At first when I was introduced to this project I found it hard to understand the concept and the meaning behind Tom Pope’s work as there was no explanation and most of his videos were in silent of him doing a repetitive performance. However after the day at the Societe where Tom explained what he was trying to achieve,I got a better understanding of the idea of pushing boundaries and his videos made more sense to me. I also liked that we were working with a photographer making our work more practical which is something we haven’t done before. I found this project interesting because it was something I hadn’t given much thought to or questioned before. I also like the fact that we were working with the archive and got to explore Jersey’s history, before this I wasn’t aware of the archives existences. I think it was challenging to think outside the box however the more the more you think about it the easier it becomes. In France I was able to do most of the ideas that I had planned to do and I was pleased with the outcomes.
Family, faith and community
At the beginning of this project when we were first introduced to documentary photography, I thought that it was a powerful form of communication. I enjoyed looking at ethics within documentary because I think it is a interesting and a subjective topic which allowed me to think deeper, although I didn’t find any right or wrong answers I was able to develop my opinion. I also like that we were able to draw on real life situations such as the Vietnam war which documentary had a big influence on, this also gave me a better understanding. I also learned about the sub genres within documentary such as photojournalism and street photography which is something I hadn’t done before.
At the beginning of this project we started looking at the theme of family. I enjoyed exploring this theme both taking photographs and researching other family photographers. I found that I connected with this theme more than the others although I think it’s more personal than the other two themes. When I first started photographing my family I felt that I was making them vulnerable and opening them up to be judged, however after a few photo shoots this ‘feeling’ faded. I started to explore the theme of community through research and a photo shoot however, I struggled with deciding what and who to photograph. Due to the lack of time I didn’t get to explore the theme of faith, which is something that I would have liked to do as most of my family is religious.
Overall I enjoyed this module and I am going to carry on with the theme of family for my personal study by photographing my mum in her working environment.
To what extent has David Goldblatt’s work influenced Michelle Sank’s work?
In this essay I am going to explore how Michelle Sank’s nominated artist David Goldblatt has influenced her work. I am going to do further research into both of the works displayed at the exhibition, to find further connections and relationships between them, beyond what is displayed on the surface.
David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt is a South African photographer, he was born in South Africa after his Jewish parents fled Europe in the 1890’s . Since the late 1940’s he has photographed the social and physical landscape of South Africa. However, he is most well know for photographing people in South Africa during the period of apartheid, where black people were physically and socially segregated and treated differently to white people through the use of separate facilities such as schools, accommodation and transportation. David Goldblatt has various publications and has won many awards. During this time period as a white person photographing black people was an unusual thing to be doing, because if you were caught Interacting with a black person you would be sentenced to prison.
Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She has been living in England since 1987. Michelle photographs the human conditions exploring social and cultural diversity through documentary photography. Michelle has had many successful solo exhibitions and publications including books. She has also won many awards for example her most recent award was in 2013, Gold Award, San Francisco International Photographic Exhibition. She recently displayed her work both in Jersey and Guernsey.
The photograph that I’m looking at by Michelle Sank that was published in the exhibition is actually from a larger collection of photographs under the title ‘Insula’ taken in April 2013. I read some more about the 6 months that Michelle Sank was in residency at the Archisle and found that she trying to photograph how being on the Island and within a ‘kept environment’ influenced peoples way of being. I then googled the definition of Insula, it showed that Insula means “a region of the brain deep in the cerebral cortex.” I then furher looked into the cerebral cortex and it is the part of the brain that is linked to your conscientious, self- awareness and perception. This is linked with the exhibitions idea of ‘islandness’ , being aware socially and politically and also being aware and having other photographic connections outside of the island. David Goldblatt also photographed peoples social and physical landscape and in this case for Michelle Sank it was Jersey.
One of the most damaging things that apartheid did to us, was that it denied us the experience of each other’s lives. – David Goldblatt
I then looked at David Goldblatt’s photograph which is of two black people holding a car bumper. I didn’t really understand what this represented or if it was a metaphor for something. However, when I looked at the tittle ‘ She told him: “You’ll be the driver and i’ll be the lady”, then they grabbed the car bumper and posed, Hillbrow, 1975’ I then connected with this photograph and found it quite touching. This photograph represented a dream that they couldn’t achieve due to the cultural segregation, which I think is wrong in everyway. I think the fact that the bumper is straight, shows the divide between the people in the photograph who I think could have been servants and their ‘owner’ . The photograph is taken infront of a building which could be where they were living. The photograph was taken in Johannesburg which at the time was not a place were everyone was smoothly integrated, which renforces what David Goldblatt was photographing. I think this photograph is very powerful and speaks for itself.
