Raised in Barcelona Laia Abril is a documentary photographer, journalist and ‘maker of books’. Her projects such as this one have been exhibited in Italy, Spain, Poland, London and New York. Her work has also been published by The Sunday Times Magazine, D Repubblica, Ojo de Pez, Le Monde, FT, PDN, Burn, Esquire etc. Abril spent 5 years on different projects exploring eating disorders.
This book is for anyone to read, whether it’d be someone who has never heard of eating disorders or doesn’t know much about them. It’s also for people who are victims and the families of victims of eating disorders as it shows they’re not the only ones that have been through the difficult times. It shows awareness and it is a beautiful tribute to a life that was sadly taken too soon.
Laia Abril focus’ on the key objects and papers building a narrative that many people can become so emotionally attached too. Abril in many of her projects puts meaning into every aspect of the books she makes. You can see this in sequencing of this and many other books of hers. The order she places these photos is cleverly put in such a way that plays with the readers emotions. It allows the reader to connect with book in such a way that gives the story the respect and acknowledge it deserves. This is seen throughout this project as well as her other projects on difficult subjects such as abortion, sexuality and gender. Laia Abril gathers so much information it actually allows the audience to connect to it unlike other photographers.
For my personal study, it is important that in my essay, I have several quotes from my included artists to provide content, body and talking points as well as evidence to discussions etc. To do this, I need several different sources of information in which I can receive direct quotes from the artist themselves. I will be using the Harvard System of Referencing to embed each quote I use into my essay when appropriate in order for the source of the quote to be known. I have previously used the Harvard System of Referencing in photography but also in English Language AS so this will benefit my ability to use it properly.
Below are the sources from which I feel I can retrieve quotes from to use in my essay to back up any comments or statements I make regarding Eich and Frazier’s photo books.
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book.
Deconstruction of the physical and narrative features of the book:
Book in hand The book in hand feels very light and small – it can be handled easily and doesn’t feel too heavy.
The cover has a very smooth texture yet a little rough and feels almost like plastic.
Book is a small portrait format.
Paper and ink The paper is the same throughout – matte paper with solely black and white images printed throughout.
There is no text / captions in the book
There is a coloured image of photographers grandfather at the beginning and the end as it is dedicated to him.
Format, size and orientation There are 64 pages and 46 photographs.
The edition is softcover with an exposed spine.
The dimensions are 22 x 17 cm.
It is portrait and features images of all sizes.
Design and layout: Within the book, there are no captions or texts alongside the images. However, there is a poem at the end next to the image where we the wife on the floor in what seems like a breakdown as she looks very uneased by something with her hands on head. I am not certain on what the poem means or who it was written by but it describes driving away from the one you love on a 10th wedding anniversary and feeling a sense of remorse.
Neither are there any fold-outs or inserts.
Landscape Images: 18
Portrait Images: 14
Full Bleed Images: 11
Tipped In Images: 2
Blank Pages: 5
Rhythm and sequencing: The book starts and ends with very similar images; the first image of the project is of Eich’s daughter sat at a park bench with the light reflecting on her body and she has her eyes closed as she leans on the table. This image image is again shown as the last image to conclude the book but this time with her eyes open and the shadows reduced.
The second image introduces Eich and his wife in a self-portrait where we see Eich, sat down, learning his head against his wife’s bare abdominal as she stands. This is a very powerful image to introduce the wife and husband.
From this point, it seems as though every juxtaposes one another in the sequence they have been printed. There doesn’t seem to be an order yet that all work in conjunction with one another.
It is as though we physically take a journey through the busyness of family life as the husband and wife spend time with their children and as we are introduced to new characters throughout.
Structure and architecture: The book, unlike other photo books simply consist of solely images which often don’t seem to have nay relation to one another and so it may, at first be difficult to derive nay meaning from the imagery and decipher the story which is wanting to be represented which is what I experienced at first . However, there seems to be a running theme of finding a balance between emotions, events and feelings. It starts at an equilibrium which seems to gradually crumble and become an imbalance of emotions within all family members and this is presented in the photographs as we people confiding in one another, and more serious facial expressions, if we see any at all because often, faces are covered with hands to hide the sadness. People seem to be less involved in their familial circle and daughters, the wife and Eich’s parents seem to become isolated from what once was an equilibrium.
