Burkina Faso is a country in the west of Africa which is landlocked by surround by 6 other countries including Mali and Niger. It covers an area of around 270,000 square kilometres with its captial being Ouagadougou. it has an estimated 18.9 million people living in it with the official language of the government and the majority of the people being french, this was due to the migration of french americans in the post colonial times. During the early 16th century the Songhai conducted many slave raids into what is today Burkina Faso. During the 18th century the Gwiriko Empire was established at Bobo Dioulasso and ethnic groups such as the Dyan, Lobi, and Birifor settled along the Black Volta.
In the late 1800’s military officers fron britain, france and germany made attempts to claim parts of burkina faso. After a complex series of events Burkina faso in 1896 became a French protectortate however french control remained uncertain between the end of the 1890’s.
The Franco-British Convention of 14 June 1898 created the country’s modern borders. In the French territory, a war of conquest against local communities and political powers continued for about five years. In 1904, the largely pacified territories of the Volta basin were integrated into the Upper Senegal and Niger colony of French West Africa as part of the reorganization of the French West African colonial empire. The colony had its capital in Bamako. The language of colonial administration and schooling became French. The public education system started from humble origins. Advanced education was provided for many years during the colonial period in Dakar.
Modern day
Political freedoms are extremely restricted in Burkina Faso and human rights organisations have criticized the compaore administration (a structure which decentralized power by devolving soem of its powers to regions and municipal authorities) for numerous acts of state spnsored violence against journalists and other members of society. I think that this is important to know before i land in this country, that in some areas taking images can be seen as an offence, and as it is on the border of Mali, a terrorist active country, high security is inforced in areas near the border where armed guards patrol the area and if you get a phone or camera out they are likely to consider it a terrorist threat and may arrest and contain you until they can prove otherwise.
There has recently been terorist attacks, one around a year ago and then again a couple of months back in the capital which means that military control is extremely tight and i do need to be careful about when i take images.
Another factor to be aware of is that around 60% of the countries population are muslims and due to their religion may not want to be photographed as they do not know what the purpose of the images are. Statistics on relig
ion in Burkina Faso are inexact because Islam and Christianity are often practiced in tandem with indigenous religious beliefs. The Government of Burkina Faso 2006 census reported that 60.5% of the population practice Islam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch,]while a small minority adheres to Shia Islam.There are also large concentrations of the Ahmadiyya Muslims.
Burkina Faso’s 18 million people belong to two major West African ethnic cultural groups—the Voltaicand the Mande (whose common language is Dioula). The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso from northern Ghana around 1100 AD. They established an empire that lasted more than 800 years. Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is led by the Mogho Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.
To study the idea of representation in photography and how certain aspects within imagery are presented to an audience, I will be looking at the work of world-renowned photographer,Steve McCurry, who is a very iconic documentary photographer succeeding in his captivating images produced for National Geographic.
Steve McCurry (born April 23, 1950) is an American photographer. The photographer, is best summed as world-renowned success in the medium of documentary photography, especially in culturally deprived areas such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has worked in photojournalism and editorial. He is best known for his 1984 photograph “Afghan Girl”, which originally appeared in National Geographic magazine. McCurry is a member of Magnum Photos.
AN AFGHAN REFUGEE IN BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN, 1981
The image above is the world famous portrait of a young girl in Afghanistan and is titled ‘Afghan Girl’ for obvious reasons. Taken by Steve McCurry when traveling the world producing content of National Geographic, there is something very touching about the image above – something tat speak to the audience and I believe it to be because we know that this girl is likely to be very less well-of than we are if we use our schematic knowledge surrounding the topic of deprived areas such as Afghanistan this allows us to understand the likely difficult and traumatic life this girl may live – being surrounded by a war zone for most of her life and having to live with this as a environment that she has to grow up in. I, for one can feel a sense of sympathy and sorrow for this girl – she is young and lives a completely different life to us without the knowledge to understand the meaning behind possible explosions which occur on a day-to-day basis. We do not know of the help she may receiving if she does live a very poverty-run life and this portrait helps us to understand this. The use of her looking into the camera, directly at the audience is a very powerful tool and the facial expression gives off a feeling of trauma and vulnerability – her open and alert eyes let us know of her emotions, in that she is scared and overall it is a very well constructed image and is rightfully a world-famous image as it opens up a door to another life most of the world do not experience in their lives, and this is something we must be grateful for and McCurry has attempted to portray a unknown environment to us through his imagery. Us as humans love people watching and being a little nosey into others lives, which is why most of us enjoy and find pleasure out of watching vlogs, documentaries or capturing out own street photography or looking at other dociumeyatry photography but the scale on which McCurry does this at is on a much higher and more serious level. It triggers our satisfaction for being a fly-on-the-wall in others lies but this is for a much meaningful purpose. However, one thing I’d lie to pick up on is the fact that I, personally do not actually like the image – I don’t enjoy looking at it, not due to its context but due to the actual way it looks – it is not something that attracts me t the image and is more so the meaning behind the subject which draws me in. Hover, McCurry produced this image with the purpose to fit the style and method of National Geographic as a whole and this has been done to a tee as it shows us the harsh reality, although not direct, of what life in other parts of the world us like. The image appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. There is a reason McCurry has been hand-picked by national Geographic and is member of Magnum Photos and this is because he does his job so well and many people gave fallen in love with not only him and his work bit the actual physicality of what he captures in every image – the colours, the subjects, the cultures, the lifestyles – our ability to connect with every subject in each portrait is what we love because not every photographer has the ability to create an image so well – something I will be talking about later.
