For my Tableaux shoot I was heavily inspired by Martin Parr’s shoot: Life’s a beach. Despite Martin Parr who uses documentary photography to convey the general feeling of the beach among how it is felt among the public. I decided to use this as a way off showing Tableaux photography to express the difference between the general public’s view of the fun possibilities at the beach and focusing on my most personal and intimate feelings of the beach that are specifically constructed.I believe in my shoot, without including people in my photographs, I can construct the camera’s viewpoint as my own as I am seeing it through my own eyes. Martin Parr however by focusing on how other people respond and interact with the beach in an environment where lots of people are doing the same thing, it appears to describe the general attitude to what the beach is associated with. However with my shoot I wanted to not include anyone else so I chose more of an isolated beach to construct more of my own pure reconstruction of memories.
This photograph particularly strikes me because it is somewhat likened to my own shoot in the sense the little girl portrayed is away from a lot of the large crowds and hustle and bustle. This re-enforces my view of showing mine or someone else’s personal relationship with the beach. However the fact we can’t see the girl’s facial expression, how she is looking away towards the larger crowds and the focus on the Union Jack, is suggestive that this girl is somewhat institutionalized with the rest of society. She may be enjoying herself which is most evident by the warm, bright lighting which the photograph is shot in, but it shows that she is still somewhat influenced by society. My photographs aimed to contrast with this in the sense I wanted to depict a very uninfluenced view of from society of my childhood memories on the beach.
I like this photograph, as again it shows the common belief of the sea being associated with the beach. I on my shoot decided to take photographs of only my kayak and boat incorporating them with the sea as most of my time I spent on them rather than swimming as that is most personal to me. However Martin Parr chose swimming as more people do that when at the beach and so he could document this. My form of Tableaux photography in a sense is somewhat like documentary photography because I am essentially documenting my own feelings towards the beach by constructing certain childhood memories that are personal to me. I find it interesting how like in the previous photograph despite the warm lighting and playful nature of the people involved in the photograph showing they’re clearly enjoying themselves, we still can’t see anyone’s face – emphasizing the idea of how most people when it comes to the beach, are all the same.
After researching the work of a couple of tableaux photographers, being Alfonso Almendros and Maria Kapajeva, I really wanted to get underway with my own tableaux photoshoot, however, I did not feel like I wanted to produce a series of images in the style of either Kapajeva or Almendros because I wasn’t completely attracted to their work in order to implement their style into my own example.
However, I had a look through a photo book which present in the classroom at school. It was a book entitled ‘Where Mimosa Bloom’ by an artist named Rita Puig-Serra Costa. In her book, she also specialised in aspects of tableaux photography in the form of photographing objects – still life as such and portraits of the family members and then pairing the images together. However, the meaning and concept goes beyond what the simplicity it sounds like. The objects photographed in a studio style as opposed to photographing them in their natural environment or where she found them are then digitally directly placed in this photo book on the opposite page of a portrait also taken by Serra-Costa. It seems as thought the portraits are of family members and the objects paired with each portrait is relevant in some way to the subject of the portrait. Although there is no direct explanation or link between the two, a narrative is drawn by the audience where we provide out own explanation of what could be the intention of this – there is obviously a meaning of the object in relation tot he subject but this is not actually explained. I found this very intriguing and eye-catching in its minimalism and wished to attempt a series of my own in the style I witnessed by Serra-Costa in her book ‘Where Mimosa Bloom’ which is about her family and place they live.
The primary results are below. I first attempted by completing my own memory and I will then go onto do the same process with my other close family members, including my mum, my step-dad, my nan and my girlfriend. This will provide a very compete and cohesive set of image which tell a visual story of not only my childhood memories about the loved ones around me.
Explaining the Series' Process
Here are the images I created in response to Rita Puig-Serra Costa’s images from her series ‘Where Mimosa Bloom’. My aim from this series I have created was to show my own family through a composition and the juxtaposition of old archives in comparison to contemporary, staged portraits of their life now and how they look back on to the memory they have shown. I have presented nt only my own childhood nostalgia but the others around me to create a cohesive narrative accompanied by very thoughtful inserts of written notes by each individual to he;p the audience understand what is going on in the photo. Each individual has explained why they have chosen the object they have and what it means to them as well as the memory it brings back. I attempted to show this connection to a particular object even further in the portraits where I asked my subjects to create a facial expression/show through their presented emotion the feeling the object gives them when looking back on its worth of their childhood.
To create the studio-like images of the objects each subject handed me to accompany their portrait, I set-up a mini studio in my room suing black card. I collected a couple sheets of black card from my school to take home t allow me to produce to the still-life images. In my room I have two very large windows both with very large window sills as the windows are almost like alcoves in that they are very far into the wall. This allowed me to set up the black card on the window sill and this was perfect as I allowed for lots of natural light which resulted in my objects being perfectly lit and the conditions for this were great when I would come back for school each day. I created an infinity curve using one sheet stuck to the wall and then competed the set-up with another sheet on the flat surface and I would place each object on the curve and then adjust my camera settings accordingly to account for the lighting already provided which obviously illuminated the right side of each object and this allowed for an interesting look to each image where the left ide would be in the dark and I would aim to under-expose each very slightly to get the best effect of the black background. For the notes written by each subject, I got each of them to hold their own note with their hand so it adds a personal touch and I would photograph this against the black background also.
