Jim Goldberg was born in 1953 and is an American artist, photographer, and writer whose work reflects a long-term and in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations. Goldberg is part of the social aims movement in photography, using a straightforward, cinéma vérité approach, based on a fundamentally narrative understanding of photography. His empathy and the uniqueness of the subjects emerge in his works as shows by his statement:
“forming a context within which the viewer may integrate the unthinkable into the concept of self. Thus diffused, this terrifying other is restored as a universal.”
Goldberg explores the theme and motif of truth by writing sets of narratives on top of images to dictate a story. This could be an example of false representation as what people can really mean in photographs is not always what the person means in text. This un-reliable narrator shows how this could be a ‘take-over‘ of an image in order to dictate public assumptions from their own interpretation. For instance, the reader is unsure whether or not to judge if the person in the image had written the text or if someone else had partaken on the act. This makes the image in effect un-truthful as especially in Goldberg’s most influential book ‘Raised by Wolves‘ it shows how love had become un-truthful by the way Goldberg writes text on top as another significant medium.
Cinéma Vérité
Cinéma Vérité which is translated to ‘truthful cinema‘ is a style of documentary filmmaking, invented by Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov’s theory about Kino-Pravda and influenced by Robert Flaherty’s films. It combines improvisation with the use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality.
A collaboration between sociologist Edgar Morin and documentary filmmaker and anthropologist Jean Rouch, is considered a pioneering work of cinéma-vérité.
Cinéma Vérité in relationship to Direct Cinema and Observational Cinema, It is sometimes known as observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly centred without a narrator’s voice-over. There are subtle, yet important differences among terms expressing similar concepts: Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera’s presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the “observational mode“, a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.
Raised byWolves
Predominantly considered Goldberg’s most seminally influential project, Raised by Wolves combines ten years of original photographs, text, and other illustrative elements and mediums which include: (home movie stills, snapshots, drawings, diary entries, and images of discarded belongings) to document the lives of runaway teenagers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
USA. San Francisco, California. 1991. “Dieter.”
Review: Cororan Gallery of Art
A review of the exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art noted that Goldberg made reference to other artists and photographers; used photographs, videos, objects, and texts to convey meaning; and
“let his viewers feel, in some corner of their psyches, the lure of abject lowliness, the siren call of pain.”
Although the accompanying book received one mixed review shortly after publication, it was described as “a heartbreaking novel with pictures”, and in The Photobook: A History, Martin Parr and Gerry Badger praised it as
“complex and thoughtful.”
USA. Hollywood, California. 1989. “Oasis”
USA. Hollywood, California. 1991. Dave’s jacket.USA. San Francisco, California. 1986-98. “Hollywood and Highland.”
In this series, Goldberg has a knack for focussing in on the pleasures of different mediums and material, his attention to the use of mixed media such as polaroids, the use of archive and a variation of portraits and landscape imager allows the reader to get a rounded glance of the havoc presented in a stereotypical teenagers lives.
USA. San Francisco and New York. 1989. “Echo’s Map.”USA. New York. 1995. “Echo’s Home Movies.”
Here is a short story of Goldberg’s ‘Raised by Wolves‘:
San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art
Jim Goldberg discusses the larger stories told through his photography practice:
The final shoot commencing my images of Non-Traditional lobe was of my best friend, Holly. I composed these images of Holly alike everyone else, to create repetition and coherence with the realism I wish to create and adapt upon. The first images I composed of her was her wearing her usual, and chilled clothes. Within her house there is a room which is lit purely by natural light, coming through large window which overhang like a skylight. I thought I could play around with this effect as the uses of shadows could be used to symbolise the darker meaning of ‘truth‘ but in a more symbolic and metaphorical way.
I composed the first image (as seen above) of her sitting in the sofa with a sort of hidden appeal. This is contrasted with the image below, as the harsh over exposed light could reflect Holly as a dual character. Te absence of light in this sense, (the above photograph) can show the darker side of her truth but the bottom a more realistic image. If Holly was to upload these images I’m sure the reader would grasp a sense of ambiguity.
I wanted to frame this image (above) as a full body shot as I felt the image before was quite restrained by the way I used the sofa. I defiantly wanted to create this contrast in order to represent the truth behind herself as I feel if she was wanting to pursue herself online she is able to do so with the rounded qualities she is demonstrating in all photographs.
The next image (below) shows the first image agin but different in a way that I’ve composed this as more of a close up shot. This differentiation falls under how the reader is unable to comprehend where about this image is taken, and therefore is unable to interpret or relate to it as they are fixed on Holly to give a narrative for the photo to become compelling. I think this is why the use of light and dark with shadows and light is so effective, as the reader can critically acclaim Holly as a character who is mysterious yet significant in a way they don’t know what the purpose of herself is. This is not to say Holly is being perceived as a boring or mundane character, but one who is normal instead of staged in order to reflect her inner self. Yet, at the same time, she is ironically being staged to not being staged, releasing the truth within itself – the reader doesn’t know who or what to trust.