American Photo magazine says the image has an “unusual combination of grittiness and glamour.” which I believe to be very true.
Expanding on the idea of representation, like I mentioned before, this is a very touching and harrowing representation of this young girl and we are able to get an insight into her life. The girl is represented as quite lonely and isolated and form her facial expression, quite scared and lonesome and we don’t know whether this as true or staged as us as the audience can only act as people who interpret the content to what we believe but the notion of true and false is hard to decipher when looking at the work of McCurry, yet t is something we believe to see as true and not staged as this would be providing us with false visuals bit in another sense, we also hope for it to be false because we do not wish to face the harsh reality that people across the world, in abundance, do actually live like this. On the other, we appreciate the imagery that McCurry produces us because we get so experience other cultures for ourselves fro what see in the frame.
It has been likened to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa and has been called “the First World’s Third World Mona Lisa“.
Now mentioned, looking at the similarities of the Mona Lisa and McCurry’s Afghan Girl, there are many resemblances of both in each other. It is perhaps that McCurry took inspiration of the elegance and pureness of the painting of Mona Lisa an then transferred this into his portrait of the young girl in Afghanistan. Both look directly into the camera with a blank facial expression. They both have long, dark, maroon coloured hair and wear a draped scarf or vale over their head. In both imagery, there is a sense of delicateness and urge to show the femininity if our world – to show the beauty of females whether that be through a painting or photograph and though we may be faced with something difficult to address, looking at McCurry’s work, the beauty is beneath. Maybe this is something else McCurry attempted to present and show us – the inner beauty of this young girl that is underpinned by the courageousness of her efforts to stay brave in the situation she found herself in at the time. It is aa though the women in both works are attempting to tell the audience something through the very intense gaze they possess. McCurry provides us with a modernised version of the Mona Lisa for us to embrace.
In early 2002, the subject of the photo was identified as Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman who was living in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed. This effort to re-photograph the same girl several years after she has once matured and become a grown adult tells a story and a very powerful narrative which the world can acknowledge as the image at the time when she was a girl touched the whole world as a community and again when her face is shown again over 15 years later. It was revealed that she had never seen the Afghan Girl image before it was shown to her in January 2002.
McCurry made several unsuccessful attempts during the 1990s to locate her. In January 2002, a National Geographic team travelled to Afghanistan to locate the subject. McCurry, upon learning that the Nasir Bagh refugee camp was soon to close, inquired of its remaining residents, one of whom knew Gula’s brother and was able to send word to her hometown. However, a number of women came forward and identified themselves erroneously as the famous Afghan Girl.
Although being a very successful and iconic image worldwide, ‘Afghan Girl’ and many of Steve McCurry’s other images taken in India during his time there for National Geographic can be seen to be quite romanticised and purposefully made to look more glamorous than reality suggests native to India, writer for New York Times Magazine, Teju Cole, explores this in more detail and criticises McCurry’s work on this very factor that many of his images seem ‘too perfect’ and he compares other representations of India that come from natives, such as Raghubhir Singh to McCurry’s and finds an evident juxtaposition between an insider’s view and an outsider’s view. Making for an interesting story about presenting a fake reality to please a modern by audience looking for extravagantness and in reverse, we see a more real and raw look of a country told by the locals, not tom please audiences but to provide reality.