I don’t really feel a need to explain the actual chosen object of each person because the explanation in the words of the subject themselves is provided in written form and I feel like my words won’t do the memory justice because a memory is a very personal and it is best told fro the perspective of the person with that memory. I have attempted to get as close in to the note as possible to it is legible at the same time as keeping the hand in frame and I hope that the handwriting is not too difficult to read.
Pete Pin was born in 1982 in a refugee camp which his family had fled to after fleeing from the Cambodian genocide. Pin mother was 17 years old when he was born. The refugee camp was along the Thai-Cambodian border. Pin was born during the revolution. His family resettled in Stockton, CA, home to a large Cambodian American community. Pin has said that he has “struggled for most of my life to understand the legacy of my people.” He had little or no connection to his identity as a Cambodian American.
Peter Pin is a Documentary photographer and teaching artist. He decided to use his photography to tell the stories of the Cambodian genocide. He is retracing his roots to bridge the gap between Cambodian Americans and their parents’ dramatic past through photography. In the fall of 2010, Pin set up a makeshift portrait studio in his grandmother’s garage in Stockton, California. With the assistance of his uncle, during one of the portrait sessions, Pin spoke to his Grandmother about his family’s experiences during the Killing Fields. Pete Pin found out that as well as the few possessions that was saved from the war, there was also a family portrait that had been saved during the revolution. Pin describes the moment he first saw the family portrait. He says “I did not yet know that it was the start of a project that would take me across the country and back, into the homes of Cambodian Americans who would speak of their experiences during the Killing Fields and refugee camps, often for the first time in front of their children. Although I couldn’t imagine it then, the truth is that I became a photographer, in part, in order to tell this story.”
Pete Pin, Untitled, from the series Cambodian Diaspora: Memory, 2013, archival
These are Pete Pins images from the series called Cambodian Diaspora.
Portrait of Pete Pin’s grandmother, Stockton, CA. The Cambodian
Carolle Benitah is a French Moroccan photographer, born in Casablanca, Morocco. She had previously been a fashion designer before deciding to become a photographer in 2001. Throughout her photography, she loves to explore memory, family and the passage of time. She often chooses to pair family snapshots with handmade accents, such as embroidery, beading and ink drawings. Her main aim is to reinterpret her own history as a daughter, wife and mother.
In an interview, Benitah explains how she first became interested in family pictures, ‘I was leafing through a family album and found myself overwhelmed by an emotion’. The photos were taken 4o years earlier, and Benitah describes her annoyance because she couldn’t even remember the moment they were taken, or ‘what preceded’. In the interview, she talks about how the photos ‘reawakened an anguish of something both familiar and totally unknown’. She decided to explore the memories of her childhood to help her understand who she is, and to define her current identity.
She describes the images as ‘fragments of my past.’ The first step in her process is choosing what images she would experiment with. Once these choices of images were made, she would then add needlework, embroidery and beads. In the interview, this is how Benitah describes the process, ‘With each stitch I make a hole with a needle. Each hole is putting to death of my demons. It’s like an exorcism. I make holes in paper until I am not hurting any more.’ Benitah has done three photo series, they’re called PHOTO SOUVENIRS, WHAT CANNOT BE SAID and WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN. Here are three images, one from each of the series.
love it blind, 2012, Archival Pigment Print with gold thread, Photo souvenirs seriesI want to extract my body trapped in a giant pincer, 2013, Red Ink on Archival Pigment Print, WHAT CANNOT BE SAID seriesIntestinal villi, 2012, Red Ink on Archival Pigment Print
Here are the contact sheets of the Childhood memory shoot that I did on Friday. My initial ideas for the shoot was to base it on the story book The Cat in the Hat. However, I decided to change my concept and choose to focus on a character from the book Alice in Wonderland. The character I choose to focus on was the Mad hatter because he was my favorite character. I didn’t want to simply copy the book and create something exactly the same as the fiction character. I wanted to create my own version of the Mad Hatter with a feminine twist. I chose to stylize the character with feminine features and clothing. I managed to achieve a wide variation of angles, positions and poses to create a series based on my ideas. I knew what I wanted to achieve in my head so I went to the hospice shop in St Ouen to buy props that I would use in the shoot.
The shoot took place in St Catherine’s woods because I wanted to keep to the theme of Alice in Wonderland. I wanted it to be set in a mysterious and sinister place. I also really liked the wild environment that woods created. It made the images more interesting because the greenery and natural scene added to the sinister and fairy tale theme I wanted to create. For the shoot I choose what outfit the character would wear. I wanted to make the figure look similar the character the Mad hatter, but I also wanted to add my own ideas. I borrowed a top hat from school because that was the main prop that created the personality of the character. The model also wore some old jeans, a black top and a big white coat. I wanted to the character to be feminized, so I bought some high heels from the hospice shop to add to the outfit. To add to the dramatic personality that I want the character to have, I decided I wanted her makeup to stand out, so I used a red tone for the lips, and I did her eyes with bright colors.
Here are my ten favorite edits from the shoot based on childhood memory. I edited each image by changing the brightness, contrast, vibrancy, saturation, exposure and colour hue. I wanted to the images to contain an autumn scheme, so I brought out the orange, yellow and pink tones.