The next image of Holly was one that I composed in her bedroom. I felt the more light in these images would allow the reader to understand her character more, as well as giving her personality a more realistic approach. I composed Holly to wear different clothing for this one in order for this reaction to be catalysed.
The final image I took was of Holly outside wearing her normal casual wear. Putting the image in black and white, could re-alliterate what I mentioned earlier about how the truth is manipulated within a photograph by its attention to contrasting colours. Holly’s warming stance can give the reader the idea of how she is a friendly and kind character and can see the journey thats progressed in order for people to become ‘attracted ‘ to her, as people are attracted to different things.
My next shoot I did was focussing on my friend, William, and his alternative lifestyle. I wanted to compose these images of William at his home, as he spends most of his time there. My main aim was for the reader to understand how William’s character can be asserted if these images were to be used on an Online Dating profile, such as Tinder. I have composed these images of William wearing his usual wear, smart wear as well as laid back wear, in order for the reader to elaborate upon his well-rounded and significant character.
A Casual Setting
I composed this image of William in his back yard. I felt this was a good location to capture ambiguity as I felt the palm tree really illustrates how William can be seen in a different place to that of reality. For instance, a palm tree is usually accosted with tropical or hotter climates. Being this element the first thing the eye sees, the reader can work their way down to William to show how the ambiguity is shifting, as the reader is unaware of who this character might be.
I then began to take a range of closer range shots, yet drew the ambiguity in a different way by covering the way in which setting isn’t very clear, as the sky doesn’t give an indication of where the location could be. I felt if the image below was used to document William on an online dating site such as Tinder, the reader would feel confused as to what he personality is like. Because the image is set in a mundane mise-en-scene, the connotations a reader can draw from this are simply sparse, dictating this as an ambiguous representation of his person. By capturing other images alike this one, I felt the significance of his personality would simply end up becoming more rounded, as the reader is able to relate to him more.
Smarter Wear
I captured this image in William’s bedroom because I really thought the dominating red colour could be used in order to signify how ‘red‘ is usually associated with ‘love‘. Red is the overshadowing element within this image and I thought I could contextualise with theoretical stereotypes in which people are able to characterise him through his appearance and the setting that’s around him.
I prefer the above shot to the one below as the reader gets more of an insight into what William is really like; his bedroom is quite messy so it could show the ironic juxtaposition between his smart appearance to his messy actions. If William was to upload a realistic image like this one, people might be turned off by the fact he shows his messy lifestyle, which is in fact, his real one. What I tried to pursue the most out of these shoots was definitely the masking of people’s profiles on social media and online dating websites.
William’s Laid Back Approach
I composed these next images to show more of a background into William’s teenage lifestyle. Using his car as an example shows his independent ways could be shown by his freedom to do whatever he desires. This aspect, however, could come across as misleading; The approachable attitude can show he is mature as well as a teenager. This whole concept I feel has helped to capture William in various lights in order for the reader to critique him as no necessarily a ‘type‘, but a well rounded and a multi-visual character.
The next stage when focussing on more contemporary perceptions of love was experimenting with my Cousin, Will. His relationship with one of my closest friends, Emily shows how being in a relationship can change the way we look at them micro-cosmically in a social structure. Just like everyone else, I wanted to envisage Will with a dual character with a range of his own individual personas. I captured him wearing smarter clothes, casual and more laid back wear as well as using different landscapes and setting to characterise him in a more symbolic way.
Smart Wear
I composed this image of Will on the stairs, however I wanted to frame him with the essence of including his surroundings. By doing this, it makes him the most central subject as well as making the reader question his significance. I wanted to compose Will this way as I felt this abnormal setting reflects his relaxed side, making him be seen in a more casual light. Asking him to wear smart clothes can also possess some elements of wealth, contextually referring to his place within a modern society.
A Casual Lifestyle
Referring contextually to the elements of wealth once more, it could be said that Will lives in a nicer area than some, as his views from his house are beautiful. I pictured him facing against me as I felt this could re-embark once more as to how the truthfulness in relationships can occur. If Will was to use Tinder, or any other social media websites that consist online dating, and used this photograph, I feel this could symbolically and metaphorically repress how people in this modern day and age perceive themselves on these types of websites. I definitely wanted to make this ambiguous, as truthfully this element sets it aside to be ‘un-truthful’.
This image below I though was significant in a way which was the objectification of Will’s teenage persona. In consideration, Will wouldn’t necessarily include an image like this on a Tinder app or any other online dating website yet I figured that for the processes towards my final outcomes, It was important for me to include images that could reflect will personality as an objectification rather than a clear statement.