Taj Mahal and train in Agra, 1983, Steve McCurry
Teju Cole in his article addressing this topic he feels very passionately about goes as far as to say that McCurry’s images are “astonishingly bring” which may seem quite harsh and disrespectful as most would see McCurry as a hugely influential and dedicated photographer but I can see where Cole is coming from with this very brave statement as there isn’t much in his images that sparks interest from me in terms of look and visuals. Like I said, you would think that McCurry’s work should be admired and loved by everyone because of its popularity in National Geographic and his image of the Afghan Girl which will live in memory but his work is not for everyone, including Teju Cole and myself but Cole himself mentions the immense popularity of McCurry’s work which “adorns calendars and books, and commands vertiginous prices at auction.” – in other words ‘sells for ridiculously expensive prices’ and Teju Cole cannot see the demand for such images which are “boring” because he sees the images produced by McCurry as unrealistic of Indian culture – evident in the image above where photographed is a very glamourous scene where in frame is a train going by with natives on the front in their colourful and beautiful headdresses looking very polished and slick and in the background is the Indian landmark. the Taj Mahal and it almost seems “too perfect” much like the title of the article suggest. Cole says “The men are real, of course, but they have also been chosen for how well they work as types.” This is suggesting a fake presence around McCurry’s work that they have been specifically chosen as they look well together and it makes for a very glamorous image which is not a true representation.
Indian photographer, Raghubir Singh worked from the late ’60s until his untimely death in 1999, traveling all over India to create a series of powerful books about his homeland. His work shares formal content with McCurry’s: the subcontinental terrain, the eye-popping colour, the human presence. Within these shared parameters, however, Singh gives us photographs charged with life: not only beautiful experiences or painful scenes but also those in-between moments of drift that make up most of our days.” Here Cole talks about the difference between Singh and McCurry’s work as well as similarities but focuses on the negatively charged feelings which exude from McCurry’s work in particular and suggests that this is incorrect and not how he wishes for his homeland to be shown and therefore, with pride, backs the work of Singh to show what India is – in that it is a land full with life but is better shown through the snap-shots of everyday life – what is in between the hustle and bustle of a usual busy location.
An example of Singh’s work is show above and is quite the opposite of McCurry’s work although taken of the same content – just much more relaxed in its composition. Singh focuses on creating a ‘snap-shot’ of one second in time – no-one is looking directly into the camera, not is there exaggerated shadows and colours enhancing in after-affects and instead we are given a much more raw representation of India’s busyness told from the perspective of an insider. Although an outsider’s view, McCurry’s amateur representation of India is still loved because we are given something simple to feast our eyes on; not a narrative which needs to be unpicked yet still enjoyed in its visuals – much like what Singh’s work offers.
Looking at another view, above is the music video for Coldplay and Beyoncé collaboration song ‘Hymn For The Weekend’. Although very poplaur, it has spakred much controversy over its intentions.
Written by Billbaord, ‘Coldplay’s new “Hymn for the Weekend” video featuring Beyoncé that was released on Friday 29 January is catching some heat over its Indian inspiration, with some online calling the Mumbai-shot clip a work of appropriation while others defend it as an appreciation of the foreign culture.
People were seen to express their fury at both Beyoncé and Coldplay and people took to Twitter to outburst their range over what should be seen as an offense to the local culture instead is being ignored because it has been addressed by two popstars who are worth millions. Some said ‘Are we gonna discuss how Beyoncé dressing up as an Indian woman for the Coldplay video is cultural appropriation, or no?’ and another said ‘Just because it’s Beyoncé, doesn’t mean she’s right. She is being offensive and appropriating our culture.’ However, some actually like the fact that Beyoncé was seen in the video to dress up as an Indian woman as it empowers them and someone said ‘I adore Beyoncé for embracing my culture. In a country where I’m a “terrorist” I have never felt more accepted’. And it is argued that Beyoncé is likely not offensively appropriating due her black origins and this would not be in her remit.
However, In my own view, I had never looked that far into it until now and just saw it as a band who wants to embrace the culture of India and not intentionally offend anyone by different people have their own views on representation and it is often misinterpreted.
Photography can lie we see this constantly in online media and newspapers whether that’d be an image that has been cropped a certain way or an object that has been removed from the image completely giving the photograph a completely new meaning. As most individuals now days have access to editing software photographs have somewhat become unreliable. However, most people do still see a photo record as something reliable. When a photo is released in a newspaper or news channel people take it for granted that the photo has not been tampered with or edited in anyway. Yet when we look through the past news photos often been edited to convey a certain way, showing bias towards one point of view or dramatizing a certain event. Most of the time these little subtle changes go unnoticed however there are many cases the audience have picked up on the changes.
