Rebecca Horn was born in March 1944 in Michelstadt, Hesse. She is a German visual artist who is best known for her installation art, film directing and her unique body modifications. She practices body art using different medias such as performance art, installation art, sculpture and film. She writes poetry as well, which she sometimes uses to influence her work.
In 1968 Horn produced her first body sculpture where she attached objects and instruments to the human body. She used the theme of the context between a person and his or her environment. Einhirn (Unicorn) is one of Horn’s best known performance pieces. The subject of this piece is a women who is described by Horn as “very bourgeois”. The subject walks through a field and forest on a summer morning wearing nothing but a white horn from the top of her head. The image below is from the film that Horn produced from the project “Unicorn”.
Horn also created many sculptures over her career. She explores feathers in her works of 1970’s and 1980’s. Many of her feathered pieces contain a figure wrapped in the manner of a cocoon to cover or imprison the body. In the 1990’s a series of her sculptures was presented in places of historical importance. Here are images of some of the sculptures that Horn created.
Rebecca Horn had a difficult life when growing up. Her parents sent her to boding school as a child to study economics however Horn desperately wanted to study art. She rebelled against her parents and in 1963 attended the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art. Horn’s troubles were still not over because a year later after joining art school she had to pull out due to severe lung poisoning. This is how Horn describes her experience, “In 1964 I was 20 years old and living in Barcelona, in one of those hotels where you rent rooms by the hour. I was working with glass fiber, without a mask, because nobody said it was dangerous, and I got very sick. For a year I was in a sanatorium. My parents died. I was totally isolated.” Horn also experienced severe isolation. She felt like her life was over before it had even begin. When Horn walked out of the hospital she was still to ill to carry on with school. She started creating sculptures and strange extensions using wood and cloth. “I began to produce my first body-sculptures. I could sew lying in bed.” Her goal then was to quash her “loneliness by communicating through bodily forms.”
I decided to look at Rebacca Horn as one of my Historical photographers because she uses a lot of her past experiences, such as her poor health and her loneliness as a stimulate for her work. Similar to many women during Horn’s period, she had to go against her parents and people around her to do what she truly wanted to achieve in life. By becoming a women artist and photographer, Horn was one of many who helped with the progression of women. She used women as the subject for her work, however her perspective was from a women’s point of view and therefore her creative and female perspectives become prominent.
How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through their work and, in particular, their most recent projects looking at family?
“As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” [1]
My interest in photography derives from how raw and truthful an image or series of images are. I achieve satisfaction from photographs which show everything as it is without removing any factor of reality; it as it this point at which imagery loses my interest. I believe that this relates to the beauty that comes from images created from the insecurity from the person behind the camera. Within my own work, I attempt to do this. The space in which I am insecure encourages an emotional and physical urge and a sometimes-unwanted force to venture into a neighbouring space in which I feel less comfortable but more willing to experience more challenging emotions. It is with my camera and in my project looking at the reality of feeling attached yet isolated, that I can explore this feeling of lonesomeness. I am using my mum and dad’s divorce thirteen years ago as a starting point for the development of my series which centres around my experiences with the people closest to me. As I grow into an ever-maturing yet still sensitive man, I struggle to find myself in this fast-moving, fragile world; I find myself unknowingly becoming detached from the people who should be my most dear. I see this project as a way of building lost relationships. Using a subject close to my heart, I have been able to capture a view that feels very poetic, like that of Eich and Frazier’s work. My aim is to make the intangible, tangible by collaborating closely with my subjects to create a meaningful insight into my family with room for interpretation by the viewer – an aspect I have been focusing on heavily for my project – to create something for the audience to interact with (the book) and content the audience can relate with. Taking inspiration from photo-books of several artists, others including JH Engstrom and Anders Peterson and their use of images of several formats and styles, I have generated an immense interest in putting aside much of my time and effort to create a book, paying close attention to design, font, concept and other marginal details. My project is an exploration into my family and myself for personal satisfaction and as a visual documentation to cherish and keep, providing that very possession of a moment in time that can be so easily be forgotten. “Memory is fragile; the moments are fleeting and have to be wrestled into a permanent state” [2], said Eich in his statement for recent body of work, ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. It is with my photographs that memories become realised and documenting my own familial circle, like Eich and Frazier, I can provide a structure to my family’s memory that can be built to last instead of a moment in time being brushed aside when forgotten within the busier, more active momentous of life. It is the little moments that require time to step back and appreciate that we should treasure; when I release the camera’s shutter, is an acknowledgement that a moment is significant…
When I hear the word attachment, images of love surface within my mind. I visualise scenes of a girlfriend clinging lovingly to her boyfriend in moments of laughter and intimacy within their new-found romance; young love is what attachment is. Reasoning for this visualisation comes from experience. The knowledge that I am needed by someone else is what provides me with comfort. Attachment is feeling a sense of belonging within this world which can be so harsh in its unforgiving realities. Attachment and acceptance is something I long for in a life that has shown me, face-on and in a time of tenderness at the age of four, the direct implications of what love can do to two adults – unite, yet divide. I have grown up in two different lives, one with my mum and the other with my dad. Through this, I have been gently nurtured into a still-developing young man who has learnt and is still learning the meaning of romance. I have understood the sensation of sibling-love. As well, I have accepted the fact that my parents are no longer together and I will, for the rest of my life, live this life and embrace it, as I have done for the past 18 years. There is a still, however, the underlying reality of detachment which on the other hand, connotes opposing visuals; a lonesome astronaut drifting into a deep, dark existence without anything to cling on to.
Harry Harlow, an American psychologist in the mid-1900s studied, in great detail, the concept of maternal separation and dependency needs. He experimented with rhesus monkeys, an Asian species that adapts easily to living with humans [3]. He carried out an experiment in the laboratory to confirm theorist, Bowlby’s previous theory on attachment; Harlow separated the baby monkeys from their biological mothers and paired them with a surrogate mother in the form of a baby doll. He observed that, although the doll didn’t provide them with food or drink, at a time of feeling scared, the baby monkeys clung to the doll for comfort as it had adopted the roll of mother to them. Harlow used this to verify the importance of a mother-child relationship when the child is very young because it reiterates the idea of unconditional love. I feel very strongly that my own mum and I have experienced this when I was much younger and it has benefited our relationship over the last 18 years. This maternal attachment has expanded into a much more secure relationship as we have both developed into our own selves and, along the way, we have learnt to respect and trust each other, as a mother and son should. With my dad, however, he was the parental figure who was taken away from me. Oblivious to what this would mean to how I would experience future life events, I clung to my mum as a figure of comfort because the next few years of my infancy would prove to be a time of constant change as I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. My project embraces both attachment and detachment and how I situate myself in the centre of it all as I continue to learn the lessons of life both at home and at school with the several people I interact with on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the first 20 years of your life can prove to be the most important and impactful for the years to follow. In this period of time, the most vital events which contribute to self-growth and self-confidence occur. But not everything runs smoothly, as illustrated by my parent’s separation. It is with my camera that I am able to capture memories and when I pick up my camera and release the shutter it is then that I am acknowledging a moment of significance. Joerg Colberg said, in an article published outlining memory in photography, “just like memories, photographs are created with intent” and “all photographs, when used as memories, give us something to hold on to.” [4]. It is this interpretation by Colberg that resonates with my intent as a photographer to capture, consciously, the intimate moments in life. My parents took on this role when I was younger to provide me with the endless photo albums of my 9lb 12oz-self as a baby bouncing around the house I grew up in for 10 years. It is now that I am beginning to take inspiration from my own archival imagery of myself as a young child to capture similar moments of my half-sister, Minnie. As a photographer, I use my camera to collaborate not only with my subjects, but with myself when including myself within the images. Taking inspiration from the work produced by Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier in their diaristic black and white images for projects looking at family, I have been able to change my perspective from a witness to a performer; from being a witness to the occurrences in front of the camera, I have since found reward from being an actor who performs for the camera and it has expanded my abilities to tell a visual narrative – a skill I have developed from observations of the work of Swedish photographers, JH Engstrom and Anders Petersen. Looking at the books of these artists, I have developed the ability to collate select images which can in-turn have the power to provide meaning beyond the face of the photograph to impact the viewer.