This image above suggests a alternate side to Wills persona, yet can surely be seen as a realistic one. I feel this image below on the other hand shows a different side to Wills character. The idea at his age of owning a teddy bear in reality can be seen as a laughable matter, so I thought capturing it might be a good way of getting across to the reader the boundaries I have crossed in order to put the ‘real will’ onto a ‘real’ online dating website or app.
This contact sheet is in response of Daria and I have experimented with using a slow shutter speed in order to capture specific elements Daria portrayed throughout her work. Now I plan on editing these images, firstly into a black and white effect, and then merging images together in order to create the look that imagined.
For this final shoot, I took photographs of my dad when he had arrived from the pharmacy which I hadn’t planned to do, however the outcomes were good. I think these photographs were important to include in the book because they are a big part of his life. I also took photographs of my dad and my brother interacting to show the male bond, which I had intended to do. At first they were both resilient, however after they agreed to let me photograph them. I didn’t take many photographs as I could feel that they were uncomfortable with the situation. Although I think I was able to capture their bond with the few photographs.
I choose the best photographs from the photo shoot to include into my photo book. Before this I edited them by decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast. I also experimented with different tones, I then added some more blue to some of the photographs which were a little bit yellow. I decided to put the photograph of my dad holding the pharmacy bag in black and white, because although it looked good in colour I thought that the black and white in this image could represent the thing that is holding him back (his illness) from working and doing the things that he wants. I tried to make the photographs of my dad playing football with my brother the same colour so that I could use them as a sequence in my book. I am happy with the overall outcome of the photographs below.
Looking into the comparisons between non-conventional love against that of traditional love made it easy for me when deciding that I really wanted to use my parents as the forefront to this concept. Because they have been together for nearly 24 years, I thought it was best for me to use their story through images and some text to show the love they have for each other, and to show that there are other means and ways of going about finding love.
I took this image to show how in a contemporary image there is a truthful relationship. This image is clever in my eyes as I feel it speaks for itself as a metaphor, dictating how there are possibilities like my parents of not having to rely on things which are un-reliable, like Online Dating websites and apps.
Researching with my own Family Archive
Much like my previous shoot featuring my grandparents, I dug into my own family archive to seek some contextual references and links I can make to juxtapose those with contemporary love stories. Continuing on with links to KesslesKrammer, I felt the repetition in these wedding images are still the stereotypical ‘wedding cake pictures‘ and ‘flowers‘ and ‘relatives‘. I felt this really fitted with the theme with how looking back images where truthful because they always seem to create a sort of social pattern, yet because of the recent developments of online dating it is hard for people to empathise with certain patterns fitted by relationships as people are now finding love in various ways.
Other uses of Archival Material
The alternate uses of archival material yet again represent similar works of Ed Templeton, as I feel the uses of writing and stamps present an overlaying narrative in a simplistic and metaphorical way. If I was to use this idea of following on from Templeton during the exam, I feel it would be a goof idea to overlap the images with text and to also include maybe some stamps over the top to suggest the concepts notion. This letter my Dad sent to my mum I felt was quite ambiguous, and the envelope making it more of an un-written mystery. I think it would be an interesting concept for people to interpret this work for themselves and ask themselves what could of been inside of it. I feel this envelope can represent the era that they were in too. It was more common during the 60s and 70s to write letters instead of sending text messages like people do in our modern society, yet with letters its more detailed as to what could be happening, however, also just as misleading.
The next shoot I made was of my Grandparents. I felt it was a good idea to make portraits of them to distinguish the relationship they’ve had for the last 60 years. Recently celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, I thought it would be a great opportunity to show to a viewer that with the new developments of social media, it is still possibly to withstand such a lasting and traditional relationship. This is also viable to the words of Steven Gill, in particularly “Hackney Kisses“, as my grandparents relationship occurred prior to the effects on World War ll.
I started to compose both images in their bedrooms. My Grandparents use separate bedrooms as my Grandma prefers to sleep without my Granddad, having no particular reason but the fact he snores in his sleep. The first portrait I made was of my Pops, in reflection of Gill, I wanted to use an important feature in their lives in a repetitive way yet somewhat differentiated. Composing either of them in their bedrooms suggested a connection yet also a difference.
My grandparents go against the normal stereotypes and traditional norms of the modern era – couples who are usually considered ‘sleeping in separate rooms‘ are usually considered a couple with differences, ones who are usually in conflict, and ones who are usually unhappy with their relationship. Capturing this feature made me to combine the importance of conflict in a traditional and contemporary mind set – in this case, it would probably be considered a normal thing for couples to opt out of sharing a room with their partners.
My Own Archival Research of Nanny & Pop’s Traditional Relationship
When interviewing my grandparents, I felt it was vital to still make contextual connections between the old and the new, yet still withstanding in the frame of how their relationship can be seen as ‘traditional‘. These black and white images where taken during my grandparents wedding in Jersey in 1955.