Narrative: The story is told from the perspective of Eich himself as a father, son and husband and focuses on all 3 of these elements of family life to tell a narrative of love, connections and detachments. Eich, although at the centre of it all, does not make this clear and instead focuses on the presence of his family members and how this provides a base for he life they all lead. Eich himself states that the book follows his documentation of what he experiences within his own familial circle as he, on regular basis makes connections with his daughters through his love for his wife and this welcomes an interaction between himself and his parents. The narrative can also tell a story of generations and how this is, even though very broad from elderly to youth, can actually connect a family through the relationships that build over this concept of ‘knowing our place in this fragile world’ as Eich states. This is shown in the image which includes the book where we one of Eich’s daughters sat by the coffin of Eich’s grandfather and even though this man is not present in the book’s content through, it reiterates the importance of remaining close because without that knowing of belonging, people can become so easily isolated which I explore in my own project through the main body looking at belonging; it provides an underlying guilt of not being present and instead being contained within yourself, something I have recently become a victim of and I am attempting to include this emotion in my project as I have become much more aware of my own feelings since starting this book. I see my own project as an experiment of truth and showing everything as it is – by not covering anything for the lens or presenting anything false for the camera. My aim and intent is for this to make my project more raw and real by not altering things to make them more “acceptable” because then photography does not become interesting and it removes that ability to connect with imagery once the rawness of what you are capturing has been discarded.
In Eich’s project, he does not attempt to tell a story of sorrow or upset and instead looks to simply present his family and the rawness of their respect and love for each other – this what I get and feel form looking and flicking through his book.
Title: The title is literal but it is also poetic. The title ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’ I imagine was carefully chosen by Eich but once chosen would have been easily imagined because of it’s compete literal meaning. The story follows the split of his mother and father after over 30 years of marriage and how this break-away coincides with the departure if Eich and his newly formed family to a new city. It looks forming a new identify from what Eich used to be – from his mother and father’s careful nurturing to raise Eich to the man he is now has benefitted his ability to build his own relationships, however, occurring at the time of what once was a happy family’s physical and emotional detachment as he moves away, leaving his mother and father suffering on their own, also away from one another. The title, knowing this synopsis of the project, seems very suited and it does work very well. It also connotes the popular phrase of what people say to one another if they are about to leave an event or situation etc. but don’t rally want to and it is not out of their own will – people often say ‘I’ll love you and leave you’ as they say goodbye and this essentially what Eich is doing. It does very intrigue the audience because it opens the door to what is to come.
Images and text:
There is one piece of text throughout the hole book, excluding the two texts at the beginning and end which dedicates the book to Eich’s grandfather and this is the pome towards the latter of the book (shown above). It is a poem on a blank page next to a full bleed image of Eich’s wife lying on the floor. There are no captions or anything else apart from this four verse poem. I am not actually fully sure of the meaning of the pome and or what it’s intent on the audience is or who’s perspective it is actually from. However, I am imagining it is either rom Eich’s perspective to his wife or I thin that the most likely option is that it is written by Eich about his father’s divorce from his mother as it follows a story of leaving the said and feeling some sense of remorse but still a sense of love. I also believe the title of the poem is ‘X’ – most likely connoting a kiss in text talk.
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book.
Research of the photo book:
I will be researching, for this task, the photo book produced by Matt Eich highlighting his project entitled ‘I Love you I’m Leaving’. This project outlines his parents split after several years pf marriage as he and his newly formed family transfer themselves form their hometown to a new city to start a new life as his parents are in a phase of vulnerability, grief and need. He feels as if he leaving in the most fragile of times and he documents this through photographing his family’s habits in in their new lease of life.
“I Love You, I’m Leaving is my meditation on familial bonds, longing, and memory. The series borrows from personal experience and the visual language of the everyday in order to create a fictional account that mirrors my reality. Made during a time of personal domestic unease, I photographed as my parents separated, and my family moved to a new city.” (ceibaeditions.com)
Throughout the book, Matt Eich sticks strictly with black and white images and focuses harshly on using shadows and light to depict a particular mood – this being quite eerie – there is a certain glow to Eich’s images and his subjects posses a certain importance highlighted through the use of light to illuminate their presence. You see the subjects consisting of his wife, two daughters and older generations through the family wearing mainly white and flaunting their hereditary blonde hair as the light Eich focuses on strictly catches and provides glow to the light colours each subject possesses.
Eich also pays close attention to providing a balanced tone spectrum in each image as you notice the whites being visibly brighter than that of the solid blacks and in between this, greys of all different tones fill the negative space to create a very tonally balanced image.