Using the camera as a tool of documentation can provide outcomes that are very real and using these images as a way of telling a visual narrative can make for a much deeper, more meaningful story than that comprised of words, in my opinion. The work of Matt Eich shows this concept in its full affect, especially in that of his recent project ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. His imagery and way of composing and presenting images have the ability to work in conjunction with each other to create an obscure, yet very simple narrative in which the viewer is required to decode to derive meaning – a beauty that I believe photography encourages. This ability to present a reportage sequence which reveals only part of the story and leaves the remainder up to the audience’s imagination is something I am attempting to do in my project. By photographing inanimate states such as landscapes or still life, I can provide indirect and underlying representations of the main focus throughout the book. Much like literary stories, photographic stories can use metaphors to explain a meaning beyond the direct face value – making for very interesting outcomes. An object as simple as a car covered by a cloth (an image I will use in my book) can connote a far more captivating significance than its face value and instead, using the context of my book, it can show the affect of a lost identity; the affect of a new beginning; becoming isolated and forcing a withdrawal from the people you love because it seems easier to hide away. It is these inanimate objects that provide substance and body to fill the gaps in my book because the project is an exploration into not only the people present but of the emotions that come with the concept I am covering.
Jude Luce, ‘All My Love’
I create all photographs with the intent to create memories so that moments of importance are not forgotten. I am forever holding a camera or a smartphone to capture any point in time in which I may be present and this has become a second nature now I am a big brother to my 5-year-old sister, Minnie. It fills me with joy to document with my camera the smiles and laughter which glow off my sister’s face every time I see her. As I have seen from my own archives when I was a child, it is a way of creating these important memories that, inevitably lend themselves to never be forgotten, and in-turn manufacture a life-long feeling of attachment to what may have once been forgotten or mentally discarded. The photo albums which live in my loft are what allows me to experience my childhood again, where I can feel this magical sense of attachment at a point when it was just my mum, my dad and I. These memories; these shadows that I have near to no recollection of become illuminated when I flick through these never-ending photo albums. Mark Alice Durant, in his book ’27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography’ tells the reader of his experience when he re-lived his parent’s wedding album and quotes “in memory, colour comes alive, and for me it is only blue.” [5]. I feel very strongly about this message; the notion that an irretrievable recollection that, as the years go by, becomes a haze can be re-lived in the form of colour.
Eich’s work has a way of storytelling which affects the viewer to the point which, I for one, begin to feel quite out-of-place flicking through page after page because of the fact that it is a very personal and intimate insight into how himself and his family live everyday life. Towards the end of Eich’s book, we are presented with an image of Eich’s wife, and his two children in the bath, looking blankly down the camera lens [6] – an image that I personally find enchanting and is in fact one of my favourites in the book’s entirety because of its ability to connect with the audience – helped by the subjects immense focus on the camera, whether planned or not, it works brilliantly. The audience, although may get an urge to flick past quickly, it is vital to admire the rawness of the photograph and it echoes, again, how the camera can provide a way to tell a story easier than using words.
Jude Luce, ‘All My Love’
Another image in his book uses a technique that is rarely seen in contemporary photography – a man showing his vulnerability and his sensitivity by including himself in his photographs. We see Eich, sat down and eyes-closed, with his head leant on the support of his wife’s stomach as she stands cradling its weight. Eich is topless and his wife stands in her bra and underwear. It is an image of such grace and elegancy. Images like these are avoided in photography but I admire the braveness of Eich to present himself to his own camera as he is doing. Using images which scratch upon the surface of taboo subject matter within photography, and society as a whole; this being certain representations of women through nudity and misogynistic references is brave but it gives a very raw feel to what we are seeing. In my own project, using my girlfriend, I have utilised the casual time we spend together in my bedroom to use my camera as a way of photographing her in a way which I see her normally. We often lie, lazily on my bed and talk for endless periods of time about anything. At this particular moment, she was lying in a way which looked quite proactive; curled up, in her t-shirt and tights, in which you could see her underwear through – a blue pair of briefs which read ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’. Her rear pointing to camera, it makes for an image which divides the sequencing of dull, inanimate scenes in my book. This image provides a sense of liveliness; it can be seen as naughty. Moments like these, shown in my project through this one image, Eich’s in his portrayal of an evening with his family and in Frazier’s through her snapshots of leisure time in their household [7] present this underlying theme of attachment. It is the moments that are thought nothing of, and seen as just part of the daily routine within your own circle of comfort and joy that make for the most truthful representations of what attachment can be. Not acknowledging the presence of the camera is how memories are formed. Yet, referring back to the wording that takes its place on my girlfriend, Lucy’s underwear – ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’ also connotes visuals of what detachment can be. Romance amongst young couples often brings its petty arguments – the phrase on Lucy’s underwear connotes this – that often she may try to fix an argument but it doesn’t always work and we find ourselves giving each other the cold shoulder – much like her body positioning suggests in this image.
Matt Eich, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’
Scanlan [8], in 2012, suggested the theory which provided an explanation to the importance of romantic development in adolescence, much like what I am experiencing as I grow, maturely into an adult, with my girlfriend as a mechanism of support. He said that teenage romantic relationships are, in a sense, a training ground for adult intimacy. He elaborated on this statement and said that romance during adolescence provides an opportunity for learning to engage strong emotions, to negotiate conflict, to communicate needs and to respond to a partner’s needs as well. Both Lucy and I often joke about the fact that we have been together for two years, because, considering we are only eighteen years of age, this is a significant period of time to maintain a relationship alongside all other stresses of teenage life. At the start of our relationship, we both told one another that we would take it slow and see how it goes – because of the fact we were best friends for five years prior to our relationship, we didn’t see it going too far because we were used to living in comfort of a ‘friendzone’. However, now, in retrospect, I am relieved that circle of comfort was broken because she is one of the most important people in my life. I hope to show this in my project, ‘All My Love’ through the abilities of reportage photography and the ability to create sequencing of imagery to tell a story. We are only teenagers and love can be confusing but our relationship is simply a partnership of two alike personalities which coincide with one another to complement one another.