I thought this image above was particularly significant, as it sprung back earlier connections with KessleKrammer’s series “USEFUL PHOTOGRAPHY 010“. Using the possible idea of the form of typology in the exam, this could be a good way to surface the way relationships are ‘celebrated’ and the truth behind that in contemporary and in traditional relationships.
Bad Wurzach and War Imagery
I felt it would be a good idea to include other archival material such as data response media such as maps. My grandfather was held captive in Germany under the Bad Wurzach Concentration Camp. My Grandmother, was left in Jersey. During my grandfather’s return to Jersey in his late teens, this is when they met and became as they are now. I felt including materials like this it would also give me the opportunity to draw on these maps or annotate them like a sort of ‘sketch-book‘, analytical work piece, allowing the reader to interact with it more and therefore understanding the relevance to its personal foreshadowing. This could be in the style of Ed Templeton, who frequently uses writing as a source of narrative in a different form.
KesselsKramer is a company which aspires to do things differently in the field of communications. The publishings are an extension of this restless attitude. In images and words, it finds new ways of expressing creativity through printed matter. All KesselsKramer Publishing projects are initiated by the creative thinkers of KesselsKramer. Each book or magazine expresses their personal passions, whether that passion is a collection of found photographs, short stories or a celebration of unusual artworks.
Useful Photography is the generic name for the millions of diverse photos, which are used daily and with a purpose all of their own; practical photography, that has a clear function and where the makers remain anonymous. In Kessle Krammer’s This tenth edition of Useful Photography is all about celebration, this time the usefulness of an age-old and traditional ritual is explored: marriage. Collected & edited by Hans Aarsman, Claudie de Cleen, Julian Germain, Erik Kessels, Hans van der Meer, this tenth edition of Useful Photography is all about celebration and its means and ways of presenting it. As always, the collection overlooked underwhelming images created for practical purposes. This time, the usefulness of marriage is yet explored. Inside this book, it becomes evident that everyone documents their big day in the same way with a constant repetitive sense: same dresses, same locations, same post-wedding kiss. The cliche use of a ‘wedding day‘ could strip the significance of each of these divided features, or in turn elaborate upon how just important they are to the wedding ‘experience‘. This book is up to definite interpretation.
This idea that love falls in some sort of pattern that repeats itself is an interesting idea. Kramer’s use of typology allows the reader to seek these repetitions in a contrasting way. Each page shows images of more or less the same things yet with the juxtaposition of different settings and compositions, it allows the reader to get an all round appeal of the action thats happening inside the photograph.
Reviews on KesslesKrammer Wedding Photography
Positive
KesslesKramer has had some very affectionate reviews towards their style of conceptualism. This could show how some customers where happy with the idea of how someone has almost narrated their wedding for them, instead of the customer in this case, taking complete direction in lead in all photo’s composition.
Negative
However, on the other hand some reviews of KesslesKrammer have indefinitely been negative. This could touch upon how important a photograph can be on someones wedding day. This woman, for example was done-founded by the lack of effort the photographer had put in. With relation to conceptualism, this photographer could well have found that where everyone was photographed was a good place, yet considering this review this ideology was proved much awe. This review could well be the answer to KesslesKrammer’s reputation of having a “restless attitude“. The photographers expression of his or her own creativity through printed matter shows how in their own passion, the selflessness to capture the wedding through the photographers eye not the customers, comes across how love can be considered un-truthful or ambiguous.
My next shoot idea was to capture one of my friends, Freddie in his normal environment. Through imagery and video, I wanted to capture him and his main interests, touching upon the truth behind his character just by single portraits.
Music
One of Freddie’s major hobbies is creating music. I thought this would be a great thing to use when portraying his true self as he states himself:
“I feel if I was to pursue online dating, I would defiantly want someone to be interested in the same things I am. Unlike apps like Tinder, I feel the apps distancing to personality puts me off dating in a sense I’d rather go about it a more traditional way.”
I felt Freddie’s words where very interesting – I didn’t realise as an outsider how online dating can effect someone who would rather pursue relationships in a more traditional way, especially in our contemporary society. In this personal study, I wanted to focus primarily on Freddie’s personality, creating a dual with his appearance and personality, therefore making a perfect ideology of what apps like Tinder should really pursue instead of there ‘false‘ perception.
Composing Freddie in different perspectives such as changing his clothing, made the reader feel a deeper insight into Freddie’s overall character, I wanted this to metaphorically suggest an all round approach to Freddie as a defined ‘product‘, so if he was to impose these images on online dating websites people would feel he is a more truthful person, making him more reliable online.
A Teenager
Freddie, amongst a huge volume of teenagers, wish to look for love in many alternate ways. Defining a ‘person‘ as an ‘individual‘ however, is something completely looked upon by the worldly public. Someone who immediately goes outside the box and against conventional values bestowed with ones ‘individuality‘ is then considered ‘different’ and is never usually celebrated. Apps like Tinder, don’t ever feature any person as necessarily ‘different‘. Knowing Freddie as a close friend, I wanted his personality to be celebrated as I feel in comparison to other friends he is different in many ways. For example, his preference to smoking isn’t considered a negative life choice, but something he likens to and something he isn’t afraid to share with.