The genre Eich takes on is that of a documentary approach where he captures the still moments that take their course in between the more hectic, busier moments of life which are also captured on a more subtle level. However, the overall tone the images depict is very atmospheric as if each image is their to tell a story and work as a collective but each individual image also has the ability to stand solitary as a documentation of the fragility of their familial circle. No one image is isolated and they come together, intentionally to create a solid visual narrative of what Eich experiences as a photographer, father, husband and son.
With Eich’s imagery, he pays no attention to attempting to romanticise life itself and as a documentary photography project, it shows life itself and the rawness and actuality of what, on an everyday basis, his family are familiarised with but as a viewer, we are getting an insight in this and become hooked on what we are shown and begin to attempt to deconstruct this when, really, Eich’s job is to show is what is front of him as he discovers his family just as much as we are when delving through the project. Each photograph has a meaning and makes no effort to depict a false reality and instead focuses on what is there – the tangible – but we are shown a sense of intangibility through the project as we attempt to sympathise and relate with something we only know fragments of. Furthermore, Eich creates this sense of belonging as he brings each and every family member together as a collective and us as the audience feel involved in this poetic representation of what family is and it’s ability, in partnership with attachment and love, to unite yet destruct the once solid family tribe.
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book.
Who is the photographer?
Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a portrait photographer and photographic essayist working on long-form projects about the American condition. He is currently a Professional Lecturer of Photography at The George Washington University and continues to accept commissions. Matt resides in Virginia with his family.
Matt holds a BS in Photojournalism from Ohio University and an MFA in Photography from Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency Program.
His second book, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ was published in September 2017 by Ceiba Editions and is sold out. He has three forthcoming monographs scheduled between 2018 and 2020.
‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ is Eich’s latest photo book. The book was a finalist at the Lucie Photo Book Prize in the Limited Edition category and received a special mention at FoLa Book Awards.
Until I came across Matt Eich, I did not really enjoy looking at black and white imagery because I thought it was traditional and classic and has been too over-used and as a result of this, I felt like I couldn’t be original when using black and white images in projects etc. I also felt like I couldn’t portray the mood and tone I would wish for in black and white because there is no colour and I used to enjoy relying on heavy colours to bring my photos to life but now I feel the complete opposite to this since discovering many modern day photographers who use black and white imagery for full projects. I now find pleasure out of relying on shadows, light and contrast to create dramatic or elegant and poetic black and white photographs.
Although this book would be aimed at a more elder target audience due to its subject matter and use of nudity within, I believe it could be aimed and read with enjoyment and pleasure by a keen photographer of any age because although the subject matter it relatively mature, it is very relatable to people of my age. It looks at the fragility of your place in the world and how this is secured through family life. I have found great enjoyment out of looking at this book because of its pure ability to speak to the reader throughout it’s poetic story-telling style.
Below are the edits I have created using Adobe Lightroom from my photoshoot where I photographed my girlfriend, Lucy cutting my mum’s hair in our kitchen.
This was one of the first the photoshoot I completed for my project and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get a collection of a few strong images to start me off with my project looking at relationships within my life and my family circle.
My girlfriend, Lucy is 17 and has just recently qualified as a hairdresser and so is always being asked by family members for hair cuts, including my own family.
I really like these images and the reason for this is because of their very delicate, poetic and elegant nature. All three are very documentary style and are capturing a moment in time.
The three images below have been edited on Adobe Lightroom and are the best three images from the photoshoot. All three work well in conjunction with each, however, I plan to use them with the images produced from my mini photoshoot I carried out at my dad’s flat.
The photograph below is of Lucy cutting my mum’s hair. You can also see me in the reflection as I am taking the photograph and this could be seen to ruin the image as usually it is known for photographer to remain behind the camera and out of frame because if the audience are t see the camera or the photographer, then we don’t like this as we have been taught that the common ideology of photography is for the photographer to remain behind the camera. I enjoy the fact that as well as the subject, I am also in the frame but with both Lucy and Mum illuminated so the focus is on them.
The photo below is mid-at through the haircut and shows Lucy gathering some of my mum’s hair to cut and the effect of this movement is captured in the camera and transferred to a visible blur in her hands which I also think has a positive effect because it shows that the photo is more than just one dimensional and adds action to what is shown. It is pretty much the same photo as above as it consists of the same content but as a close up shot to view the subjects in more detail and instead in black and white. As opposed to focusing on hard shadows and contrasts, I have attempted to focus more on neutral tones such as greys and making these the base of the image because I observed this in LaToya Ruby Frazier’s images; that the contrast was quite low and instead, grey colours were used to provide a body to the image and this is also the same in Matt Eich’s images – something I ma not used to but enjoy the visual effect of.