In Eich’s work, he doesn’t use his power as a photographer to abuse the relationship he holds with his wife, nor his children, nor his own parents and instead, like myself, uses his control of the camera to collaborate with his subjects that present a truthful picture of the benefits of clinging on to the ones you love most. Eich, in a mini-documentary series outlining his work and how he captures intimacy, said “I can articulate myself better with images than with words” [9]. This concept is very relevant to my own work also and is why I love shooting reportage images because it is the moments of intimacy between people, as well as a relationship between a person and a place that form the poetic images that make up my project. I have touched upon the relationship between people and places and the attachment that comes with this in my work through photographing the transition from my old family home to my new one – a process of losing one identity that has shaped your life for so long and generating a new identity that co-exists with the new experiences to come with it. The process of change is something I don’t deal with too well but it is with change that come new opportunities to photograph. Although I see change in any aspect of life as a negative, it is important to embrace it – as I did when my parents split; I had no choice. It emphasises the importance of forming an attachment to what comes with the change even though it is tempting to become disconnected instead.
Eich, in the same documentary, states that “photographing my family is incredibly important to me because it goes back to the frailty of memory” [10]. Memory is what Eich hopes he can use as a tool to tell his kids that he loves them and that he was there for their important moments of growth, to reflect back on when they are older. I use memory as a tool to do the same – to form a collection of imagery that holds meaning of a moment in time, but instead, as a way to show Minnie that I love her and that I was by her side to capture her moments of tranquillity and bliss. As a figure of authority over Minnie, I feel a sense of responsibility to act as a big brother should and provide her with the moments of fun she longs for when she asks me to play. I use my ability, as a teenager, to connect with Minnie as I watch her grow. She brings fun to my life and it is with a camera, and with memory, this fun is everlasting. The colour that glows from Minnie’s personality comes alive in my images, made for her, from inspiration of my old childhood images.
In theorist, Dunn’s research surrounding attachment in sibling relationships in 2007, he stated that siblings serve as companions, confidants, and role models in childhood and adolescence [11]. This study came from the discovery made by Connidis & Campbell that siblings serve, instead, as sources of support throughout adulthood [12]. Although I am 18 years old, Minnie is only 5 and there is a 12-year age gap between us, I would like to think that I serve as a role model for my younger sister, as Dunn has stated is usually the case in sibling relationships. The moment I was told I was going to be a big brother, I felt as a sense of companionship between myself and my unborn sibling because it is such a special feeling – I longed to have a younger sibling during my time growing up. I had encountered in my life, the consequences of my parent’s detachment and I, because of this, became detached from my dad. I wanted that special someone to share a life with as we grew together and Minnie has provided me with that. I hope Minnie sees me as a role model but I certainly do see her as a companion and someone I can confide in.
Eich’s project, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ consists of 64 pages and 46 photos. I have picked out one in particular and will critically analyse this in relation to family and intend to include discussions about underlying themes of attachment and detachment.
This photograph taken from Eich’s series is a very simple yet well executed and elegant image full of character. Because of it obscurity, I believe that is a very attractive and intriguing image that would draw me in to know more about the photographer as well as the project.
Matt Eich, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’
The image frames one person – who is unknown and the only part of the subject’s body that we can see is the subject’s feet poking out of the bottom of the silk sheet which falls gracefully, and rather ghostly over the shape and contours of the body underneath which is curled up in a rather, tight clustered ball-like shape, as if the subject is scared. Connotations of ghostliness and eeriness exuberate from this image. It is likely that the subject is one of Eich’s daughters who may be playing hide and seek or may in fact be hiding underneath these sheets because she scared. The audience do not know the whole context of the image but this availability for interpretation is what provides intrigue. The image is very neutral in its formation and structure of greys which provide body to the image. The slight shadows which form from creases in the sheet which drape over the curled-up body contrast that of the harsh, darkened shadow of the feet which projects onto the wall in the background. Furthermore, the silk texture of the sheet provides a certain glow and shine to the overall look. It is a photograph of great skill and is one that I believe works brilliantly in a solitaire state, and does not need the other images from Eich’s work to give it meaning.
Although the little girl may only be playing around with her father as she hides under the sheet in a game of hide-and-seek, it is useful to look further into it to infer and interpret another meaning that could also be realistic. The fact that we cannot see the body underneath the sheet may represent a feeling a lost identity in the new life the family leads. Eich, along with his wife has made the joint decision that it would be best to move away to start a new life, to create more memories. It is likely that the children may have felt a sense of a lost identity that the home they once lived in and began their lives in has now been taken away. I am aware of this feeling from personal experience when I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. After moving out of his, once known home, he had to find a place to live which came as a struggle at the time and as his son, I felt quite confused but found ways to make the most of the new surroundings I found myself in when visiting him. This leads me onto to the notion of children letting their imaginations run free and finding enjoyment out of discovering places in your home to act as den-like nooks; these little places where you can go to sit and do nothing, as I once did. This image may be a demonstration of this.
Alongside Matt Eich, I have also been studying the hugely influential work of American artist and professor of photography, LaToya Ruby Frazier and in particular, her project entitled ‘The Notion Of Family’. Frazier is a very highly regarded figure in American culture. She is both a photographer and a motivational talker which she undertakes alongside her photography and video work to coincide with the images she produces. She is a very well-known artist and her status is shown throughout her work through the pure thought that goes behind little details such as composition and framing. Her project looking at her family validates this perfectly.
Her work is inspired by influential American documentary-journalism photographer, Gordon Parks. He promoted the camera as a weapon for social justice. Frazier uses her tight focus to make apparent the impact of systemic problems, from racism to deindustrialization, on individual bodies, relationships and spaces [13]. In her work, Frazier is concerned with bringing to light these problems which she describes as global issues [14].
This is an image taken from LaToya Ruby Frazier’s project, ‘The Notion Of Family’ which is an “incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America’s small towns. The work also considers the impact of that decline on her communicability and her family.” [15].
LaToya Ruby Frazier, ‘The Notion Of Family’ , 2001-2014
The photograph frames both Frazier as a teenager and what looks like her mum. The project was completed over a period of 13 years in which, during this time, Frazier and her family grew yet, at the same time, declined due to the economic state of the town they were living in. She says that she does not pretend to speak for the Braddock community or African-Americans as a whole and instead intends to simply photograph the three generations of herself, her mum and her grandmother by representing the substandard living conditions and human cost of political neglect [16]. We see Frazier on the right sat on the edge of her bed and, on the left side, her mum lies, relaxed on her bed in the parent’s room, with his back to the camera – likely oblivious to the camera’s presence as I would imagine Frazier would not have wanted to tell her mum that she was taking the picture as it may have removed the element of reality.
The visual divide we see between both subjects can also represent an emotional separation between the two of them; the relationship they have with one another may be very weak and this could be as result of the economic crisis in which the town for Braddock faces due to the ever-expanding bombardment of racism on locals. They both have their back to each other and this could represent their, perhaps dislike for one another. Furthermore, the wording on the back if her vest may in fact be quite ironic because the mood that Frazier’s’ persona is indicating is one of hatred. We can’t actually see the mother’s face and instead, get a view of her back and her vest which reads ‘THE SMOOTH EDGE’ and this could be an accurate representation of him or perhaps ironical – she may in fact be the smooth edge or instead, may be a figure that causes a division between the whole family – an individual who Frazier may get along with and from this, the statement can be seen as ironic as she could be instead branded as ‘THE SHARP EDGE’. Perhaps her positioning with her back facing the viewer is how she is seen to Frazier – as though she doesn’t show her face in the most crucial of times as she has been growing up – she may have been dislocated from family life.