The first connection I saw between these photographs, although it was fairly obvious, was that they had both photographed a portrait of two people and included their surroundings, which allows us to get a better understanding. I then realised that David’s photograph at that time would have been of the working class, I then looked at Michelle photograph and by what they are wearing and their surrounding I think the girls are also from a middle/working class. I then questioned if there was any particular reason why she photographed twins, it could be that the people in David’s photograph are also related to each other although I don’t know this for sure. Other than the photograph itself I found connections between the photographers. The first one I found was that they were both born in South Africa and they are both white, this may be what inspired and influenced Michelle Sank and let her to choose David as her nominated artist. The second connection that I found although it was in different centuries they are both photographing cultural diversity and peoples physical and social landscape.
In conclusion, to answer my question I think that David Goldblatt is a huge influence for Michelle Sank and there are many connections between not only their work but as people themselves. In this project Michelle Sanks work links closely to the work of David, as I have found above, however having looked at some of her other projects there aren’t as many connections although most of pictures are environmental portraits which show the differences between people as well as this I think the photographs portray personal identities. But these photos keep to the conjoint theme of photographing peoples physical and social landscape.
She said to him,’You be the driver and I’ll be the Madam’, then they picked up the fender and posed. Hillbrow. 1975Chole and Leah.2013
Quintessence is a group exhibition which celebrates 5 years of the Archisle, which is a Jersey contemporary photography program made through the Société Jersiaise Photo Archive. The Archisle connects photographic archives to contemporary photography and experiences of Island life through the work of Jersey and international artists. Jersey is a small island but with internationalism, photographers are more socially and politically aware and have made many connections outside of the Island. To highlight the importance of connections and influences in this exhibition, Quintessence, the photographers have been asked to nominate someone who inspired their own work. “We do not travel alone; we take with us the histories, knowledge, influences and ideas of others; others we have met and other places we have known.”
We visited the exhibition on Tuesday 8th of December, when I first walked into the room, the first thing I noticed was the way the photographs had been displayed. I think that the display looked professional and I like the way the photographs had been laid out because it flowed well visually . I noticed that there wasn’t any labels letting the viewers know who made the photograph, however there were booklets which included this information. I think that it would have been more user friendly to have the artist names with the photographs.I found myself constantly looking at the booklet and the photographs to try and find the artist which after a while became a hassle. I preferred this exhibition to the exhibition for 125 years of the JEP I think it was more visually attractive. In the JEP exhibition there was short paragraphs with each photograph explaining what was happening in the photo. In this exhibition there was no explanation, when confronted with this question, Gareth the curator said that this was done deliberately so that the viewer would be intrigued by the context of the photo and do some further research into the meaning, rather than just looking at it once and never referring back to it.
My favorite photograph from the exhibition was the photograph by Finn Larson called ‘Al Gore Was Here’. I found this photograph visually attractive and I like the composition of the three smaller separate photographs had a line going through them which led my eyes from one photograph to another. This photograph was simple but I think that’s what made it good. It was not until I further researched into this photograph that I understood the meaning behind it. Behind the photograph of what looked like a beautiful landscape, there was actually a rubbish dump hidden, which are at completely to different ends of the spectrum. Often place are portrayed to be ‘ touristic-ally appealing’ but we rarely ever get to see the other side. I think in this photograph Finn Larson was trying to illustrate this divide, I think he achieved this in an intelligent way These photographs were the only ones displayed however he had a newspaper style booklet with photographs of the dump behind this landscape. After I found out the meaning behind the photographs I questioned why Finn had broken the small photographs that went together into three rather than using it as one, we then thought that he could be using the ‘breaks’ in the photograph as a metaphor for breaking the public’s perception of these ‘touristic-ally’ attractive places.
One of my least favorite photographs from the exhibition was the photographs by Iury Toropstov, called ‘fairyland’. I chose them as my least favorite because I didn’t really find any connection with the photographs and I didn’t think that they were very visually attractive. However I think that the portrait of the girl was quite powerful because it presented her as a beautiful mystical ‘creature’ which ties in with fairyland, however if you look closer she had bruises and cuts on her arm, showing that shes dealing with more deeper and serious issues that what she is presented to be. I also like the idea behind ‘fairyland’ and how it links in with Jersey’s history, however I don’t think the combination of photographs were strong or appealing enough.