There is in fact a Matt Eich image that he took of his family in the garden as his wife cuts his hair, shown below.
The image below is of the hair resulting form my mum having her hair cut. The wet, clumps of hair lay on kitchen floor scattered across the tiles as, in the top corner, the blurred motion of the vacuum enters the frame. It is a very simple image that takes little skill and technique and more observation and focus to see this moment as a photographic opportunity because this photo finishes off my collection of the first, second and this as the final image to create a mini series of three images.
I really like the Photographer Viviane Sassen and have decided to chose one of her many photo books. The photo book I have decided to focus on is called Roxane. I believe that Roxane is the name of the model within the images. The images within the book are extremely unique and full of abstract, twisted visions. She explores the female body by using a variation of photo styles, such as fashion photography and abstract photography. Sassen also includes some landscapes within her book to create a contrast, and a story like layout. I love the wierd and unique style that Sassen has. Her way of thinking really helps me to express and develop my unique style as well.
Here are a few pages from the Photo book Roxane. I really like how she develops the book with the use of portraits and landscapes, as well as her abstract images. There is a large use of fashion photography within her images, similar to the images I have managed to develop so far in the project.
The photo book flows very well from image to images because Sassen makes links between her images to create a genre and narrative. Her images are very unique and contain a contemporary style. The layout of her book is very simple and plain. This is something I want to do differently with my phonebook because I want to use my sequencing and layout to express a wild format and way of thinking.
All the images in the photo book are the same size, apart from the abstract landscape images that she uses to split up the flow. She does this to make the concept of the book more interesting, and to add contrast to the flow and layout. All the images of the woman, Roxanne are single spread images, on either side of the book. The abstract landscape ones are multi spread images that spread across both pages. In every image of Roxanne she is pulling a different pose, and making different shapes with her body. She is playing different female characters, that Viviane Sassen wants her to perform.
Viviane Sassen dosen’t dramatically edit her images because they are good enough to stick to the original as much as possible. She uses the model and the environment to add the interest into the images. Sassen’s focus point in her series is the movement of the body and the expressive shapes it creates. The clothes that the models are wearing links a lot with the landscape that she places them in. This seems to be an overall theme within Sassens images.
Viviane Sassen was born in 1972. She is a Dutch artist who lives in Armsterdam. She is also a photographer who works with both fashion and fine art. She is mainly known for her use of geometric shapes, often abstractions of bodies. This is why I really like Sassen because she experiments with her visions and her style is unique. Sassen in known foremost as an artist. Her colorful photographs of Africa won her the Prix de Rome in 2007. Sassen has managed to develop a ‘personal language’ that is sometimes surreal. She creates images with intertwines bodies, sculptural compositions and abstract forms. Her images are always fascinating and full of energy.
Sassen lived in Kenya as a child and often works in Africa. She started studying fashion at Arnhem, but soon turned to photography. She is a photographer/ artist that is part of the group who create alternate personal, editorial, and commercial work. She embraces an interdisciplinary attitude. According to Sassen, she says “You should always be able to Judge a photograph on different grounds, on political, social, emotional, but also on personal grounds.” The photographs of intertwined bodies in inspired by daily physical contact with strangers she experienced in Africa.
The images below are some of Sassen’s images that were taken in Africa. I like the contrast of images that she has, some of portraits and some landscapes. I also love the contrasts within her images, and the abstract formations that she creates.
I love some of the contrasts that Sassen includes in her images. The vastness between her ideas shows that she has a vast amount of ideas that she presents. Some of the colours that she includes in her images are bright and full of energy. She likes to use shadows to create a new dimension within her frame. I also really like some of her more simplistic ideas, such as her abstract landscapes, like the image below. This image works really well in black and white because of the huge range of tones, from the light being reflected, to the darkest shadows. The image looks almost like a painting which I really like.