The image above is an example of one of the close up shots I got when shooting the character. I’m happy with the positioning and framing of this image because the eyes are placed across the center of the scene. I also really like how half the frame is the characters face, an the other half is the greenery behind. The image has a mysterious atmosphere and feel to it because it looks like the character is lost, or trying to hide something as the eyes are looking away from the camera. I edited the image so that there was a slight shadow covering the eyes. I like how this creates a three-dimensional quality to the image. The highlight and reflection on the right side of the nose and right side of the forehead also brings that photo alive. I’m happy with the range of colours within the image, because there’s warm colour created by the orange tone of the hair, and the pink tint in the skin. I also like the contrast that’s created by the green from the background.
I like the image above because its a completely different angle and feel to the other images. In this image, the model was sitting on a fallen tree while i was below taking an image looking up at the figure. The trees are seen above in the background which I really like because it creates this sinister atmosphere, as well as just simply filling the frame. I like the tones and shading in the photo, because it ranges from the darkness created by the shadow of the tree on the left side, and the light coming through the trees at the top. I really like how the model is looking down, because it makes a powerful image.
The image above has a very strong, powerful feel to it because of the way the model is looking straight into the camera. I really like the pastel colour that the models hair has become during the editing. It creates this
I really love the image above and the image below because they have a fun, clever feel to them. I think this works really well with the personality of the mad hatter because it helps create this cheeky, playful atmosphere.
The image above is my favorite from the whole shoot. I love the framing and the colours within the shot. I like how the character is presented as the main point of the image, because shes placed in the middle, which is the main focal point of the scene. The path that starts in the middle, bottom of the image, slowly leads to the place where the character is standing which I really like. I’m happy with the way the model is posing because it creates this strong, stern, serious atmosphere. The colours in this image are my favorite part of it, because the yellow tones and the orange tinges work really well with the feel.
This image reminds me a lot of one of Anna Gaskey’s images taken from the series Wonder. The environment and scenery is very similar. The lighting is very similar as well because the lights coming through the trees, which is making the background a lot lighter then the foreground, similar to my image. The character is placed in the center of the path, which again is the same as my image. There is a lot more color is my photo, which I prefer because it adds to the details and makes the image more interesting.
For my Childhood memory shoot, I aim to recreate a scene from one of my favorite storybooks or films as a child. After researching different documentary and tableaux photographers, I want to mainly combine the ideas of Anna Gaskell and Alfonso Almendros to create my own interpretation of a tableaux image, based on a childhood memory. Instead of trying to recreate an image or a memory, I preferred creating a scene from a book or a film because it gives me more space to experiment and try out different ideas. I want to be really creative with my ideas and characters that I plan to create within the images.
The book that I plan on focusing on is the Cat in the Hat. I remember reading this book a lot as a child, and I also remember watching the film that later came out. I really liked the storybook, and remembering all the rhymes there were in the book. However, I also remember first watching the film by Bo Welch. I was around five or six when first watching the film. I remember finding the character of the cat terrifying. I wanted to somehow represent this memory in the photography shoot. I planned taking the images in St Catherines woods, or somewhere in the evening so that the light will gradually be getting darker. I wanted this, so that it would help create the mysterious atmosphere. I will be using my friends to play the characters from the book and the film. I also plan on using different props and dramatic makeup to express the emotion I want to depict within the images.
I hope to incorporate ideas from Anna Gaskell and Alfonso Almendros in the shoot. Here are some of the images that I was drawn to the most. I want to add some of the mysterious effect that they create within my final images.
Alfonso AlmendrosAlfonso AlmendrosAnna GaskellAnna Gaskell
On 12/09/17, we visited the recent exhibition of Jonny Briggs and Tanja Deman’s work. The exhibition consisted of the work they had produced during their residency in Jersey and they were hoping to show off the research and efforts they made in an attempt to impress the locals of Jersey by showing them a side to the island the hadn’t seen before in this exhibition that was great experience and it was very impressive to see the extent of their work, especially having the opportunity to look at two world-renowned photographers who have had their work displayed in art galleries such as Saatchi, I was honoured to have this amazing chance to speak to them on a personal level about their work and get an insight into the style and aims from the series of images they had put on display for us.
In the words of the Balliwick Express website from their publication and the very successful joint exhibition, “both artists were awarded £10,000 to work in the island and have both chosen different projects, Tania photographed underwater landscapes while Jonny focused on the island’s ancient landscape, monuments, institutions and archives through the motif of the mouth.” In my opinion, the contrast that showed two sides of Jersey rich in beauty and wonder was amazing.
Pictured: From left to right, Jonny Briggs, Tanja Deman, Sasha Gibb, Director of CCA Gallery International and Gareth Syvret, Société Jersiaise Photographic Archivist and Archisle Project Leader.
I had kindly received a private invitation to the opening night of this exhibition sent in the ail from Societe Jersiaise and I was very honoured to be given the opportunity personally to attend the opening night to be one of the first to see the amazing array of works produced by both artists. As well, on Tuesday 12th the following week, I attended the event again with my school and got another opportunity to speak to both photographers about what they had created on a more one-to-one, immersive basis and it was great to experience. As well, during both artists residency, I began to work with them both very closely on the workshops the set up for myself and other like-mind people and this was an opportunity to produce my own set of work influenced by both of them and the conversations I managed to have them throughout has benefitted my artistic mind and when I got to see the work they had been conjuring up behind the scene when I visited the exhibition, it was a amazing experience I that mad me feel very grateful.
