“I found myself in front of something very radical, no face … it was more of a character with a mask and a focus where the body is more important than the face itself,”
“For a few nights you can behave like a goat, drink a lot and forget about being civilized. You can be a wild animal for three days and then you go back to controlling your wildness.”
Charles Freger is the perfect photographer to consider in the next stage of my project, photographing my childhood friends as “wild things” that play in the dens. Freger is a French photographer who has traveled to 19 different European countries where he has explored the tribal spirit of the people. He would organize his visits months in advance so as to time photographing his subject just before or after the festivals the costumes were designed for so he could accurately capture the weather of the time. Freger particularly likes photographing his subjects in the snow as many of the festivals are to welcome in spring. The actual photographing of the subjects then normally took him only one day, photographing his subjects both in poses and then also dancing within the environment.
“Letting go” for a couple of days every year to dress up as monsters and let out your inner “wildness” seems to be a common phenomina of human behavior. The rituals in which Freger has focused on are tribal rituals which revolve around the winter solstice and spring renewal. The majority of them have some form of pagan roots. These traditions date all the way back to neolithic times and the behaviour of early men. I have already made a link between the act of den building being an innate form of survival for humans in the past, as they would build dens to live in within which ever environments they found. When playing games as children this is normally the same principles the den building revolves around, building a den so that you can live in the environment, making it a kind of home. I think you can also link Freger’s photographs to the concept of “shedding your skin” and becoming someone else for a while when you dress up in a costume. As children when playing in the dens you play games which make you into a different person and its the same concept of being someone else by dressing up in a costume for a festival. Particularly in the pagan rituals which Freger has photographed the celebrations and dressing up are an opportunity to be someone different for a while.
“There was a slight touch of universality because a lot of the groups were doing something similar without knowing one another.”
Freger has explored how the rituals of dressing up as these “wild men” often reflect the complicated relationship between nature and the life of the people within the environment, whether this is a celebration of the two coming together or event to ask nature for good fortune. Fregers work explores the contrast between cultures exploring these very similar concepts in very different ways, some costumes made of animal fur and others of flowers but both made to symbolise the same thing. He says the majority of celebrations focus on animals and vegetation. By dressing up as animals it is symbolic of fertility and freshness in the coming spring. Bears are very common as a costume design or concept as before Christianity the pagan God was a bear like creature. A figure like a bear existed in almost every country he visited through of course there were slight variations. In Germany, the Reisigbar is a bear dressed in twigs and a wooden mask. In Poland, the Macinula is a clown-like figure covered in strips of multi-colored rags and paper. And in Spain’s Basque Country, people dress as the Zezengorri, a bare-skulled beast who carries around a pitchfork. This is a concept which really struck Freger when creating this project. While there were these differences of exploring similar concepts in completely different ways, Freger was also struck by the similarities. He mentions how all these different groups of people without having any real knowledge of each other are celebrating really similar ideas through their festivities. I think again this relates to den building in the past as a means of survival. People all over the world built dens for the same concept, as a home to live in and yet they didn’t communicate with each other to create a universal den but still there are distinct similarities. They also used whichever resources they had anyone them to build the dens, which is also a similar concept to the costumes as Freger also remarks how the majority of costumes are made only days before the actual celebrations. The people who perform these celebrations are normally farmers and so use the farming resources around them and therefore the costumes are made out of simple materials made to look complex and beautiful.
“Watching humans undergo the transformation from person to bizarre beast is an interesting sight, but it’s even more fascinating once you realize how intricately gorgeous each of the costumes are.”
The very first costume and pagan story Freger explored was the Krampus which was a beast like creature of pagan folklore from Alpine countries. This creature was to look after the naughty children while Santa looked after the good children. It was his exploration of this beast creature which led him into his entire project and even to extend the project to cover more countries. The whole project took Freger two years to complete as he traveled to 19 different countries. Freger was really stuck by the complete contrast between the costumes and what they symbolise. He loved how beasts with sharp teeth and claws were actually created to welcome in spring and new life. I really like this concept of juxtaposition between real meaning and perceived meaning due to lived experiences. I think its something i might experiment with in my dens, like the concept of having these dens but then not people in or around them. The whole point of a den is to act as an inhabitantance for people and yet in my photographs i don’t think i’m going to take any with both dens and people in the same frame. I think with Fregers work it is also really significant how he has photographed peoples costumes and celebrations which normally wouldn’t be available for other people to see. Normally celebrations of carnival culture and these festivities are only seen by the people present as they are symbolic. Freger however is bringing these costumes to a wider audience of people and allowing an insight into this previously unconsidered culture. I think den building again follows a similar mentality as dens are built for the people present at the time and even looking through my own archive, are very rarely photographed because they are created for the moment.
