Francesca Woodman was an American photographer best known for her self-portraits. Many of her images obscure the face by blurring and moving with long exposure times or are merging with surroundings. Woodman killed herself at the age of 22 before her work was discovered. She had been battling depression for much of her life and her experimentations with photography explored different ideas including angels. Her work is very moving and intriguing to look at. Whenever I look at her work I wish I knew more and want to find out the meaning behind her images. I love her photographic work as I really do love black and white images. Something that I also really like about Woodman’s work is that she uses herself as the subject, which is something I have been exploring through my own work. Woodman often poses naked in her images and has many images of naked women within her images.

“A defining voice of her generation.” – British Journal of Photography

Woodman created a series of images entitled On Being an Angel. In the images Woodman becomes the subject and uses the photographic world as a very personal means of expression. Her work explores gender, representation and sexuality. Her work contains juxtaposition perspectives, some images show her completely naked while the others show her as trying to hide and distort her body. She shows through her photography her conflicted views and thoughts. This work really stands out to me and is so interesting in the way that she photographs showing two complete opposites possibly expressing the conflicted views inside her head. After researching more of her work I noticed that a few of her images are Untitled and most of her images are black and white. This also reminds me of Cindy Sherman and her method of allowing the spectator to think for themselves and come up with their own interpretations. What I like most about Woodman’s work is that it is so unusual and brings an element of surrealism to it, making her images stand out more to me. I feel that the fact that Woodman killed herself at the age of 22 due to suffering with depression shouldn’t be a factor of her work, I feel that her work is brilliant regardless of her mental state. I feel that her work would have eventually been discovered naturally as it did after she killed herself.

Exhibition of Woodman’s work: http://www.foam.org/museum/programme/francesca-woodman

This image really stood out to me when looking through Woodman’s work titled On Being an Angel. I  really love the whole composition and miss-en-scene of this image, it really interests me. I find it odd that she is hanging off of the door and holding on to it while hiding her face from the camera behind her arm. I love that she is wearing an oversized shirt that almost looks like pyjamas or something. At first I wondered how she managed to get herself up there and saw that the chair was near so she would have most likely positioned herself from there. I don’t quite understand this image but that doesn’t really matter as it is so intriguing to me and leaves room for me to make a variety of different interpretations. Knowing that Woodman was suffering from depression I see that this could be a less intense way of showing someone hanging themselves, she wants to end her life but needs to see how elevated she must be off of the ground before doing so. The way she is covering her face as if shying away from the camera also interests me as I feel that she has a conflicted view of photographing herself. She wants to make these amazing images and use herself as the subject but at the same time conceals her identity. I like the room as there are so many little details all around that I am able to interpret and see her environment. I really do not know what to interpret this image as, it is so unusual but it looks so great and really did stand out to me. I like how she is slightly off centre in this image but your eyes are still immediately drawn to her followed by the chair giving the spectator the assumption that she used the chair to get herself up there.

This is another image that really stood out to me in Woodman’s work. I like that she uses slow shutter speeds to make her images blurred and the end results are so intriguing to me. In the 70s/80s there would not have been any kind of editing software for Woodman to make surrealist images with effects added in afterwards so she had to improvise and actually make images that she envisioned there and then in front of the camera. I love that her work is so simple, she would have made this image on a black and white film camera most likely and that would be it. There would be no re-touching or changing in editing. I like this style and think that I could possibly create some images in this format too. The use of a white dress/ cloth is really interesting as typically people see a white cloth as a symbol of a ghost, which has now become an unrealistic joke kind of halloween costume. I like that this image is blurred and that the spectator is unable to see Woodman’s face or her expression  as it brings more mystery to her work. She does look like a ghost in this image as the slow shutter speed has created an almost ghost-like complexion with Woodman’s legs looking see-through as well as part of her dress and her arms. I really like this image and think that it is simple yet brilliantly done. Looking at the background of this image looks as though she is in some dirty car park somewhere which is really interesting that she chose to photograph in a darker room/space as to not over expose the entire image with there being a slow shutter speed to capture in more light. I like her method of work and find it really interesting to see and learn more about.