Tanja’s exhibition, entitled ‘Sunken Garden’ focuses on the hidden wonders underneath the surface of the sea – the garden we don’t get to see in such great detail which we were given the opportunity to through the captivating series of works Tanja had produced looking at the types of seaweed that lie beneath the ocean which surrounds our island. There was something quite mesmerising and magical about her work which is what she stated her intentions were – to provoke a certain emotion out of her audience. She wasn’t intending to ell a particular message through the works which were consistent throughout to produce a very truthful series, but instead wanted to force a feeling out of her audience from the magic that was on display – very dream-like images which were underpinned by the very professional skills shown in the photographs with use of lighting to illuminate the texturized seaweeds and highlight their patterns often not noticed when going for a swim in shallow waters. For the project, Tanja had to plan thoroughly to determine the best bays of Jersey which would give her the chance to capture the different types of seaweeds. This wasn’t a very simple effort that required just a couple dips in the shore of St Brelade’s Bay and instead a much more conscious effort to locate perfect locations for the few shoots Tania created in between choosing final images and framing them ready for the exhibition. Tanja’s style and process through producing her images is very different to that of Jonny’s but the behaviour of both of them in terms of their work makes for very different results which both have tell a powerful story encapsulating the rich beauties of Jersey which is often not realised by the locals but the two artists forces the information through to us when exhibiting their work and articulating their intentions from it.
Tanja told Archisle at the beginning of her time in Jersey that she is concerned with ‘the perceptions of space and her relationship to nature’ and this was evident in the work she put on display because she as a photographer and to really make a effort to make a physical relationship between herself and her surroundings – what she was photographing as this would make for the best results.
Tanja wanted us to explore her exhibition and then after 5 minuets of observing the images, she wanted us to choose a photograph we liked and one we disliked and then show her our choices and tell her why we chose the images we did. When I was first handed this task, I felt a bit sceptical about the prospect of criticising a professional photographer on her work she has spent 6 months producing for the locals of Jersey but this was part of the experience I would go onto embrace to allow me understand more bout her work.
This (right) is the image I chose as the one I ‘disliked’ due to the fact that I wasn’t too sure what it was and it seemed very dislocated from the serirs as it wasn’t too similar to other images Tanja had produced as the others showed clear subjects in that you could tell what was in the frame. I showed this to her explain it was my least favourite and told her why this was and she then went on to explain that it was a seabed and I then understood and forced myself to understand that in every series of images, there is going to be an anomalous result that may not always fit in however, this is what makes it special and interesting.
I chose these two images (above) which were displayed in a paring at the exhibition as my favourite because I thought they worked really well together and their wondrous nature is what attracted me to them because they look so fairy-tale-like. I love the haziness which is present in the images. The streak of seaweed which takes its place in the centre of each of image stands out beautifully from the clouded background of the sea and the lighting is what accentuates the detail of seaweed. It is as though the seaweed is so lonesome and it’s dream-like beauty is seen through the effect that the seaweed is floating in this clouded seascape but the effort to pair the two images together makes them much less lonely as opposed to hanging them separately. I explained my reasoning for these two being my favourite to Tanja and she understood why I liked them so much. Tanja’s other works were much bigger in sixe but the smaller size of them both and simplicity of it is what drew my attention to the photographs.
Jonny Briggs exhibition, although within very close proximity, being in the same building with Tanjas’ was actually very different in the type of work produced. Tanja’s was landscape based and Jonny’s was based around photo collaging and using other objects to create images which encouraged much more talk and thoughts from the viewer, in my experience because they ate not as self-explanatory as Tanja’s due to the very contemporary and untraditional techniques used to produce the images.
Jonny found himself during his time on the exploring the idea of censorship and controversy which comes with the motif of the human mouth and the relationship between the eyes and mouth – speaking and seeing. His works were much more muddled and there was no real sense of cohesion but they all worked together to complement each other even though the narrative was not fully direct to the audience however this is what I enjoyed about looking at Jonny’s work. The chance to see the exhibition twice gave me the opportunity to see images twice and therefore conjure up two different meanings which I thought the exhibition was intending to show. The first night was a chance for me to view the array of works but because of the busyness of the night, I could not speak to either Tanja or Jonny which was very frustrating but going back on the following Tuesday allowed me to speak to both artists one-to-one to allow me to get a better understanding of the purposes of the images and Jonny’s work really resonated with me due to the sole message he wanted to tell and hoe actually did this through the unusual and contemporary style of his 6 month project but also the way he articulated his intentions made me very grateful to be in his presence so he could, with much passion, tell us about each and every image.
Jonny’s passion for photography originally came from his failure at architecture at university where he realised he found himself immersing more so into other media where je could find more freedom to do whatever – this is evident in what he produced on the island where you could see works which would put some people off because of the pure unusuality of it. He displayed works such as a pair of shoes with a second pair of feet branching off the end it which walked up the wall of the building. As well, a portrait the size of a credit card with a piece of used chewing gum spread across the two faces of the subjects hanging from the wall. Something I found particular unusual yet satisfying and intriguing was the candle which stood lonesome on pedestal; something I first thought was a normal candle used to freshen the air but in my second return, Jonny explained to us that it was a candle he had produced when working with specialists that burns the smell of burning human flesh. This was inspired by the concentration camps at war times where people inside would find themselves feasting in human flesh as cannibals.
