope is positioned in this image. I also like that he uses film cameras in his work to make everything authentic and when he does do his performances it is all down to chance that the camera will capture the moment that he wants it to really get.
The reason that I chose to compare these two images is because of the way both photographers approach photography as a performance and they do it for themselves and if someone happens to walk past then that performance has been seen by someone else but primarily they will just do it for themselves. I feel like Pope has been influenced by this through Finnemore’s work. Finnemore’s work is more of a poetic symbol in that it is about showing the world his home, his territory and his paradise. He wouldn’t want anyone else to steal his home or to invade his personal paradise. Contrasting to this I find that a lot of Pope’s work is very abstract and unusual but can also be poetic and symbolic of a deeper more political meaning.

For this case study I chose to look at Toft and Larsen first as when looking around all of the images these were the ones that really stood out most to me. I found Larsen’s images so visually pleasing and beautiful but I knew nothing about the images and what they represented and was shocked when I found out what they were really about. I love finding out new things in the photographic world and what underlining messages there are behind these types of images.
Martin Toft is the local photographer who nominated Finn Larsen. He is a Danish man and is currently living in Sweden. Toft was 25 years old when he figured out that he wanted to be a photographer and if he hadn’t met Larsen, Toft says that he wouldn’t be a photographer. He basically mentored him giving him a load of photographers photo books to read and study for one week, a box filled, the next week he would go back to see Larsen where they would discuss everything Toft had found out and learnt. They did this every week. This really helped Toft become a better photographer and so Larsen has become one of his biggest influences.

Martin Toft’s website: http://www.martintoft.com
Finn Larsen’s website: http://thephotographersprint.com/products-page/finn-larsen/

“The photographs and the art that interest me enter into a global and historical dialogue about how the world looks and how it can be understood. It is about seeing the world, society, the landscape as soberly as possible, without God, sentiments, nationalism, symbols and other abominations.” – Finn Larsen

About Martin Toft

Martin Toft is a local photographer originally from Denmark. He is working as an A Level teacher here at Hautlieu school. Toft has worked on a huge project called Atlantus. This is a project showing the connections and contrasts between Jersey, Channel Islands and New Jersey. Through Toft’s work we are able to see how different and how similar the two are. It is strange that a lot of the world doesn’t even know that Jersey exists and this project in particular is interesting as it explores a place named after Jersey.

About Finn Larsen

Finn Larsen is an international photographer nominated by Martin Toft. He is a Danish photographer now living in Sweden. Larsen graduated as a photographer in 1980. He is a member of the Society of Artists and the Association of Visual Artists in Denmark. He is also a member of the National Organisation of Artists in Sweden. Larsen has published books over the years and has recently worked on a project titled ‘Mansland’ where he made images in Greenland of all of the waste and dump on the island.

Comparison | Toft and Larsen 

Q. What underlining social and cultural messages are held in the work of Martin Toft and Finn Larsen?

In this essay I will compare the similarities and differences between Martin Toft’s photographic work as part of the Quintessence exhibition and his chosen artist Finn Larsen.
Firstly, I find these two photographers different in their approach and their style. Toft’s project shows people and the environment surrounding those people and how different and similar Jersey and New Jersey are compared to one another. He also looks into the history of these two parts of the world and shows, through his images, how far each place has come and how different it is now compared to in the past, especially in New Jersey. Whereas Larsen’s images are pure landscapes giving little away but with a deep political and environmental meaning behind it. I like both photographers but for very different reasons. I find Toft’s work very interesting in the people he chooses to make his images and their facial expressions, the way they look and feel in front of the camera. Toft’s work shows how a place can be named after another place yet have nothing in common with the original place or it even shows different sides of the spectrum and how they take care of things differently. Contrary, Larsen’s work is more just landscape work with strong political meaning behind them. I find that his work is a lot more subtle in that you wouldn’t guess what is going on in just one image, you would need to see the entire project to understand what is going on. I find his work very interesting as he has some really beautiful images with a deeper meaning that you most likely wouldn’t get if you did not read more into it.
However, I chose to compare the images above as I saw similarities in them visually. In the center of both of these images is an object, Toft’s is a large stick or pole and Larsen’s is a wooden bench. I find that Toft’s image shows the natural beauty of the land, it is simple yet the cloudy skies and the landscape is captivating. On the other hand, Larsen’s image looks,at first glance, like another beautiful landscape image of glaciers in the water with the perfect view from the bench but reading more into this project I found out that just beyond those glaciers is a dump, filled with human waste. It is so sad, to me, to see both of these beautiful landscapes yet our own destructive human nature is slowly destroying that and taking over with these landscapes being ruined by our waste and dumping. I find Larsen’s image very powerful and almost sending out a political message to the rest of the world saying that this beauty is being destroyed and ruined by our wasteful nature.
Contrary, better suited for the comparison would be the image Toft made of a black woman at a beach in New Jersey. This image represents a lot. It represents the struggle that black citizens of America went through. This image was made in a place in New Jersey called Asbury Park where black slaves used to stand and serve their white masters over 100 years ago. This is why this image represents a lot and is so significant in how far we have come as humans. In contrast, the image made by Larsen shows how really little we have come in society hiding our waste and dumping our unwanted rubbish behind a beautiful natural glacier. I really like these two images together as they both hold a lot more behind just that one image. It is captivating and interesting and the more you know about the subjects and the behind the scenes of what has gone on in the past or what is going on in the background makes the image even more powerful. I like these two photographers, Toft and Larsen, as their work holds meaning and doesn’t just tell us or show us in that single image, we aren’t given everything yet are left thinking about it and what it could represent. These images aren’t as simple as they look and have generated meaning behind them.
Likewise, a common theme that I am beginning to notice in both Toft’s and Larsen’s work is that it holds a deeper meaning. There is more to it than what you see as a spectator and their images hold so much significance and beauty. Both of their subject matters seem to reflect us as a society. The young black woman stood on the beach represents how far we have come as human beings and being able to bypass ridiculous laws and change the way we think to be broader minded and actually accept everyone as human beings. On the other hand, Larsen’s work represents society in a more negative light. This cant be seen in the beautiful image of his above as it shows the beauty of the glaciers and the sea and the cloudy skies but behind all that there is a disgusting dump filled with our own human waste and it shows how as a community and society we still don’t know how to control our own waste, how to not ruin the natural world that we have. It shows how we as a society are constantly taking over the natural world and making it a corporate one.