In conclusion, this image could represent the breakdown of family life, shown in this one image due to the crisis that Braddock faces as a result of explicit and constant discrimination against the black community. They are crying for help within and it is kept this way – internal and within the four walls of their home because they are too scared to speak up. As a result, they become isolated and damaged to a point that they don’t know how to show it – detachment from social norms and a distancing from society as a collective – this is Frazier’s family – dislocated from the rest of America and detached from one another because of it.
With reference to other images within her detailed exploration into family life, Frazier encapsulates in its entirety, the meaning of post-modernist photography. Post-modernist art borrows from references of historical, cultural, social and psychological issues – as Frazier does. Her photographs are more than just an observation of family life – they present the life of family within the struggle of racism. Frazier uses references of racism and economic decline throughout the book with added an orientation on Bill Cosby – a household name in the American society in the mid-late 1900’s but allegations of sexual assault against his name was released and he became a figure of hate and remorse – as though he betrayed the black culture. Frazier uses this post-modernist approach to highlight key events in American history. Additionally, it again restates the cost that comes with a familial detachment; becoming quiet because of a lack of interest from a parental figure. Frazier shows this consequence which she had to face alone and silently – she looks as though she is suffering in silence, as though she as well longs for an attachment with a figure because it provides a sense of belonging – something I have the knowledge of from experience.
Photography should be used as a means to form bonds within your own familial circle. The camera is a powerful instrument and should be utilised to its full function; it only benefits your ability as a photographer to create relationship with your subjects and it is a way to find that intimacy that makes for very raw photographic work. I have aimed to create a miss-matched diary of poetic imagery which, at its face value, looks muddled bit on closer inspection, holds meaning and memory beyond what that of words can express. My project intercepts the safety net that an attachment brings and expands on the damage that comes with a detachment but these themes are underlying as the forefront comprises of where I stand in my own life with the people within it. There is no easy way to document the content matter surrounding my parent’s divorce but I have attempted to achieve this in a way that recognises its existence in a light-hearted way. I have neither forgotten the relationship they once had nor have I avoided showing their divorce as a cause of damage for me. Yet, I have attempted to use my relationship with my girlfriend as a contrast to what my parents once had. The content touches upon how I, in the company of Lucy develop into the individual I am at the biter age of 18 where I drift, naturally further away from the two figures who raised me. My mum and dad are at the forefront of my quality of living but I wanted to focus on how I am centred in the middle of the experiences I am living. An attachment is bound to come at the cost of a detachment and I have learnt this in my last couple years as an ever-developing young man as I drift away from my friends and become closer with my girlfriend of two years.
Taking inspiration from artist such as Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier, I have been able to understand how to use my camera to create a skilful and expressive snapshot of a moment in time, which, eventually will come together with several other images to create a sequence and visual narrative of a personal exploration.
Bibliography:
[1] Susan Sontag, On Photography
[2] Matt Eich, article published on The Fence
[3] Exploring Your Mind, Harlow’s Experiments On Attachment Theory
[4] Joerg Colberg, Photography and Memory
[5] Mark Alice Durant, 27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography
[6] Matt Eich, I Love You, I’m Leaving
[7] LaToya Ruby Frazier, The Notion Of Family
[8] The Psychologist, Teenagers In Love, Susan Moore
[9] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[10] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[11] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale and Anna Soli
[12] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale and Anna Soli
[13] The New York Times, Lens, LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Notion Of Family
[14] MacArthur Foundation, LaToya Ruby Frazier
[15] LaToya Ruby Frazier Website, Bodies of Work, The Notion Of Family
[16] The New York Times, Lens, LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Notion Of Family
Here is my second draft for my photo book. I decided to completely change the layout from my original idea because I wanted the project to be more contemporary and wild. I also decided that I wanted my images to be bigger to create more of a lasting effect on the viewer. I first changed the image for the front and back cover because the black and white image of the hands didn’t create the initial look that I wanted to create. The color theme for my photo book is soft pastel colors, such as blue, purple and pink. I simply brought out the natural pigments in my original photos, and used them as the base of my color theme. I wanted my front and back cover to really show what the book is about, and that’s why I didn’t want to use a black and white photo. I really like the colour and framing of this image, and it works really well as the initial image that draws people in. Although the image looks elegant, because it looks like the hands are dancing, it also looks like they are reaching out for each other. It could represent pain and torment, as well as love. However, the hands are physically expressing a deeper emotion which is what my project is about. This is why I really like this image as my front cover.
I wanted my book to be eye catching, and to draw the viewer in with the use of color and shape, and with the flow of the images. I decided I wanted more of my imaged to be larger and more dramatic. I also decided that I didn’t want to categorize my images any more. I wanted them to be all combined and mixed up, rather then placing them into a particular order. I no longer just wanted the landscapes to be the multi page images, I choose the best images out of the whole selection to present in a larger scale. Some landscapes, some faces, and some body image.
I made sure the whole of my book worked really well together. I wanted every image to lead onto the other one really well. I also made sure that the color scheme and shapes worked well together. I love the flow of these sets of images in particular because the colour and flow leads really well onto the next image. I also really like the contrast that there is within the book. Every image is different, yet they all work really well as a set.
I wanted to include some words within my photo book to achieve a deeper understanding of what the images were meant to represent. I found a poem online by Linda Hogan called “When the Body”. Linda Hogan was born in 1947 in Denver, Colorado. She is a poet, storyteller, playwright and novelist. I decided to use particular stanzas from her poem because I like the way she fragments certain parts of the body, “But the feet have walked”, and “from the hands”. She links the body to nature and uses tress to describe what the body is like, “their branching of toes”. Her writing is really poetic and romantic and I think it suits the theme of my photo book.
Here is my first draft for my photo book. I choose all my best, favorite images from each shoot that I did. I wanted to try organise the images into some sort of series, in a way that would make sense to the reader. I decided to separate the images into the different parts of the body. I first started with the feet, then the hands and face. I did this because I wanted to separate the series instead of presenting them together.
I wanted their to be a colour theme within my photo book because I wanted the images to flow. I didn’t want my images to solely be black and white though because that wouldn’t suit the theme of my project. Since my project is about body image and expressing emotions in a physical way, I wanted an image that represented this as the front and back cover. Instead of having two different images for the front and back, I wanted it to be one really good image. I choose the image of the hands reaching out because I think its a really powerful image that coincides with my theme.
My initial step was to choose the very best images from my selection to present as multi page images. I decided to primarily focus on the landscapes to present largely because I wanted to use them as a divider to separate the different sections of my project. I planned that I wanted all my other images to be presented on a smaller scale because I wanted it to be a simplistic flow.
The images of the beach landscape promote the idea of movement within my project. I have also focused on sea landscapes because I wanted to use an environment that related to the movement of the mind and the body. I didn’t want the layout of the images within the book to be exactly the same, so I mixed up the position of the images to create a movement that worked.
Although my project is focusing on body image, I also wanted my book to contain some images of landscapes and close up details of certain scenes within the landscape. I wanted to add some contrast within the book to change the subject and view slightly. I decided to go to St Ouens bay to capture the landscape images because I wanted scenes of the sea and the vast emptiness that St Ouen contained. My project is about portraying hidden emotions in a physical way and I believe that inserting images of an empty landscape would work well with my theme because its portraying the feeling of loneliness and emptyness.