Romantic Expectations
Directing Freddie to change characters by his large and vast collection of various styles of clothing, I wanted to pursue him as a character that would suit him to any time of individual. The reason I chose him for this personal study was so I could get an all round and critical view point for the reader. The reader then elopes on a journey of Freddie’s multiple personas and if I was to impose this using the Tinder app, these images would be a more reliable and less restricting way of finding love.
Short Interview Video-Story
I composed Freddie to very casually discuss his opinions of online dating and how he would consider going about the trend. I felt this video questioned truth as he was definitely interested to discover apps like Tinder, yet was unsure and maybe thrown off because of the major want for a similar personality – a debate eager to console with.
This response was completely inspired by the incident that a friend of mine was involved in. To reiterate, she was essentially made to retrieve objects that her boyfriend would then hit her with. From getting her to tie belts around her mouth to wax being poured on her skin, this series focuses more on the belt situation alongside locations of where she would go after she was beaten. By using a belt, her abuser would often tie her hand to something to stop her from retaliating, and get her to tie it around her own mouth in order to stop any screams or loud cries for help. Here are a selection of images that stand as representation of certain aspects throughout this particular encounter. I deliberately created this series of images to be in black and white as it is an occurring theme within this project. I experimented with different lighting within this body of work as I wanted to see if i could create different effects and styles by adjusting light, composition and the focus of the image. The last quarter of the contact sheet is an idea I had of having a woman with lots of make up, with one piece of her face (eye) edited out so that underneath, you can see the true appearance and state that she is trying so hard to cover up. Looking at the general composition of those images i’m not sure whether I want to use it as a final outcome, nonetheless I still want to experiment and see what it would look like.
Alike any of the other major religions, Islam seeks to standardize sexual relationships between members of their society or community through moral codes. As laid down in the Quran, any form of sexual behavior – that being: intercourse, oral sex or any action that encourages sexual activity – is strictly forbidden before or outside of marriage. Of course, that doesn’t prevent Muslims engaging in ‘unlawful meetings’, hence the title. In pursuit of romantic love or the sheer fulfilment of mutual desires. Hashim investigates the secret encounters that take place between young Muslim lovers in parks, hidden between trees, or under the cover of the night on beaches and in parking lots. Using night vision cameras, inconspicuous smartphones or digital cameras equipped with long-range telephoto lenses, she captured couples enjoying moments of the greatest intimacy in very public spaces in Sweden swell as in Denmark.
“Those who come from a Muslim background follow strict rules that subsume their individuality, so that the true self is rarely revealed. The public persona and the private life are two distinct zones, creating paradoxes in everyday life that lead to a form of cultural schizophrenia.’”
Hashin’s build in tension and suspense between the public and the private spheres, which runs more acutely through the lives of these young Muslims than of their non-Muslim peers, is reflected in “Unlawful Meetings”. It lies in the invisibility these lovers enjoy in public; for the most part, passersby turn a discretely blind eye to the privacy they create for themselves in shadows and parked cars at nights. This idea of truthfulness and abiding by the rules and guidelines set out for them bombarded the natural path set out for them by there deliberate ancestors. Hashim ensures the anonymity of her subjects, and thus the lawfulness of her recordings of their acts, by leaving out colors and by never showing more than 25% of their facial features. Yet what cannot be hidden is the passion, which, according to one of the youths she interviewed, is heightened exactly for being so “secretly and so rarely enjoyed”. For Hashim herself, who identifies as a believing, but not a practicing Muslim, the project has led her to revisit the tenets of her faith as laid down in texts written in times so fundamentally different from today. Convinced that the ban on sex before marriage was written to protect women and their offspring, she wants to put up for discussion the question if contemporary women and men can’t find other options – in terms of health, or legal and financial security for themselves and their children – to take care of themselves.
Hashim uses the form of a fan-fold laporello in order to tell the story from a dual perspective. On one side of the laporello, shows the images taken with a night-vision camera and the other revealing grey-scale images using a long range telephoto lens. I feel this idea is really interesting and if I was to recreate this in terms of my project I’d use the traditional rituals of love on one side and the non-traditional (online dating) in order for the reader to visually the changes which have occurred over time in means of relationship commodities.
Throughout Hashin’s enduring project, she adopts the professional distance of the social anthropologist conducting a field study, yet at the same time there is an inescapable sense of surveillance and ghoulishness parallel to the work of Kohei Yoshiyuki. In the photographic act again we find the two zones of distance and proximity intertwined in a way that many viewers will find disturbing in its ambiguity.