The exhibition overall held this unnerving and disconcerting sense of invasion into the human comfort zone. It was a series of works which played with the human need to be neat and for things to be directly explanatory. In Jonny’s work, he forced a sense of irritation from the audience by creating candles that exuded a pungent whiff of burning human flesh. He sticks chewing gum over images – something we would see as damaging. He takes the time out to create a set where everything within is sliced in half and then moved by one millimetre to create a sense of annoyance for the viewers.
Here, you can see the effort Jonny has made to show the relationship between the mouth and eyes and what is not seen is heard or vice versa. Again. it all about censorship and in his time in Jersey he visited the old police station. During his time here, he would attempt to cover objects in the dark room in red lipstick – a very repetitive and irritating process I can imagine but something that paid off to be very effective to show the relationship between the mouth and lipsticks and beauty and red lipstick and how it can, when applied in large amounts become something of disgust and unattraction. The sue of red lipstick was something that showed in Jonny work throughout and it is again reiterating the idea of purposely getting on the nerves of the viewers by ruffling their feathers with regards to OCD but how, in the end, it creates a beautiful and powerful catalogue of works.
The use of reflections in this photo as it gives it a unique eeriness even though the lighting is very high key. The lighting is also another aspect here having the white curved wall and mirror reflecting light. The amount of white shown is excessive and makes a good photo. The roof is curved giving the photo an usual framing as we often see basic rectangle ceilings (is there is one). We can see one person on both sides of the mirror however the person on the left we cannot see her on the other side of the mirror I think this is also another reason the photo seems so eerie as she as the older lady is clearly staring at herself with a motionless look on her face. Also the younger women is pressing something against the mirror it looks almost like a flower. The older women is also wearing blue just as the younger women however covering it with a white coat.
It looks as if the older lady is somewhat related to the women on the right whether it is her future older self, this would explain why we cannot see he on the other side of the mirror or it could be her mother or grandmother. I’d like to think it was the first one as it would explain the eeriness to the photo as when you’re young growing old can often seem like a scary concept. It would also explain the fact that they are both wearing blue. The fact that she is touching the mirror its almost as if shes looking through a mysterious window through time. The fact that Hannah Starkey’s photography is very much cinematic based this could be the case.
I like this photo as it draws my attention. It also has a cinematic edge to it that I really like. It looks like a quirky american diner. I like the hidden meanings there could be behind the photo. The photographer hasn’t said much about the photo, the photo itself doesn’t even have a title. All we know is the date it was taken which was May 1997.
Anna Gaskell
When looking at this photograph the colors and the image itself is very striking. There’s yellows, blues and a very bright orange. This shoot most probably took place at sun down as the main subjects face and the others hands have a glowing orange to them. The emphasized colors go hand in hand with the Alice in Wonderland themed shoot as that piece literature is all about magically, fantasy, scary but amazing land where Alice is trapped. There is a helpless to this photo, this aspect gives the photo a dark and eerie tone. The hands have also become almost like silhouettes making them look mysterious and evil. You could relate them to branches I got this idea as I saw the tree also a silhouette in the background. The main subject has also been focused on and placed in the middle almost dehumanizing the hands surrounding her.
I like this photo as the artist is showing Alice in Wonderland something most people can relate to yet using that to convey their own message. The way it has been shot is very striking and causes the viewer to take a double take as it is quite violent photo. All of Anna Gaskell Alice in Wonderland work is untitled. It has been decided by others that the photos could be a potent metaphor for the anxiety and confusion experienced by children on the verge of adolescence.
Now I find myself looking at tableaux photography, I have chosen to study the pairing of these two artist by looking at each of their work individually and then comparing and contrasting their photographs by looking at their style and aims of their series of images. I have chosen to look at Alfonso Almendros and Maria Kapajeva because I feel like their is something very unique and perhaps quite sinister and unnerving abut each of their series of images which relate to theme of family, and in some way also underpinning the theme of environment also. After looking at Almendros’ series entitled ‘Family Reflections’, I found a quite strange connection I had with the series in that it made me feel a little uncomfortable looking though the photos but it also made me question the message behind each of them resulting in an enjoyable experience as interrogate back and fourth with myself what the series’ attempts to represent. I will expand n my thoughts on his work later on this post. As well, Kapajeva’s series ‘Family’ again possesses an effective sense of eeriness due to the lighting techniques used and the way she divides two halves of the each photo down the middle to provide seven different images for the series. The split down the middle of her photos which is a recurring theme in all of her images makes us feel as though we as the audience are looking at new different images in what is one frame but divided t sow two different stories – one of the subject in one half an the other of the subject in the other half. One attracts me to the works of both artists is the captivating way in which they have addressed the style of tableaux photography. As well, I love how Almendros’ series seems very, sometimes overly staged in this one environment which you can see throughout the works as it does not changed where the actions in several photographs seem very dramatised. On the other hand, there is Kapajeva’s catalogue of works which does not seem at all romanticised in the actions performed in each image, instead it seems very natural and, almost like documentary imagery.