For the close up details of the landscape I wanted the sand to resemble skin because my project is based on body image. I edited the images using Photoshop because I only needed to do simple edits such as exposure changes and colour changes to achieve an overall look that suited my aesthetic.
Below is the final layout of my book which i have produced as a part of my personal investigation. Included in my photo book is the essay for my personal study. I have decided to produce a standard portrait book as most of the images in my series are portraits so thy fill the page. I didn’t go for the bigger portrait book as i felt the images would have been too big and the audience wouldn’t of been able to take in the images as well. i had left the front cover till i had finished the rest of the layout to the book because i wasn’t sure what story i wanted to present on the outside of the book. I knew that i didn’t want the front cover to be revealing but i also wanted to to tell a broad story of what my photo book was about. i decided to go with the image below covering both the back and the front as it was taken in the morning whilst travelling to the building site and local community. the hue and inability to see faces in this images leaves a sense of mystery which i liked as its leaving the audience to imagine what the book is going to be about although through connotations of the road, it is as if the reader is about to be taken on a journey. The image wraps round both the front and back cover because it shows that the journey ended the same way it began. the front cover shows going into the community and then throughout the book it looks closer into individuals and then towards the end it begins to show moving away from the community as i am finishing the aid project and then the back cover being the road again symbolic of how i left the situation, and that i was only an outsider in their community.
I decided the title of my book ‘ A State of Contentment’ when i was actually in Burkina Faso completely submerged in the situation that i was in. The idea came to me when we were on the building site discussing the local community and thinking of all the things we are grateful for that we were getting to go home to. It was evident to us that we would only be in Africa living a minimalist life for a few weeks whereas the reality for the local community was that they would be experiencing this hardship for the most of their lives. Although this seems like a harsh thought we had all noticed that even though the community had so little they were utterly content with what they had and i said during this discussion that it seemed as though they were in a state of contentment, because the community truly were in a state of peaceful happiness. I put the title and my name on the cover so that the writing did not take away from the cover image.
I then decided to put on the first page the title as it would be the first thing you see when opening the book. This then allows the audience to consider further what the book was going to contain. it also leads you into the book. The initial image that you come to in my photo book is a full bleed double page spread as it has the impact of drawing you into the book and the environment. The photograph shows the children helping on the building site which gives initial information to what the narrative is. Together with the girl standing in the image then links into the next image as the photo book then focuses on individuals. All of the images where kept in colour because i believe this created a more realistic representation of the situation whereas when the images were turned to black and white it over dramatized the images creating unrealistic representations which made it look like an unhappy situation.
Following the initial images which set the scene of why i was there and what was going on, i then moved into individual narratives for a few images before finding an image which then linked to the next scene. My book is constructed in a way as if it tells all the different aspects of the community. For example he pages above and below show education and occupation as well as the sequence of the colours flows. These small selections of images show the diversity of lifestyles that these children have, for example, some of the portraits show children who are lucky enough to have the access the education but then the complete opposite is shown where a young boy is carrying is little brother as he doesn’t have the opportunity to go to school because he has the full time job of caring for his little brother.
As the book continues the double spread image of the cows is symbolic of moving onto another area. the next image still continuing to focus on portraits of individuals now focuses on a women outside of town and how she has her own business of selling cloth in the local market to gather money. The next following image shows another family also who have their own business but this time selling grain around the local village.
The idea of linking the portraits with an ‘object image’ was that it told more in detail about that certain individual in terms of their job or general life, normally what i managed to find out about that individual through asking general questions either in french if they were adults or more educated or the native language of the village.
I was aware that my book was following the same sequence and including a lot of the same style of images, i therefore decided to take a slightly different approach on this specific image. As throughout the book i focus on specif individuals and provide a bit of insight into their lives i decided to go slightly deeper and focus on one individual which Andrew ‘the trip leader’ has had a connection with him for the last 6 years and has visited him on most of the annual trips to Burkina Faso. He allowed us too look around his home, told us about his job situation and family and then showed us some of his own persona;l archives. As Archival imagery has been a theme throughout our coursework project i decided it would be beneficial to add into the book giving even more background on life in Burkina Faso.
To close my book i considered how a day ended whilst we were over there. The last few images in my photo book show the closing activities for the community. Collecting water was allowed at allocated times when the water supply was turned on to allow for fair distribution of water, this was a job which mostly women did and would occur at around 5. The following image shows the market women after a day of work. The bike then shows the sun beginning to set as the light becomes more orange and a lot more shadows are evident in the image. Finally the closing image, the sunset over the building site. This is symbolic of the closing of a day and also the book and the journey that i embarked on. i think that this brings the photo book to a gentle close.
Also included in my photo book is my personal study. I decided to include my essay into the book at it links to the images i took. The focus of my essay was subjectivity and how it can effect the authenticity of representations of third world countries. Throughout the essay i consider different arguments and end with analyzing some of my works in the photo book and whether my images are raw representations or if i have allowed subjectivity to effect the authenticity of the local African community.
Overall, i have produced photo book which conveys community in a third world country in an authentic manner. The book is what i wanted to produce and reflects the project and the experience that i was able to be involved in, highlighting how each individual is what makes a community. The images which i made which are included in my photo book are ones which i am proud of and think were constructed thoughtfully showing my technical skill as a photographer as well as my ability to put together a photo book which conveys a narrative. I have thoroughly enjoyed this project, both capturing images which i have never had the opportunity to before as well as creating a photo book which was also very new to me at the beginning of the project
(LEFT TO COMPLETE – DISCUSSION OF ARTIST 2 + CONCLUSION)
How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through their work and, in particular, their most recent projects looking at family?
“As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” [1]
My interest in photography derives from how raw and truthful an image or series of images are. I achieve satisfaction from photographs which show everything as it is without removing any factor of reality; it as it this point at which imagery loses my interest. I believe that this relates to the beauty that comes from images created from the insecurity from the person behind the camera. Within my own work, I attempt to do this. The space in which I am insecure encourages an emotional and physical urge and a sometimes-unwanted force to venture into a neighbouring space in which I feel less comfortable but more willing to experience more challenging emotions. It is with my camera and in my project looking at the reality of feeling attached yet isolated, that I can explore this feeling of lonesomeness. I am using my mum and dad’s divorce thirteen years ago as a starting point for the development of my series which centres around my experiences with the people closest to me. As I grow into an ever-maturing yet still sensitive man, I struggle to find myself in this fast-moving, fragile world; I find myself unknowingly becoming detached from the people who should be my most dear. I see this project as a way of building lost relationships. Using a subject close to my heart, I have been able to capture a view that feels very poetic, like that of Eich and Frazier’s work. My aim is to make the intangible, tangible by collaborating closely with my subjects to create a meaningful insight into my family with room for interpretation by the viewer – an aspect I have been focusing on heavily for my project – to create something for the audience to interact with (the book) and content the audience can relate with. Taking inspiration from photo-books of several artists, others including JH Engstrom and Anders Peterson and their use of images of several formats and styles, I have generated an immense interest in putting aside much of my time and effort to create a book, paying close attention to design, font, concept and other marginal details. My project is an exploration into my family and myself for personal satisfaction and as a visual documentation to cherish and keep, providing that very possession of a moment in time that can be so easily be forgotten. “Memory is fragile; the moments are fleeting and have to be wrestled into a permanent state.” [2] said Eich in his statement for recent body of work, ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. It is with my photographs that memories become realised and documenting my own familial circle, like Eich and Frazier, I can provide a structure to my family’s memory that can be built to last instead of a moment in time being brushed aside when forgotten within the busier, more active momentous of life. It is the little moments that require time to step back and appreciate that we should treasure; when I release the camera’s shutter, is an acknowledgement that a moment is significant…
When I hear the word attachment, images of love surface within my mind. I visualise scenes of a girlfriend clinging lovingly to her boyfriend in moments of laughter and intimacy within their new-found romance; young love is what attachment is. Reasoning for this visualisation comes from experience. The knowledge that I am needed by someone else is what provides me with comfort. Attachment is feeling a sense of belonging within this world which can be so harsh in its unforgiving realities. Attachment and acceptance is something I long for in a life that has shown me, face-on and in a time of tenderness at the age of four, the direct implications of what love can do to two adults – unite, yet divide. I have grown up in two different lives, one with my mum and the other with my dad. Through this, I have been gently nurtured into a still-developing young man who has learnt and is still learning the meaning of romance. I have understood the sensation of sibling-love. As well, I have accepted the fact that my parents are no longer together and I will, for the rest of my life, live this life and embrace it, as I have done for the past 18 years. There is a still, however, the underlying reality of detachment which on the other hand, connotes opposing visuals; a lonesome astronaut drifting into a deep, dark existence without anything to cling on to.