Alike Hashim, the reader can be reminded of Kohei Yoshiyuki’s infrared-lit photographs from the 1970s, which capture Japanese couples engaged in night-time sex, surrounded by spectators hidden in pitch-dark public parks. But Hashim believes Unlawful Meetings is quite different, because of the community it depicts.
“A lot of white Danish people live here,”
Hashim says.
“So whenever I see darker skinned people, I’m already guessing that they meet here secretly, because they know that their families won’t find them here.”
Hashim, however, does find them. Hiding in public toilets, behind trees and in cars, photographing the Muslim couples who meet in secret, engaging in forbidden sexual acts in bushes and cars. Hashim’s photos are often blurry, the subjects partially obscured by the leaves of a tree or car doors that cover the people’s faces, though this is intentional: Hashim wants them to remain anonymous.
“The way these people met, the way they felt and the way they touched is still visible in these photos. You don’t always need to capture a face to depict emotions.”
Lina Hashim’s photography has its roots in her own childhood, in which the grand themes of family, conflict, exile and migration read like a checklist of documentary topics.
“When the Iraqis came into Kuwait, my father, who had been imprisoned in Iraq for his communist activities, was on the list of people they wanted to take to jail. He was frightened, so he ran,”
Lina tells the British Journal of Photography.
“When I was a teenager, I wasn’t allowed to have boyfriends or intimacy with anyone before getting married, and it was the same thing with my sisters and my brothers and everyone in the community,”
says Hashim.
“But my friends told me about places where they could go to meet their boyfriends, and they said I could go there with them, just to join them, and then I could maybe meet somebody there. It was always in parking lots, or by the sea, or the forest, or the kind of places where you take a dog for a walk. That’s actually how the project started.”
Lina Hashim is a Danish-Iraqi artist who lives and works in Copenhagen. Hashim was born in Kuwait, however later on moved to Denmark with her parents in 1992. Hashim’s primary artistic medium is photography, whereas her methods cross into such fields as anthropology and performance. Hashim as a former student of anthropology puts the methods of anthropology to use when she investigates, amongst other issues, the Islamic dogma of pre-marital sex. Her research draws thoroughly on her readings of the Quran, consulting imams, her family, and a number of chatrooms and online forums for Muslims. At the core of Lina Hashim’s artistic project lies an urge to investigate, rationalize and document the arbitrariness of the way the Quran is being interpreted today using what she describes as a method best understood as historical anthropology: Do the words and dogmas of the Quran make sense in a modern context? She firmly states that she is a Muslim as she believes in Islam, but she doesn’t practise.
NO WIND WITH HIJAB
Hashim began this series in 2012 photographing women’s hair, normally hidden from public view under a hijab, a scarf that covers her head concealing all her hair in the public domain. The hijab is seen as a way to protect these woman, keeping them as a treasure; for Lina to photograph them without this cover – a commandment of God – would be considered a sin in Islamic tradition. Lina’s inspiration came from the memories of how her mother and friends changed when they removed their hijab, filling her with curiosity to photograph women’s hair and chronicle the length of time they had covered it. In order to make the photographs she envisioned, allowing the women to reveal their hair and not break their Islamic beliefs, she consulted a number of Imam, or spiritual leaders, living in Copenhagen.
“I’m a member of a chatting space that is guided by a young Imam. He was very open, so I asked him: ‘If I go to a hairdresser and I find some hair on the floor that belonged to a Muslim girl; would it be a sin if a man sees the hair? And then he said ‘No it wouldn’t, because no-one can see who the woman is.’ Then I asked him if it would be OK to take a photo in which I don’t reveal any of the skin or any of the characteristics of the woman. And he said that it’s impossible to do that, but it would be OK. So I copy-pasted what he said in a document and showed it to all these girls I asked.”
As a viewer this suggests to how important religion is in Lina’s tradition, as the repercussions behind the truth of these women and revealing their identity to the world is a terrifying and consequential concept. Immediately framing the images to focus on the women as an a objectifying motif draws the reader in and is immediately asked to question the rate of rights that individual has. This factor can be seen most restricting, as as a women, the allowance and freedom to show off any hair in any sort of public domain is not tolerated, culturally and religiously. This percussion of Lina’s work is more so celebrated than mourned.
Inspiration
Lina’s focus on a single motif or symbol to represent an entirety of a subject has given me inspiration as to how I should focus on love. Like Stephen Gill’s “Hackney Kisses“, a single kiss represents a whole relationship, such as hair represents an entire culture and religion. In a way I could focus in on this, yet I could also focus on things such as holding of hands or something else to do with or is familiar to a stereotypical relationship.