An image from Almendros’ series, Family Reflections
Both artists take a tableaux approach, however, I believe there is a fine line, which is near enough blurred between what tableaux imagery and documentary imagery is the way they look. There is very extreme tableaux photography where there is several subjective and people within the frame accompanied by film-like locations and props; mise-en-scene is vital in tableaux image. However, in documentary, although much moire informal, with the aim to capture an unexpected, unplanned moment in time, the look can be very similar to tableaux photography. Much like in the image above, however, we as the audience are aware that the photographer has arranged this shot and for the man to stand, naked in the middle of a road. Furthermore, both styles do provoke thoughts from the viewers which ask what the meaning behind an image was because as the audience, we are very much unaware of the happenings ‘behind-the-scenes’ as such. The aim of both styles is to give an insight.
What I like about the two series I am about to look at is the evident theme in each image. This contributes to the very powerful images that speak for themselves. The types of photographs set up are very captivating and in each photographers works based around the them of family you can see the very careful thought process that went in to making each image and together, the images in both artists selection complement each other.
Alfonso Almendros
Alfonso Almendros is an emerging photographer from Spain who lives and works in Helsinki. In a published article on photography website, GUP, they talk to Almendros about his work, Family Reflections and the described his work in a short paragraph which encapsulates the series and what it is about. They said: “Family Reflections captures the parallel of the now and then, each image defining one basic concept – the roots, obsession with death, virility as a symbol of authority, glorification of maternity or the sacred character of some objects. A series about family, struggle and intimacy that creates a parallel reality – words dissolve and become slightly dark, incomplete, almost invisible. The photographs evoke nostalgia, solitude, melancholy among others.”
Particularly in Alemendros’ work, you can notice the style of his work due form the colours used. This would have been a conscious decision, as well as the location used. He takes each image in the same location – a room in a house and you cans see the same furniture as you progress through the different images which would have appeared beforehand. Throughout the series, there is a division of the main series achieved through other images which can be classified as anomalies, in that they don’t fit the theme as such due to the change of location and subject. This is an effect I really like and hope to use in my own study.
A Collection of Images from the Series
On his website, Almendros does not provide any explanation about the series and the meanings behind his series, Family Reflections, however, GUP interviewed the photographer on the release of his series which provides answers to why he produced the images and what they mean.
Looking at the grouping of the images he has produced, I can draw my own conclusions from them but it is likely to be very far from the actual meanings and concept for the construction of the work. However, I am aware that the theme is based around family, and, form the title, I can conclude that Almendros is perhaps looking back at his own family, which, at the time of him making the series, may not have existed and it is therefore an homage to the relationship he may have had with his family members.
Alemendros states that’ Family Reflections’ came at a point in his life where he was full indecision. He also says “after living abroad for a few years, I decided to go back to my hometown and spend a few months with my family. There, I found things that had changed during my absence.” This was what spurred his choice ot make a photographic series of works relating to the changes that occurred in his environment that he remembered in a different way before his absence. As well, he wanted to document the change in his family members attitudes and behaviours since coming back from being abroad.
Alfonso Almendros also states that his father was a photographer beofre he ws born, however he died when Almendros was two years old but he cameras and photographs remained in their house – influencing his need to pick up a camera and begin shooting.
Image Analysis
This, for me, is one of the most powerful images in the whole series because it is so unusual and quite difficult to decode because of its eeriness.
However, if I was to attempt to decode the image, I would suggest that the dead bird could be a metaphor for the relationship between Almendros and his mother and sister after coming back from travelling in that it is now non-existent and itself is dead because he feels as though he doesn’t have that previous, special relationship with his family members but his absence has resulted in them all becoming distant and therefore, when he arrived back in Spain, he came back to something that change dramatically to what he remembered and to him, he may have seen this as very upsetting that the previous memories stored in his mind did not exist when he cam back to his hometown. Now the relationships has to be rekindled and re-created in order for the family to become attached and ‘as one’ again. I believe this image is well representative of the series title as Almendros is looking back and reflecting on what had previously been part of his life – a paramount factor of his happiness when he had that special bond with his mother and sister which now, as he talks, is different as the environment around him and the people he loves has changed.
Talking about the environment, this is the first image of several in the series and it is a great image to have as the opening frame as it sets the mood and atmosphere for the images to come. This image is taken in a room which is a recurrence throughout he series as you notice ht dame wall beyond the subject in most of the images. It is, what looks like a barren and dark room which possess no emotion and it seems very melancholy, deriving the same feeling from audience – a feeling of emptiness and hardship in a way because of the theme throughout of loneliness and trauma, regret, nakedness. A whole array of emotions make up this series and contributes to the whole mood.
Looking at the technical factors in the image and how it is composed, the use of depth of field is used to full extent to make the image very visually pleasing. There is a very shallow depth of field where only the foreground is in focus and it is focused solely on the bird lying just over the edge of table just off the center of the frame. Everything else gradually become blurred, whether it be to the right of the bird where the bowl on the table is out of focus or behind the bird where as you look further into the image, the table cloth comes more and more blurred as well as the glass behind This effect leaves just the bird in focus and it has a great effect and forces our eyes t be drawn to the bird only.
The colour within the images are very similar an there is a very stimulating colour palette because although they are all very bland and dark, they all work very well together. There are different shades of brown that complement the off white of the table cloth and the yellow of the bowl as well as the brown bird. The colours all seem quite faded and it is create a vintage effect. This was perhaps the style of homes in Spain. There seem to be a source of light coming from the right also which illuminates the frame.