Harry Harlow, an American psychologist in the mid-1900s studied, in great detail, the concept of maternal separation and dependency needs. He experimented with rhesus monkeys, an Asian species that adapts easily to living with humans [3]. He carried out an experiment in the laboratory to confirm theorist, Bowlby’s previous theory on attachment; Harlow separated the baby monkeys from their biological mothers and paired them with a surrogate mother in the form of a baby doll. He observed that, although the doll didn’t provide them with food or drink, at a time of feeling scared, the baby monkeys clung to the doll for comfort as it had adopted the roll of mother to them. Harlow used this to verify the importance of a mother-child relationship when the child is very young because it reiterates the idea of unconditional love. I feel very strongly that my own mum and I have experienced this when I was much younger and it has benefited our relationship over the last 18 years. This maternal attachment has expanded into a much more secure relationship as we have both developed into our own selves and, along the way, we have learnt to respect and trust each other, as a mother and son should. With my dad, however, he was the parental figure who was taken away from me. Oblivious to what this would mean to how I would experience future life events, I clung to my mum as a figure of comfort because the next few years of my infancy would prove to be a time of constant change as I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. My project embraces both attachment and detachment and how I situate myself in the centre of it all as I continue to learn the lessons of life both at home and at school with the several people I interact with on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the first 20 years of your life can prove to be the most important and impactful for the years to follow. In this period of time, the most vital events which contribute to self-growth and self-confidence occur. But not everything runs smoothly, as illustrated by my parent’s separation. It is with my camera that I am able to capture memories and when I pick up my camera and release the shutter it is then that I am acknowledging a moment of significance. Joerg Colberg said, in an article published outlining memory in photography, “just like memories, photographs are created with intent” and “all photographs, when used as memories, give us something to hold on to.” [4]. It is this interpretation by Colberg that resonates with my intent as a photographer to capture, consciously, the intimate moments in life. My parents took on this role when I was younger to provide me with the endless photo albums of my 9lb 12oz-self as a baby bouncing around the house I grew up in for 10 years. It is now that I am beginning to take inspiration from my own archival imagery of myself as a young child to capture similar moments of my half-sister, Minnie. As a photographer, I use my camera to collaborate not only with my subjects, but with myself when including myself within the images. Taking inspiration from the work produced by Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier in their diaristic black and white images for projects looking at family, I have been able to change my perspective from a witness to a performer; from being a witness to the occurrences in front of the camera. I have since found reward from being an actor who performs for the camera and it has expanded my abilities to tell a visual narrative – a skill I have developed from observations of the work of Swedish photographers, JH Engstrom and Anders Petersen. Looking at the books of these artists, I have developed the ability to collate select images which can in-turn have the power to provide meaning beyond the face of the photograph to impact the viewer.
Using the camera as a tool of documentation can provide outcomes that are very real and using these images as a way of telling a visual narrative can make for a much deeper, more meaningful story than that comprised of words, in my opinion. The work of Matt Eich shows this concept in its full affect, especially in that of his recent project ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. His imagery and way of composing and presenting images have the ability to work in conjunction with each other to create an obscure, yet very simple narrative in which the viewer is required to decode the sequencing to images to derive meaning – a beauty that I believe photography encourages. This ability to present a reportage sequence which reveals only part of the story and leaves the reader up to the audience’s imagination is something I am attempting to do in my project. By photographing inanimate states such as landscapes or still life, I can provide indirect and underlying representations of the main focus throughout the book. Much like literary stories, photographic stories can use metaphors to explain a meaning beyond the direct face value – making for very interesting outcomes. An object as simple as a car covered by a cloth (an image I will use in my book) can connote a far more captivating significance than its face value and instead, using the context of my book, it can show the affect of a lost identity; the affect of a new beginning; becoming isolated and forcing a withdrawal from the people you love because it seems easier to hide away. It is these inanimate objects that provide substance and body to fill the gaps in my book because the project is an exploration into not only the people present but of the emotions that come with the concept I am covering.
I create all photographs with the intent to create memories so that moments of importance are not forgotten. I am forever holding a camera or a smartphone to capture any point in time in which I may be present and this has come a second nature now I am a big brother to my 5-year-old sister. It fills me with joy to document with my camera the smiles and laughter which glow off my sister’s face every time I see her. As I have seen from my own archives when I was a child, it is a way of creating these important memories that, inevitably lend themselves to never be forgotten, and in-turn manufacture a life-long feeling of attachment to what may have once been forgotten or mentally thrown away. The photo albums which live in my loft are what allows me to experience my childhood again, where I can feel this magical sense of attempt at a point when it was just my mum, my dad and I. These memories, these shadows that I have near to no recollection of become illuminated when I flick through these never-ending photo albums. Mark Alice Durant, in his book ’27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography’ tells the reader of his experience when he re-lived his parent’s wedding album and quotes “in memory, colour comes alive, and for me it is only blue.” [5]. I feel very strongly about this message; the notion that an irretrievable recollection that, as the years go by, becomes a haze can be re-lived in the form of colour.