Considering Fregers work has been really important in thinking about how the next stage of my project in which i am going to photograph people is going to translate. My childhood friends are going to be dressing up in ways seriously similar to the people Freger has photographed, they are dressing up to symbolize their inner wildness of being a child, symbolizing how we all have this childlike nature that loves to build dens. All of Freger’s photographs revolve around how people love to become wild things and my photographs are recording the same purpose. My photographs are just slightly different in that they are considering the wildness of childhood rather than considering the pagan roots of the community. I think analysing his photographs below will help me even further in the creation of my own images.
“It is not about being possessed by a spirit but it is about jumping voluntarily in the skin of an animal. You decide to become something else. You chose to become an animal, which is more exciting than being possessed by a demon.”
IMAGE ANALYSIS
The composition above includes two figure who are strategically placed within the frame for maximin impact. Freger carefully crafts the composition of most of his photographs so as to create an impact behind the people and the costumes. In the frame above, Freger uses depth by having one subject in the foreground and one in the background, balancing each other by both together occupying the middle space of the frame. The two subjects then stand in very similar poses, almost acting as mirrors of each other which adds to the eerie nature of the costumes. Both have there legs apart, backs to the camera and face inwards towards the negative space in between them. This creates a very sinister impression that these two characters are hiding something by facing away from the camera. This creates intrigue for the viewer who wants to be able to see the costumes in their entirety. Freger however by directing the subjects to face inwards is hinting at the masks worn by the individuals without completely revealing them. The photograph appears as if the subjects are just about to turn round completely and reveal themselves and therefore they appear more intimidating. As well as colour, composition is also very important in the above photographs as Freger has chosen to place the brighter coloured costume in the foreground while the darker is in the background. This works well in your eyes beginning with the brighter figure in the foreground and then moving into the background with the darker figure. I have noticed in Freger’s photographs that he tries to keep the background as made up of very neutral and natural colours so as not to take away from the bright colours of the costumes. I think in this photograph having such a plain background is really important as it allows not just the colour but also the pattern of the costume to stand out within the environment. Overall the photograph is a fairly formal composition but Freger has thought really carefully in order to create intrigue for the people and costumes he has photographed.
Quite a few of Freger’s portraits are composed to only include one figure like the above composition. As my compositions are only going to include one figure i thought it would be a good idea to consider some of his photographs in which there are only subject. The above photograph is composed so that the subject is in the dead center of the frame. The entire of the body is within the frame so that Freger can capture his entire costume. With my compositions I will of course experiment with taking photographs which are full body and then just faces but as my people photographs are more about the faces i don’t know whether i will be using the full body photographs. Freger has then directed his subject to stand at an angle facing towards the right hand side of the frame. This causes the head of the bear to be facing away from the camera which creates an eerie contrast with the face of the subject staring directly into the camera. The eyes of the subject stand out really vividly against the face of the subject as they are really bright and this lighter colour brings out the face of the bear as well. The background is also made up of really light colours which causes the darkness of the bears costume to stand out more. The costume is the darkest part of the photograph and therefore stands out vividly against the paler natural tones of the background. The background is made up of really light blues greens and golds which allow the black to stand out. The background compliments the costume by being in layers which look very much like the layers of the furs. The whole composition of the photograph is really significant in making the costume and subject look really powerful. By having the mountains in the distance which we associate with being a really powerful element and then to have this in contrast with the bear costume as the mountains are small in the distance it makes the subject look more imposing.
Below is a video which shows Freger at work directing his subjects into positions. I think after considering his work it has been really useful in thinking about how dens are a form of reversion to childhood and letting to to embrace your inner wildness. I also quite like his formal and straight on photographic approach as i think it allows you to really consider the person and their costume rather than being distracted by a complicated composition.