Maria Kapajeva
Maria Kapajeva is a Russian artist from Estonia based in London who left her career in Economics behind and moved to the UK to get her BA and then MA in Photography at University of Westminster. Her work has been exhibited internationally including Belfast, FORMAT and Guernsey photo festivals.
In her work Maria focuses on the issues of women representation in contemporary society and cultural and social stereotypes around that representation – shown through a very strong message in her series ‘Family’ In her practice she expands the borders of photography working also with found images, video and textile crafts.
For this piece above entitled ‘I Am Usual Women’, the used photographs on the quilt were found on the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. The images for the quilt are carefully selected from the ones which were shown on these websites as ‘the best samples’ of how women should be photographed for the best matchmaking. She looks at the fantasies of Russian women and is one of several works she has produced which relate to the role of women in society and how the are perceived to be – that they are often objectified due to their gender and therefore sexualised but also seen as the leaders of the home-life in that they do the work to cater for the husband.
About the series ‘Family’ taken form Kapajeva’s website:
“The series is an exploration of family as an integrated institution within its problems such as miscommunication or misunderstanding between its members. During her research she collected a lots of stories from people about how badly the misunderstanding could end up because of lack of an essential communication in the families on daily basis. Maria selected seven most common scenarios and interpreted them in her images. Each story consists of two separate photographs placed close to each other for an installation. The physical division between two prints visualise a distance between family members who are involved in each story. Even though Maria staged peculiar scenarios, she is open to other interpretations by the viewers. Thus, each pair left with no caption to give a space for people to find their reading of the set-ups.”
A Collection of Images from the Series
As well, it is evident that lighting is important feature of Kapajeva’s work, in particular, this series which focuses on divisions of family life and relationships between family members, as well as contrasting characters and how these clash and produce an “empty family” which has no cohesion or bond no more. She illuminates each subject in each half of every image to show the spotlight on them and this is also a popular technique in most tableaux images. It creates shadows and they high key lighting shone upon the subject’s face puts them in spotlight of the audience – under pressure as such.
Kapajeva’s work is very well produced as she has created a consistent series of images that all work together in harmony to create a documentation through tableaux photography that speaks to the women of Russia through the visualization she provides of family life in terms of how a wife and husband and their potential kids may behave in their home. Each image int the series is divided through the middle by cropping one side and then the other to create the effect as if you are looking at two different images but then on closer inspection, is one because the two sides often work together to show tow different environments with different subjects in, however, a hint that they are a whole image maybe given through the body positioning of the subjects or where they are looking. Although the environments in both halves often seem different, they produce a contrast of the characters in them and the audience are forced to see the two images combined to create a narrative. Her images often follow the theme of showing a husband and wife and their physical and mental divide and breakdown as they may begin to become two as opposed to the previous one harmonic couple the once were. This is also backed up by the physical divide of Kapajeva’s images.
Image Analysis
This is one of the images form the series and is one of my favourites due to he complete contrast ad powerful and evident message it is trying to get across.
Like I mentioned above, it sows the physical; divide between family life between a husband and wife and then often the child involved as well – in the frame – the child glued to her mother’s side – reiterating the desire for children to be attached to their mums at the early stages of their life as they feel safe mum due to the connection built with them form birth. It creates this sense of fragility and preciousness – that this child possesses and she is at the fore front of everything done in the house and the parents’ life revolves around her. But also the fragility of family
As well, the image is illuminated on both side with the use of high key lighting on both subjects and the activity they are doing. Te women of the house is in the typical potion of doing work and providing for the others in the house. In the frame, she is doing the ironing whilst looking at the man with an expression showing no emotion – it is as though she is fed up and sh is looming in envy as the husband sits in the armchair with his beer watching the TV – he is ot watching over his daughter and it is instead left up to the wide even though is currently busy. As well, the kid is in a position of anger underneath the iron the mother is using, yet the male is not paying attention and it gives the sense that there is no communication between the two and they are at their worst where they cant bare to look at each directly and instead live their life trapped inside themselves.
Anna Gaskell was born on October 22, 1969 in Des Moines, Iowa. She studied at Bennington College before attending the Art Institute of Chicago. Gaskell’s early photos were self-portraits. However, she decided to begin photographing people acting out stories mainly characters of Alice, from Alice in Wonderland. Gaskell is best known for her photographic series that she calls “elliptical narratives” Her works are influenced by film and painting. She lives and works in New York.
The images of the girls are taken through the use of photographic tableaux. Within the images she references children’s games, literature and psychology. She isolates dramatic moments from larger plots form particular stories. Each images is carefully planned and staged to create an ‘artificial scene’ Gaskell manages to create a dreamlike world that suspends time.
The Girls in the images don’t represent individuals, they act out certain contradictions and desires. The identical clothing that they wear in the series creates a unity within the figures. The mysterious acts that they form in the pictures may be seen as metaphors for “disorientation and metal illness.” Here are a few examples of images from Gaskell’s series “Wonder” in 1996.
Untitled work from Anna Gaskell’s ‘Wonder’ series. (1996)
Hannah Starkey, was born in Belfast in 1971. She lives and works in London. Her Photographs aim to explore the physical and psychological connections between the individual shes photographing and the everyday urban surroundings around them. Since the beginning of her photography career Starkey has mainly focused on using women as her main subjects. She likes to use artificial backgrounds and strong, symbolic associations of colour and imagery to make her compositions more interesting with a deeper meaning.