Eich’s work has a way of storytelling which affects the viewer to the point which, I for one, begin to feel quite out-of-place flicking through page after page because of the fact that it is a very personal and intimate insight into how himself and his family live everyday life; a concept that is difficult to achieve but, when it occurs, works very effectively because the reader begins to want to see more, even though we get an urge to put the book down. Towards the end of Eich’s book, we are presented with an image of Eich’s wife, and his two children in the bath, looking blankly down the camera lens [6] – an image that I personally find enchanting and is in fact one of my favourites in the book’s entirety because of its ability to connect with the audience – helped by the subjects immense focus on the camera, whether planned or not, it works brilliantly; the audience, although may get an urge to flick past quickly, it is vital to admire the rawness of the photograph and it echoes, again, how the camera can provide a way to tell a story easier than using words. Another image in his book uses a technique that is rarely seen in contemporary photography – a man showing his vulnerability, his sensitivity by including himself in his photographs. We see Eich, sat down and eyes-closed, with his head leant on the support of his wife’s stomach as she stands cradling its weight. Eich is topless and his wife stands in her bra and underwear. It is an image of such grace and elegancy. Images like these are avoided in photography but I admire braveness of Eich to present himself to his own camera as he is doing. Using images which scratch upon the surface of taboo subject matter within photography, and society as a whole; this being nudity and feminism, it is brave but it gives a very raw feel to what we are seeing. In my own project, using my girlfriend, I have utilised the casual time we spend together in my bedroom to use my camera as a way of photographing her in a way which I see her normally. We often lay, lazily on my bed and talk for endless periods of time about anything. At this particular movement, she was lying in a way which looked quite proactive; curled up, in her t-shirt and pair of tights, in which you could see her underwear through – a blue pair of briefs which read ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’. Her rear pointing to camera, it makes for an image which divides the sequencing of arguably dull, inanimate scenes. This image provides a sense of liveliness, it can be seen as naughty. Moments like these, shown in my project through this one image, Eich’s in his portrayal of an evening with his family as his children get ready for bed, and in Frazier’s through her snapshots of leisure time in their household [7] present this underlying theme of attachment. It is the moments that are thought nothing of, and seen as just part of the daily routine within your own circle of comfort and joy that make for the most truthful representations of what attachment can be. Not acknowledging the presence of the camera is how memories are formed. Yet, referring back to the wording that takes its place on my girlfriend, Lucy’s underwear – ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’ also connotes visuals of what detachment can be. Romance amongst young couples often brings its petty arguments – the phrase on Lucy’s underwear connotes this – that often she may try to end an argument, but it doesn’t always work and we find ourselves giving each other the cold shoulder – much like her body positioning suggests in this image.
Scanlan [8], in 2012, suggested the theory which provided an explanation to the importance of romantic development in adolescence, much like what I am experiencing as I grow, maturely into an adult, with my girlfriend as a mechanism of support – he said that teenage romantic relationships are, in a sense, a training ground for adult intimacy. He elaborated on this statement and said that romance during adolescence provides an opportunity for learning to engage strong emotions, to negotiate conflict, to communicate needs and to respond to a partner’s needs as well. Both Lucy and I often joke about the fact that we have been together for two years, because, considering we are only eighteen years of age, this is a significant period of time to maintain a relationship alongside all other stresses of teenage life. At the start of our relationship, we both told one another that we would take it slow and see how it goes – because of the fact we were best friends for five years prior to our relationship, we didn’t see it going too far because we were used to living in comfort of a ‘friendzone’. However, now, in retrospect, I am relieved that circle of comfort was broken because she is one of the most important people in my life. I hope to show this in my project, ‘All My Love’ through the abilities of reportage photography and the ability to create sequencing of imagery to tell a story. We are only teenagers and love can be confusing but or relationship is simply a partnership of two alike personalities which coincide with one another to complement one another. In Eich’s work, he doesn’t use his power as a photographer to abuse the relationship he holds with his wife, nor his children, nor his own parents and instead, like myself, uses his control of the camera to collaborate with his subjects that present a truthful picture of the benefits of clinging on to the one you love most. Eich, in a mini-documentary series outlining his work and how he captures intimacy, said “I can articulate myself better with images than with words” [9]. This concept is very relevant to my own work also and is why I love shooting reportage images because it is the moments of intimacy between people, as well as a relationship between a person and a place that form the poetic images that make up my project – I have touched upon the relationship between people and places and the attachment that comes with this in my work through photographing the transition from my old family home to my new one – this process of losing one identity that has shaped your life for so long and generating a new identity that co-exists with the new experiences that come with it. The process of change is something I don’t deal with too well but it is with change that come new opportunities to photograph. Although I see change in any aspect of life as a negative, it is important to embrace it – as I did when my parents split; I had no choice. It emphasises the importance of forming an attachment to what comes with the change even though it is tempting to become detached instead.
Eich, in the same documentary, states that “photographing my family is incredibly important to me because it goes back to the frailty of memory” [10]. Memory is what Eich hopes he can use as a tool to tell his kids that he loves them and that he was there for their important moments of growth, to reflect back on when they are older. I use memory as a tool to do the same – to form a collection of imagery that holds meaning of a moment in time, but instead, as a way to show my half-sister, Minnie that I love her and that I was by her side to capture her moments of tranquillity and bliss. As a figure if authority over Minnie, I feel a sense of responsibility to act as a big brother should and provide her with the moments of fun she longs for when she asks me to play. I use my ability, as a teenager, to connect with Minnie as I watch her grow. She brings fun to my life and it with a camera, and with memory, this fun is everlasting. The colour that glows from Minnie’s personality comes alive in my images, made for her, from inspiration of my old images as a child.
In theorist, Dunn’s research surrounding attachment in sibling relationships in 2007, he stated that siblings serve as companions, confidants, and role models in childhood and adolescence [11]. This study came from the discovery made by Connidis & Campbell that siblings serve, instead, as sources of support throughout adulthood [12]. Although I am 17 years old, Minnie is only 5 and there is a 12-year age gap between us, I would like to think that I serve as a role model for my younger sister, as Dunn has stated is usually the case in sibling relationships. The moment I was told I was going to be a big brother, I felt as a sense of companionship between myself and my unborn sibling because it is such a special feeling – I longed to have a younger sibling during my time growing up. I had encountered in my life, the consequences of my parent’s detachment and I, because of this, became detached from my dad. I wanted that special someone to share a life with as we grew together and Minnie has provided me with that. I hope Minnie sees me as a role model but I certainly do see her as a companion and someone I can confide in.
Eich’s project, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ consists of 64 pages and 46 photos. I have picked out one in particular and will critically analyse this in relation to family and intend to include discussions about underlying themes of attachment and detachment.
This photograph taken from Eich’s series is a very simple yet well executed and elegant image full of character. Because of it obscurity, I believe that is a very attractive and intriguing image that would draw me in to know more about the photographer as well as the project.
The image frames one person – who is unknown and the only part of the subject’s body that we can see is the subject’s feet poking out of the bottom of the silk sheet which falls gracefully, and rather ghostly over the shape and contours of the body underneath which is curled up in a rather, tight clustered ball-like shape, as if the subject is scared. Connotations of ghostliness and eeriness exuberate form this image. It is likely that the subject is one of Eich’s daughters who may be playing hide and seek or may in fact be hiding underneath these sheets because she scared. The audience do not know the whole context of the image but this availability for interpretation is what provides intrigue. The image is very neutral in its formation and structure of greys which provide body to the image. The slight shadows which form from creases in the sheet which drape over the curled-up body contrast that of the harsh, darkened shadow of the feet which projects onto the wall in the background. Furthermore, the silk texture of the sheet provides a certain glow and shine to the overall look. It is a photograph of great skill and is one that I believe works brilliantly in a solitaire state, and does not need the other images from Eich’s work to give it meaning.