When creating the photo book I tried to keep the same layout and font type as my first book as much as possible so that it’s easier to compare them both and to emphasize the fact that this book is part 2 of my first one. I also included facts about chronic back pain as I did in my first book but with the Portuguese working culture. I have chosen to mix the photographs of my dad at work with the ones of him at home rather than keep them separate because I think that it shows ‘flashbacks’ of my dads past working life and it closes the bridge between the differences. I think the inclusion of both coloured and black and white photographs works well and increases the diversity. I have made less important photographs such as objects smaller and key images larger or full bleed to show their importance. For my front cover I am planning to have a photograph of my dads back and write the title ‘ Domestic 2’ on it, like my mums to emphasize that although he is not currently working to a certain extent he is still a domestic because he has taken up my mums traditional role of doing house hold chores. Through out the book there is constancy of stripes although this was not intentional I think it revels more about my dad and his personality/likes. Although I am not finished I need to add more photographs to my book I think that it coming together well.
During the Easter holiday, I contacted the jersey women refuge center to ask permission to come over and talk to some of the women. However, I did not get a response and therefore have decided to go with my plan B. This idea consists of taking staged images of situations that certain victims have been through. I know people personally and these people have told me heartbreaking situations that they have been through and therefore plan on using their stories to create representations of their situations through staged imagery. Another idea which could be conducted would be to replicate those of Ferrato’s images and therefore will create images in similar techniques and styles. Although for now, I wanted to focus on this idea of creating a narrative. I knew when conducting this photo shoot that any/all outcomes would be black and white as I feel it fits in with the style of some of the photographers I have researched (Ferrato being one of them). When evaluating the overall performance of this photo shoot, I feel like the images created were okay and represent parts of situations that some women have been through. When looking back at all these image, some appear to be a bit blurry/out of focus however, I think that it sort of fits and can represent the fact that a lot of these horrifying memories can in fact be blurry, either by the fact that they don’t want to remember, or they were injured and literally can’t remember. I don’t think these images are powerful and emotive in the way that Ferrato conducted her images, however her images were of real situation happening in the moment and thus would be quite difficult to create anything on the same emotive level. Here are some of the images from the photo shoot:
I visited my dads old workplace where he used to work as a baker. He worked for 25 years for the same company until it closed. I wasn’t able to take many photographs as there were many people around working. However, I took a photograph of the main company building and of the building my dad used to work in. I also took photographs of the delivery vans too both alone and with my dad standing next to them. Below is an article about the conformation of the bakery closure in 2013.
To use images screen-shotted from the Tinder app to use as a frame for separate portraits. In the style of Prince, this could empathise similar to how he manipulated his own Instagram feed. Using friends accounts, or even creating a fake one for myself, allows me to delve into the world of how people mask themselves for love and how I can manipulate myself to become apart of it.
Concept:
To establish the role of images in online dating and how images influence people to be attracted purely by their first sight. This will exaggerate how the comment of ‘truth‘ lies purely in the eye of the beholder.
Below are some examples of my friends Tinder profiles. As you can see, the information states the factors of your Name, Age, Location in comparison to yours, as well as offering you to display a range of images which feel represent your true self. The most eye-catching feature of this is predominately your profile picture as its the largest subject on the screen. This could suggest an un-reliable source of finding romance as the person is only viable to ‘match’ you unless you fill the box for looks when satisfied. In conjunction, the person they haven’t decided to give matches to could be someone they seem to get on well with, initially finding it more difficult for them to maybe find their perfect match.
As displayed above, you can see a range of interests of people inhabit, something I wish to portray during my creation of a photo-book or study. I think incorporating peoples interests / lives through a collection of images is something I wish to portray in a sequence or dichotomy of images.
My whole family is quite the cat family (okay but seriously, we have cats and pictures of cats and doorstops of cats etc everywhere), my mum has had various cats throughout her life. Her first cat was Bingo, a ginger cat, who from what I’ve heard was fairly vicious and liked to jump out at people from behind bushes.
Then where her and my Dad moved in together, they had a cat called Charlie, who they took care of after the owner couldn’t any longer, and then two male cats, Buster (short for Bustopher Jones) and Monty.
Buster was named after a poem by T. S. Eliot:
Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town
Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones–
In fact, he’s remarkably fat.
He doesn’t haunt pubs–he has eight or nine clubs,
For he’s the St. James’s Street Cat!
He’s the Cat we all greet as he walks down the street
In his coat of fastidious black:
No commonplace mousers have such well-cut trousers
Or such an impreccable back.
In the whole of St. James’s the smartest of names is
The name of this Brummell of Cats;
And we’re all of us proud to be nodded or bowed to
By Bustopher Jones in white spats!
His visits are occasional to the Senior Educational And it is against the rules For any one Cat to belong both to that And the Joint Superior Schools.
For a similar reason, when game is in season He is found, not at Fox’s, but Blimpy’s; He is frequently seen at the gay Stage and Screen Which is famous for winkles and shrimps. In the season of venison he gives his ben’son To the Pothunter’s succulent bones; And just before noon’s not a moment too soon To drop in for a drink at the Drones. When he’s seen in a hurry there’s probably curry At the Siamese–or at the Glutton; If he looks full of gloom then he’s lunched at the Tomb On cabbage, rice pudding and mutton.