This image probably gives spectators the best look at Woodman’s face without it being blurred or distorted. I really wonder what is going on in this image. She is kneeling down in a dirty old room with decaying walls and pieces of wood covering the floor as she stares blankly into the camera with her hand half covering her face. I find it strange that her dress is unzipped and it looks almost as if she is holding her breast or possibly keeping the dress from falling down. I do really like this image as we are able to actually get a glimpse of what Woodman looked like. The composition of the image is again with Woodman more to the right side of the image and not centred. I find Woodman’s work intriguing as it is so unusual and does have an element of more gothic style images with the expressionless look on her face and the way she makes ghostly self-portraits. I think her photographic work is extremely strong and does stand out to me as unique and bold.

Roger Ballen is an American photographer, now living in South Africa. He began work as a documentary photographer but soon ventured into fictional methods and staging images. One particular body of work that I am interested in is one of his books entitled Shadow Chamber. This work looks into lunacy and in his images he uses poor people who pose in cell-like rooms that occupy the grey area between fact and fiction. His images are intriguing and hard-hitting. The spectator wants to venture further into the world that he is created and try to make sense out of his peculiar images. The rooms in his images are strange and unsettling; their walls are grey and the room is always dirty. His images are unique and the figures within them always seem to be hiding away or are curled up on the floor with motionless expressions on their faces. Shadow Chamber was published in 2005. His work is very unique and stands out in the photographic world.

“I don’t think things that are nightmarish are actually dark. Sometimes nightmares give you a lot of insight.” – Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen’s website: http://www.rogerballen.com/

I find Ballen’s work really interesting and different. It leaves a lot of questions open and allows the spectator to think outside the box. I find his work quite strange as he uses animals, objects and people in obscure ways. Within Ballen’s images he creates an environment that is dull, dirty and very much staged. There is something about Ballen’s images that make me kind of uncomfortable as they are so bizarre and the subjects in the images always seem to be in another world or they are despondent to the camera, which is most likely the desired effect. Some of his images really intrigue me and make me want to know more about them but there are some that are really quite disturbing and uncomfortable to look at.

When looking through the book entitled Shadow Chambers I came across this image and found it really intriguing. My attention was captured by the doll hanging on a cross made of twigs with a piece of paper attached to it with ‘GOD’ written on it. Something about this image is almost sinister, it really makes me wonder what Ballen’s message was behind it. My initial interpretation is that this person may not have enough money to be able to get an actual wooden plaque of Jesus on the cross but in some way wanted to show their religion and so made one out of things that they have found. When researching more into Ballen’s work I found that everything in the rooms is a performance, staged. I like how the baby is in the middle of the shot, it just makes it more visually pleasing with the boy lying directly underneath it, almost as if it is protecting him. I like the little puppy in this image looking directly into the camera and with its paw resting on the boy as if he is being cared for by the puppy in some way, a comfort to him. The image is kind of creepy when you look at it for a while as the baby doll looks almost decapitated and one of its eyes looks as if there has been dirt rubbed into it. Also the boy’s feet are extremely dirty and it looks as though he has been unable to wash them for a while, this also matches the dirt of the cover adding to the effect of how grim and dirty the entire room is. I also just noticed that written on the wall is ‘Christ + Me’ as if the subject in the image is looking for some sort of saviour and is going by based purely on their faith in God and Christ.

Another image that stood out to me while looking through Shadow Chambers was this one. Something about it is really odd, maybe it’s just everything in the image itself. At first glance I thought that the subject was being tied to something through the chair but when I look closer I realised that it is actually a snake. Ballen’s images are so strange. When you first glance his images don’t look like much but when you really focus in on the image and see all of the little details i that small space you really get a sense of the efforts that were made to create and stage his images. I really wonder why there is a snake just going around the room and how odd the position of the subject is slightly crouched over. My attention is then drawn over to the reflect on the floor of the subject making the floor seem wet. This makes so much sense when I think of how the subject is wearing a rain jacket, as if it has been raining inside.

This video really interested me as it gave me more of an insight to the thinking behind Ballen’ s work and how he creates images so that people remember them and keep them in their mind. His images are so out of the ordinary and call for deeper thinking to really understand what is going on in the images. I find his work to be more about a deeper meaning rather than just what you can see in the images. This video has actually inspired me in a way to create content that will stand out and that is stranger and more hard-hitting. I want my images to impact my spectators and leave them wanting to find out more, images that are really unusual and almost uncomfortable to look at just like Ballen’s images. Ballen illustrates his art through photography, it is just another way for him to be able to express his art freely and share it more broadly around the world.