Al Gore Was Here – Finn LarsenUntitled from ‘Fairyland’. 2014 – Yury ToropstovJess St Helier, Jersey.2014 – Yury Toroptsov
In response to the quintessence exhibition we have to:
Task 1: Read the case study and think of at least 3 questions to ask and find answers to when we go on the visit.
Task 2: answer the following questions:
Write down the first thought about the exhibition that enters your head when you walk in?
Look at the set of images on the wall. Find a set of image that you do and don’t like and write a short description about them.
Using the exhibition text, note down artist name, title of works and nominated artists and consider the connections, influences and relationships between them.
Task 3: Conduct further independent research and write a 1000 work essay.
Task 4: plan a photo shoot and make a set of images that respond to your chosen artists paring in your essay.
After experimenting with various different designs, I have chosen my final two picture story designs, overall I am pleased with both outcomes.
The picture story above, was the first one I created, I wanted this one to look more professional and ‘clean cut’. I previously had this design in colour however I chose to change it to black and white because I think It works better and it ties it all together. Although there is no colour I think the black and white makes it look more ‘sophisticated’ and it’s still eye catching. I like the line I have created starting from the top right of photographs of my mum ending with the one on the bottom left, I think this makes the picture stories composition much better and it allows the viewers eyes to travel across the picture story fluidly without jumping from one image to another. I also like the use of photographs of the environment where my mum works because I think it gives the picture story more context and depth. I found writing the captions and the paragraph at the top one of the hardest things to do, however when I got started it became a lot easier. Through out the photographs you can’t see my mums face almost as if I was hiding her identity I think this make it more interesting and mysterious to a certain extent.
This was my second picture story, this one was supposed to be more like something that you would see in a magazine. I had less time to produce this outcome after spending most of my time on the first design, however I am happy with it. I choose to put a background in this one, the photograph is of me and my mum. This photograph is originally a coloured photo however I chose to put it in grey so it wouldn’t be over powering and because it is a memory, almost like a flash into the past. I then put the 4 photographs at the bottom take recently in black and white to establish this difference. I chose to put two photographs of my mum and two photographs of objects of her surroundings to make a pattern and make it more interesting. I used the same text for this one as the previous picture story, however when writing the text I tried to avoid typing over my mums face, so you could see her, which is one of the main differences between the picture stories. Finally, I chose to put a white edge around the title to make it stand out a bit more from the background. This picture is not to overcrowded and much more simple which is what I like about it.
I have experimented with different picture story layouts and designs, with the photographs I took of my dad. My main focus was trying to transmit the story through a few photographs. I experimented with different photographs to find a combination which worked well together. I made more traditional photo stories by keeping the photographs straight and keeping the symmetry, similar to the ones by Eugene Smith. I tried to use a variety of different photographs such as detailed shots, portraits and environmental photographs to get a broader range. I also experimented with different backgrounds, I think the black background made the picture story look more professional however I think the white background works best. Although my first picture story is all in colour I chose to keep the photograph of my dad with his medication in black and white to emphasize that it’s the negative part of his life which is holding him back.
These are the first few designs that I have come up with for my picture story, in Photoshop I have focused on more ‘classical designs’ and have experimented with different layouts, designs and font types to find which design looks best . Through out the photo designs I have kept the symmetry and not experimented with rotation or backgrounds because I think adding these features will make it look more like a magazine spread. I like all three of these designs although they are not definite and I’m still working on improving the designs and coming up with new ones.
I was asked to take photographs of the year 10 Enterprise day, which I think fits in well with the community theme for this project, because the photographs show not only the school community but the ‘business’ community within school. Most of the photographs I took were environmental and observed portraits. I’ve made a contact sheet with the photographs I took.
In response to the Jersey Heritage museum ‘Our Story, Half Term: 125 hours seen through a teenager’s lens‘ for the JEP’s 125th anniversary I took photographs that fit in with my project theme family, of my mum working in her working environment. I chose these 5 photographs as a series of images to tell a story and I put them forward to be displayed in the museum. All of the photographs are obscure, there is always an object hiding my mums face almost ‘hiding’ her identity, I think that this makes the photograph mysterious and therefore more interesting. I also tried to include the different environments which adds a bit more to the photograph.