Ive decided to focus on this particular image of Sassen’s because I think it is extremely powerful. The main focus of the image is the man wearing a business suite holding a red folder. At first look this image could be boring with no deeper meaning, however when you focus on the smaller details within the image, there’s a much more powerful concept. The name of the image is George. This is probably the name of the guy within the image. George looks very powerful and professional because of the way he is standing, with his head held high, and the way he has positioned his body. He also looks very professional because of what he is wearing. He is in a business suite, so could be in a well payed position. I’m unaware if its deliberate or a good circumstance, but the plaster on the man’s face is what makes this image unique and powerful. The man
Title: How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks? Opening quote: “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.” (Susan Sontag)
Introduction (250-500 words) What, How, Why, Where, When, With
In this essay I will be investigating how photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier have explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks.
What are you planning on doing and why, what is the story you want to tell / explore
Paragraph 1 / Context (500 words) Psychological / scientific research and understanding of attachment and detachment theory… Poetic visual language; describe that you are developing a new language with influence from Anders Peters / Engstrom
Paragraph 2 (500 words) Matt Eich – analyse his work. book in relation to essay question his voice through interview / statement of his work outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail
Paragraph 3 (500 words) LaToya Ruby Fraizer – analyse her work / book in relation to essay question Her voice through interview / statement of her work Outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail
Paragraph 4 (500 words) Analyse your own work, how it developed what you did and why How do your set of images interpret attachment/ detachment Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail
Postmodernism is a style of post-1960s art which rejected the traditional values and politically conservative assumptions of its predecessors, in favour of a wider, more entertaining concept of art, using new artistic forms enriched by video and computer-based technology.
There are many principals which define modernist art, including: A rejection of history and conservative values (such as realistic depiction of subjects); innovation and experimentation with form (the shapes, colours and lines that make up the work) with a tendency to abstraction; and an emphasis on materials, techniques and processes. However, postmodernism, was a reaction against modernist art and a rejection of this to challenge it.
Modernist artists experimented with form, technique and processes rather than focusing on subjects. While the modernists championed clarity and simplicity; postmodernism embraced complex and often contradictory layers of meaning. (words taken form Tate).
Postmodernism essentially drove modernism out of the face of art and muscled its way to the forefront as postmodernists believed this view of producing art was the ultimate and best method.
Postmodernists also embrace subject and content as opposed to object and form.
Jeff Koons Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Two Dr J Silver Series, Spalding NBA Tip-Off) 1985
Postmodernism makes references to things outside the art work…e.g. political, cultural, social, historical, psychological issues.
Another aspect of postmodenrist photography is that it often mixes different artistic and popular styles and media. Postmodernist art can also consciously and self-consciously borrow from or ironically comment on a range of styles from the past.
Pop art by Roy Lichenstein is a good example of this; pop artists broke down the separation between fine art and popular culture in their work: Lichtenstein borrows the language of comics for his painting Whaam.
Roy Lichtenstein, Wham
Andy Warhol once said in a famous quite that “anyone can be famous for 15 minutes”. Looking deeper into this, it can essentially mean that with a little bit of creativity and by pushing the boat out and challenging art normalities and conventions, a new look of art can be achieved which stuns the world and from this, the author can become famous for a short period of time – through challenging and not conforming to art rules and producing something perhaps controversial or unseen before – new and innovative.
A term closely related and used in conjunction with postmodernist art due to this idea that postmodernism encapsulates the idea of using many mediums to produce work, ‘bricolage’ also presents this notion.
The definition of ‘bricolage’ in terms of art and literature is: “construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.” Bricolage is a French loanword that means the process of improvisation, or a work created by mixed media. The word is derived from the French verb bricoler (“to tinker”), with the English term DIY (“Do-It-Yourself”).
Pictorialism
Time period :1845 – 1915
Key characteristics :manipulate images with the intent to strip reality from it by adding effects
Artists associated : Alfred Stieglitz rejected the movement and Ansel Adams didn’t agree with the art form because he thought photography was fine art itself and did not need altering.
Julia Margaret Cameron
Key works : allegorical paintings and paintings from the Italian Renaissance
Methods / Techniques / Processes :used darkroom process to add effects – noise, different colours, lights and textures. Would also use Vaseline to make it more unphotographic and more as an art painting.
Realism / Straight Photography
Time period : early 1900s
Key characteristics : opposite to pictorialism and shouldn’t manipulate to show actuality
Create images of world as they see it
Idea that camera doesn’t lie
Artists associated : Alfred Steiglitz 1907, The Steerage / Pablo Picasso
Key works : Avant Garde – new and experimental ideas in art / Cubism – originated in 1907 by Picasso