So, much in this way, passes Bustopher’s day- At one club or another he’s found. It can be no surprise that under our eyes He has grown unmistakably round. He’s a twenty-five pounder, or I am a bounder, And he’s putting on weight every day: But he’s so well preserved because he’s observed All his life a routine, so he’ll say. Or, to put it in rhyme: “I shall last out my time” Is the word of this stoutest of Cats. It must and it shall be Spring in Pall Mall While Bustopher Jones wears white spats!
I hope to include this poem within my photo book, as I like its context in relation to the cats and how it obviously held significant meaning among my parents for them to name Buster after it.
After Monty and Buster both passed away, we decided to get two new kittens, Panda and Willow, these are the cats we still have to this day (there names weren’t so poetically chosen, but just seemed to fit them and their personalities) and they are a big part of our family.
I have chosen to include these two archive photographs into my project because I think that the first photograph of me and my dad is important to include, I also included a photograph like this in personal study of me and my mum. I am going to put them on the same page of the book so that the viewer can make a comparison between the first and second book. I have decided to include the second photograph which is of my dad’s army identity card because it was part of his working life before he became unfit for work. I think this will add another layer to the story that I am trying to document. I wasn’t able to scan these photographs in, however I took photographs of them. However I am happy with the quality. These are the archive photographs after I have edited them.
This photo shoot is the second part of my response to the research I did on Walker Evans and the difference between natural and staged portraits. These portraits are of my dad which I am going to include in my project. I tried to make these photographs more natural and look more ‘raw’. I also tried to avoid over editing these photographs to keep the ‘truth’ of them. By portraying my dad in his truest possible way through the portrait. On Lightroom I cropped the photographs because they had too much background in them. I also experimented with the different levels of exposure and contrast. I also experimented with black and white, I think this particular photograph looks better in black and white. Apart from this i didn’t correct and imperfections etc. like on my previous shoot because I am trying to keep them as natural as possible. My dad wasn’t as comfortable taking portraits so I was only able to take a few photographs.
This is my first interview for the documentary I want to create for my photography project. The person I am interviewing is my friend Eddie who has been skating for the past 5 years, and has very strong opinions on how he feels the culture of skating in Jersey has changed, and how the government has made an impact on what they can and can’t do. He also talks about how Jersey is supposed to be this really nice place, but when you see it from his perspective, there are so many things that are wrong. The reason I have interviewed him, is because he is an inside voice of the skating community, and the changes that are made to the environment for skateboarding has an impact on his life. I will be featuring this interview in my documentary, and will be adding old archived footage of him skating from his YouTube channel.
The first photo shoot that I did, was of my dad at home doing daily activities. I didn’t intervene with any of the activities therefore I had to wait until to get the right photographs. I took these photographs over a number of days during the Easter holiday to get a wider variation.
This is the first photoshoot I have done in response to the work that Walker Evens has done. These photographs were staged and we didn’t use natural lighting which goes against traditional documentary principles. Although I am not going to use these photographs for my final project I enjoyed experimenting with the different types of portraits.
In order to capture my family’s reactions to the images, today whilst they were all around at my house, I filmed them all looking through all the digital images, to see their reactions and hear any memories and stories the images brought back.
As my Poppa’s birthday is on the 13th, I will also be taking photos of them when they all look through the photo album which I will hopefully be able to include in my final photo album.
For my Poppa (grandad)’s birthday, me and my Mum decided that we should make him a photo book with the digitalised slides, so I got onto the app that I use for editing my books, and put together a book containing the best of the slides we got digitalised.
Although this is nothing like what i intend to create as my final book, its a starting point to see layouts and get an idea for which images do and dont print well and to see which images my family have the best reactions to.
When I mentioned the Archive project to my Nan which we were doing for our coursework, she started looking for old photo albums and trying to make sure she could dig them all out, we had tried to get her to do this on several occasions, but the mention of me needing them forced her into action, and after she had found all the old albums and I was half way through my last project, she dug up a box of slides, and asked if I’d be able to make use of them.
The box contained several boxes with hundreds of slides, 480 to be exact, and a book where my nan had tried to keep record of who was in each photo and what year the photo was taken in etc.
We then took the box of slides to be digitalised so I could work with the photos and show them to all my family, who haven’t seen these images in at least a few decades.
Recently my Nan found a huge box of old slides from my mums childhood, and so I decided to get them converted so that we would all be able to look at them properly, but when I was looking through the digital versions of these images, I found it really hard to actually picture the images as moments in my mums life, and her two sisters lives.
The images in my mind were like illustrations in a fictional book, and so I want to try and find a way to explore this idea of my mums fictional life, I want to find out about stories that accompany the image so I can try to understand them, and hopefully I can find a way to express the connection between my mums life and my own.