For this project I have decided to look more into the way our island treats those that are seen to have mental illnesses and the historical views of people who were on the island. I am using the Archisle to get help from this as they have many images there that I could work from. Interestingly it turns out that the Archisle doesn’t have much in terms of outcasts or those that aren’t in social circles as back in the early years of photography it was only the rich elites that were photographed and especially in Jersey it was all about getting the richer people on the island photographed. This isn’t something that I see as a setback because it just goes to show how our island treats those that are in need of help or are deemed insane. We tend to forget about them or try to ignore them and hope that they will sort themselves out when in actual fact they need help for a reason. I chose to look at local history as it is something I have access to. I want to make a series of staged images going more in depth on different cases within Jersey of lunacy and really embody and show how those people were treated. When reading more about this topic I have found that, especially in the late 1800s, residents really do not treat people with mental illness well at all. They usually tie them up or completely disown them which is awful.
I wanted to do further and more in depth research to really get a clear understanding and feel of those suffering with mental illness on the island and to see whether or not my theory will be proven that those within our society who are slightly different or misunderstood are outcast and neglected even when they are the ones in need of support and care the most. I also want to be able to make well informed images as a response to this research and wouldn’t want to create a false image of how people suffering with mental illness were treated on the island. It is something that I have a genuine interest in and want to search further in to and find out as much as possible to create clear and strong images.

When looking at an article, Lunacy and the ‘Islands in the British Seas’ I found out a lot about how the mentally ill were treated in Jersey in the late 1800s leading up to the creation of the Jersey mental asylum. There were so many cases in the island were islanders leave and neglect them. All cases of domestic issues were determined by the island Parliament, Bailiwick of Jersey. In 1859 Jersey was still using the general hospital, in part, to hold pauper (poor) lunatics without any form of medical help. Eventually a separate building was built near the Town Hospital. This held 70 people and was open to pauper lunatics from the town. It was only in 1868 that a permanent public asylum was opened.
When reading more about local lunacy and how those that were seen as mentally ill on the island I was really able to see how society cast them away and just how much my point has been proven that those that are slightly different or are in need of any kind of help that is not physical they are completely shunned and left to rot on their own. It is actually really sad to read and shows the kind of neglect that people give just because they can’t fully understand someone. One case that I looked at in particular was that of Jane Le Maistre were basically she was confined in an out-building without clothing expect and woollen cloth thrown over her. It was written that she would sit in the attitude of a monkey and was in this position for so long that she was unable to use the lower part of her body, it was motionless. After a while Le Maistre became a public issue with more and more people finding out about her wellbeing. the Royal Court soon convened but local inhabitants became defensive claiming her to be well cared for and being cleaned regularly. Inhabitants were supported by local professionals, two doctors whose visit was clearly anticipated found Le Maistre wrapped in two warm blankets, hair short, clean with no appearance of filth or vermin. This just shows the manipulation and stirring of the truth that the people of Jersey did in order to avoid others being judgemental or disapproving of them. It’s also sad as Jane Le Maistre would have been unable to defend herself or tell the truth as she was deemed insane and no one would fully understand or believe her.
Another case that I looked at was that of Dr Lowe, a neighbour of a Jersey lunatic. Dr Lowe locked away this mental patient after he attacked him and left him there for twelve years as he thought an asylum would cost too much, especially as the island was already faced with debt. The Hospital Committee of the States Parliament concluded that a lunatic asylum was not needed after hearing from Dr Lowe. There was known to be less than fifty cases that needed confinement which would lead to isolation and as stated, in most cases of lunacy, it would only increase their insanity. It was concluded by the committee that it would be better for lunatics to stay at home for their families to care and look after them. In 1847, the Hospital housed 38 lunatics. When reading further I found out that in most parishes there were those living with mental illness and they would be confined and chained into a room in the dark, filthy and in solitary cells. They were seen to have had incurable madness. There is a story of Castletown that a lunatic was being confined in a room with food being given to him through a window. Many were held down with chains or rope. Lunatics were often kept/left in inhumane conditions as they were neglected by society. It was seen as a misfortune to have a lunatic person within your family. A final case that I looked at really intrigued and astonished me. It was that of a lunatic called Waterson who was frightened out of his wits by an apprentice who jumped in front of him in a white sheet. He never recovered and was confined in a filthy outhouse, damp walls. He was barred in and had very little light, here in this prison he existed for 17 years.