Although the little girl may only be playing around with her father as she hides under the sheet in a game of hide-and-seek, it is useful to look further into it to infer and interpret another meaning that could also be realistic. The fact that we cannot see the body underneath the sheet may represent a feeling a lost identity in the new life the family leads. Eich, along with his wife has made the joint decision that it would be best to move away to start a new life, to create more memories. It is likely that the children may have felt a sense of a lost identity that the home they once lived in and began their lives in has now been taken away. I am aware of this feeling from personal experience when I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. After moving out of his, once known home, he had to find a place to live which came as a struggle at the time and as his son, I felt quite confused but found ways to make the most of the new surroundings I found myself in when visiting him. This leads me onto to the notion of children letting their imaginations run free and finding enjoyment out of discovering places in your home to act as den-like nooks; these little places where you can go to sit and do nothing, as I once did. This image may be a demonstration of this.
Alongside Matt Eich, I have also been studying the hugely influential work of American artist and professor of photography, LaToya Ruby Frazier and in particular, her project entitled ‘The Notion Of Family’.
This is an image taken from LaToya Ruby Frazier’s project, The Notion Of Family which is an “incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America’s small towns. The work also considers the impact of that decline on her communicability and her family.” [13].
The photograph frames both Frazier as a teenager and what looks like her dad/step-dad. The project was completed over a period of 13 years in which, during this time, Frazier and her family grew yet, at the same time, declined due to the economic state of the town they were living in. We see Frazier on the right sat on the edge of her bed and, on the left side, her dad lies, relaxed on his bed in the parent’s room, with his back to the camera – likely oblivious to the camera’s presence.
Bibliography:
[1] Susan Sontag, On Photography
[2] Matt Eich, article published on The Fence
[3] Exploring Your Mind; Harlow’s Experiments On Attachment Theory
[4] Joerg Colberg, Photography and Memory
[5] Mark Alice Durant, 27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography
[6] I Love You, I’m Leaving, Matt Eich
[7] The Notion Of Family, LaToya Ruby Frazier
[8] The Psychologist – Teenagers In Love, Susan Moore
[9] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[10] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[11] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale, and Anna Soli
[12] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale, and Anna Soli
~ FORM ~ The image above is a close up of a portrait of a model covered in white paint and edited so that it has a light blue hue to the image. The image has been framed so that only half of the models face is captured. The model is standing in front of a a plain white background so that it was simple and that the portrait was the main focus. The models face has a bleak, solemn expression which i believe made the image more powerful. There is a shadow cast over the models face which allows the top part of the face including the eye to be highlighted.
~ MEANING ~ The image is from a series about conformity and invisibility within the world around us. The aim of the image was to symbolize how we change ourselves to suit the strains and expectations of society. We cover up who we really are to become the same as everyone else around us which therefore makes us invisible. I represented this by painting the model white to symbolize her being invisible.
~ JUDGEMENT ~I am very happy with this image because is reveals and represents exactly what I wanted to within the shoot. It a powerful image with the connotations behind it. It provocative and makes the viewer think a lot more about what they are seeing.
~ CONTEXT ~ When thinking a lot more about the context behind the image and the ways it links to society I discovered that the image links closely to femininity and and society’s expectations to females. This is something I would like to explore a lot more within the rest of my project and essay.
Salgado is world known photojournalist who captures images of global issues. His images however are different to many other documentary/photojournalists as his images are presented in black and white with a high level of contrast showing a vast tonal range from pure white to pure black. Although this may impact the natural sense of reality to these image because the contrast seems to overdramatise his images, i am going to experiment with doing similar edits to his works. I will focus of the use of black and white editing to make beautiful and aesthetic images which may portray a slightly different story to my original images.
Through the use of light room i have 126 selected images which are my favourite from the 5 shoots that i did whilst in africa. On lightroom you are able to edit one image to black and white and make the adjustments you want to and then synchronise this edit with all the photographs in the collection so you dont have to individual edit each one you can then just make slight adjustments to them to get the outcome you desire.
How to Synchronize edits on lightroom:
select one image from your library of selected images you want to edit
Go to the develop tab on lightroom
use the adjustments such as Black&white, contrast, lighting,exposure and highlights to edit your image the way you want to
once you are happy with your edit go back to library and press Ctrl + A to select all the images in the collection
Once you have selected all the images press the develop tab again in the top right of the screeen and then select ‘Sync…’
it will now pop up with a message, select ‘Synchronize all’
Now all the images in your selection should have the same adjustments as the initial image you edited.
I used the synchronize tool in light room to edit all on my image in my ‘need to edit’ collection. Now i can see all my images in black and white and begin to look through them and pick out aesthetic images which show a similar dramaticed piece of artwork similar to that of Salgados.
Through editing this image alone to black and white it has compleatly changed the meaning and message of the image. Even though the image may look more artistically beautiful due to the extreme tonal range in the image, it has lost the story of the image and what is actually going on because through making the image black and white it has lost any colour and therefore happiness to the image which then creates a negative atmosphere to this image. As the protagonist isn’t smiling in this image and it is black and white the reader may see this image as being a sad narrative where the young children are before forced to work, whereas this is not the case they were voluntarily helping and loved having something to do and getting involved with improving their local community. Therefore i think that the process of making this image more aesthetically pleasing has destroyed the natural narrative of the image and is therefore an example of how Salgado’s images are not authentic because he uses the technique of beautification.
Again with the two above images edited in a similar style use a high level of contrast and a big tonal range the mood of the image can be compleatly changed to what the photographer was experiencing in reality. when i took these images the individuals where happy and energetic however never smiled for photographs so in my original photographs its the bold colours and energy which is evident in the images which makes them have a positive tone however still showing their hardships. However as soon as the images are turned black and white and striped of colour it is as the individuals have been striped of their personality.
For further experimentation i looked at my photo book which includes all of my best images from the photo shoots i completed in Africa. As i had synced all the images to be black and white i could just click on the book production tab and all of the images where in black and white. I did this because i wanted to see the impact that removing the colour from my images had on the narrative of my photo book. The impact was that the images all seemed to be extremely over dramatized and the whole narrative had been lost and made to look as if i was trying to create a photo book which showed a third world community which was struggling. i don’t like the way it has negatively influenced the audience to think it is a sad story. This is evidence to the amount a narrative or meaning can be changed just through digital manipulation.
I have showed both the edited and unedited image above to emphasise the differences between the two images and in my eyes i see two compleatly different stories being told.
I have used Adobe Lightroom in order to create my photo book over the past few days, experimenting with images and layouts. I have selected around fifty images from about twelve-hundred images, meaning I have spent a lot of time deciding what features and what doesn’t, making some very painful cuts along the way.
A feature I think works with my images is making specific images double paged spreads as, particularly with the imagery of over-arching buildings, they create this daunting tower effect or can portray the vast, suburban landscape. I have opted to use Standard Portrait for the size of the book as it fits my images the best on the page and Premium Lustre for the page material itself as it gives a tame lacquered look. I have considered my options further by assessing other books with the same qualities to ensure it is the correct decision.
Following the initial images which set the scene of why i was there and what was going on, i then moved into individual narratives for a few images before finding an image which then linked to the next scene. My book is constructed in a way as if it tells all the different aspects of the community. For example he pages above and below show education and occupation as well as the sequence of the colours flows. These small selections of images show the diversity of lifestyles that these children have, for example, some of the portraits show children who are lucky enough to have the access the education but then the complete opposite is shown where a young boy is carrying is little brother as he doesn’t have the opportunity to go to school because he has the full time job of caring for his little brother.