Hannah Starkey has described her photographs as exploring ‘women’s lives through their everyday interactions’. In her staged scenes, actresses and other hired models re-enact ostensibly insignificant and banal moments, of the kind that often go unnoticed in daily life. By freezing such moments in time, Starkey hopes to elevate them above the mundane and create lasting allegories for modern life. Her carefully planned and directed compositions fuse influences from painting and cinema. However, she withholds the possibility of any narrative conclusion, leaving viewers to construct their own fictions around her images.
Untitled – March 1999 1999 Hannah Starkey born 1971 Purchased 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78332Hannah Starkey Untitled – October 1998 1998 C-type print 122 x 152 cm
Butterfly Catchersis a large, colour photograph of two teenage girls on a demolition site. They are viewed in the process of picking their way across a landscape of rubble which fills nearly half of the image. Behind them are industrial buildings. Dark clouds in the distance create an ominous atmosphere. A white light shining off the roof of a nearby building and reflecting off metallic surfaces in the rubble creates a break in the dark atmosphere. The girls, who face towards the camera, are backlit. Both appear preoccupied; their eyes are lowered as though they are scanning the floor at their feet. A few weeds and grasses emerge from between the bricks on the right side of the image which adds a bit of colour to the grey atmosphere. The photograph was shot in Belfast at the site of a former linen mill which, despite being of particular historical interest, was demolished to make way for a supermarket. The girls are adolescents recruited locally.
Hannah Starkey Butterfly Catchers 1999 C-type print 122 x 152 cm
This photograph is interesting to me because of it’s mysterious, abnormal nature that is constructed in which it allows us to delve deeper into the deeper meaning of the photograph, in other words: what is the purpose of the photograph and what is it trying to tell us? Clearly, this appears to be a direct reference to a childhood memory, reconstructed to tell us how this photographer looks back in the past. Interestingly, the loss of saturation in the photograph appears to us as quite an old and distant memory because there is a lack of detail on the features of the memory and therefore because of this age of this memory suggests this is quite personnel. The trees through the use of increased contrast almost show an intricate and diverse environment or world within a world. This in a sense suggests that this is the girls natural environment in which she should feel comfortable. However the fact that through the darkening shades of green and the shadows, the woodland appears quite ghost like and that there is some sort of a creepy and quite scary presence surrounding the girl. This is interesting because of the girls clothes/ She is initially wearing white which suggests innocence and vulnerability however the slow tint towards more of a cream color suggests a sense of worn use and how the environment has started to have an effect on the girl. The photograph has been taken from a face on angle and this has helped the viewer to distinguish clearly the effects the hostile environment has had on the girl, for example: she is in the air with her arms and legs stretched out. This uncomfortable position reminds me that she doesn’t appear to actually want to be there, however she doesn’t have a choice in the matter due to the fact that by her ghostly presence she appears to be of under some sort of influence, reminding me of the dangerous nature of the environment. This use of tableaux photography is interesting because it allows us to essentially interpret the story in which the photograph is trying to tell us in our own way but still in saying that somehow really understand and connect with the photographer’s emotions that she is expressing.
Hannah Starkey
This photograph is strikingly the opposite of the previous photograph in terms of the environment surrounding the subjects but similarly however, both girls appear to be young, impressionable and vulnerable while being presented under some sort of influence. I find it particularly interesting how Hannah Starkey has chosen to use Tableaux photography to tell a story of the feelings and emotions of the young girl, however I like how the style of documentary photography is incorporated to extradite the very dangers, pressures and struggles that are experienced in young people’s day to day lives in a modern day interpretation. The elements of Tableaux photography that prevail in this image are the strong features of how the girl’s body language in response to presumably her mother but the fact there doesn’t appear to be much motherly contact or affection being expressed towards her daughter shows how the relationship appears particularly strained or damaged. This allows us to pose questions that make us naturally curious to find out what these root causes were in this strained relationship. I particularly like how we can interpret what these causes could be, and through Tableaux we can appreciate the feelings of the subject more easily. Clearly through the dark surroundings, suggests to me that the girl is perhaps going through some of her own difficulties that is part of growing up as she although appears confident and comfortable, it doesn’t look like her natural self. For example by the fact it looks the parent has had to speak to her and put her in her place even though she appears comfortable in her own environment. This shows by the fact that this environment isn’t actually her environment as there is her parent putting her in her place despite the parent clearly doesn’t belong there. This therefore explains and tells the story of growing up through teenage years that many experience differing phases and how the parent is a model or guide for a growing up teenager.
Carolle Benitah is a French Moroccan photographer, born in Casablanca, Morocco. She had previously been a fashion designer before deciding to become a photographer in 2001. Throughout her photography, she loves to explore memory, family and the passage of time. She often chooses to pair family snapshots with handmade accents, such as embroidery, beading and ink drawings. Her main aim is to reinterpret her own history as a daughter, wife and mother.
This (right) is the image I chose as the one I ‘disliked’ due to the fact that I wasn’t too sure what it was and it seemed very dislocated from the serirs as it wasn’t too similar to other images Tanja had produced as the others showed clear subjects in that you could tell what was in the frame. I showed this to her explain it was my least favourite and told her why this was and she then went on to explain that it was a seabed and I then understood and forced myself to understand that in every series of images, there is going to be an anomalous result that may not always fit in however, this is what makes it special and interesting.
Hannah Starkey