Photos can change the way people view certain situations and literally change the worlds decisions. A good example of this is the photo below. The photo is of the a Vietnam soldier mercilessly executing what looks like an innocent civilian in the streets. In the this photo the man with gun is clearly portrayed as the bad guy in this situation. This photo was recorded from the violence of the Vietnam war in 1968. This photo was taken back to america for millions of people to witness. This caused peoples attitudes towards the war to change as this photo captured the graphic, raw, brutal and violent side of war. The name of the man with the gun is called General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. Nguyen Ngoc Loan was denied medical attention at an Australian hospital after being shot in the leg. He was then sent to America where there was a campaign to have him deported all due to this photo below. People didn’t want a stone cold killer in their country. For the rest of his life he was hated by anyone who recognized him. The photographer himself said
“Two people died in that photograph: the recipient of the bullet and General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera.”
It was later discovered that the man getting shot in the photo wasn’t as innocent as people thought. The man on the right was a Vietcong officer Nguyen Van Lem who was captured at the site of a mass grave that included the bodies of at least seven police family members. This man was a killer. Yet because people only saw photographic evidence of him being killed they saw the General as the bad guy. This is a clear example of how photography can misdirect people to believe something that never happened. A photograph with no words or explanation can be as dangerous as a gun. This is the point the photographer has now released after this photo was so misunderstood. Photographer said he had a lot of sympathy for the shooter and wished he had never published the picture. The article below explains how the officer had done the correct thing yet he was persecuted for the rest of his life.
This is a clear example of how photography can actually lie without there being any sort of editing. This was all due to the fact people were not exposed to the story behind the photo. However, the photo below clearly shows how editing can take place not to change the story necessarily but instead make it clear. The photo of an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University, Ohio, May 4, 1970. Four students were killed when Ohio National Guard troops fired at 600 anti-war demonstrators. As you can see the first photo hasn’t been edited and some would say that the more reliable, less bias version of the photo however, it looks like the pole is coming out of the women’s head so the photographer removed this. Personally I think this was ok as it is not change the story the photo is trying to tell it is only making it clear for the view what has happened.
To record and share an event has become so easy now day as almost every person has access to a camera and some form social media. This given everyone the opportunity to share their stories and experiences they have had around the world that main media such as the news may have not cover if it wasn’t for the amateurs using their device to record this. We see this a lot with terror attacks as often people use their camera to record the aftermath and even when its happening. This can be used as evidence and to give awareness of the brutality that may have taken place. Due to the internet and these recording devices information has never been so easy to access.
Churches are all around us in different shapes, sizes and forms for different religions. I am going to specifically focus upon the Christian church as this is an area I have the most knowledge in and within the Western region of the world, particularly England as Christianity is the most prominent religion according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_Kingdom.
Initially, I researched the influence of religion within my tiny Channel Island and that’s when I discovered; “two fifths of the island are… irreligious”, signifying the decreasing power of the Christian church over society. Getting as close to home as possible, I studied the history of Saint. Clement’s and the four churches within the parish, although only two of these are Christian churches. This is the parish where I live so these churches are very accessible, but with the help of my trusty moped and due to the small nature of Jersey I am able to study all Jersey Christian churches. Following my research upon the religious scene in Jersey, I discovered Jersey’s established church is the Church of England, and although Christianity equates for half of Jersey’s population, wikipedia states irreligion has been an increasing force in Jersey. A demographic which I come under as I am an atheist, however, I do respect the values that Christianity promotes, especially as they correspond with modern day law and legislation.
The Parish Church
Fundamentally, what I do not support about Christianity is how in history and even more contemporary, in less educated global regions, the papacy have exploited the good-will of church goers for their money, demonstrating their indoctrination to religion. Recently, I watched a documentary known as “Deception of the Ages Nigeria”, which is available on YouTube. The documentary establishes this sense of exploitation of the lower class which angers me as these people have no money, they cannot afford for their children to have efficient education, yet the church is coercing finances from these families as they are not educated enough to understand the hoax they’re being gulled with, portraying life’s vicious cycle. This is just one of many examples I could provide to signify my anger towards the purpose behind the church.
A Christian Church in Nigeria
In response to the task set, I have decided to steer my focus towards the Christian church and how they have exploited the ancient literature of the Bible to gain money and power from the common people. Another reason why the Christian church has angered me is as recently, I unfortunately had to attend a funeral for a family friend who is the mother of one of my close friends. At the young age of 47, this lady lost her ten month battle with cancer. This lady was a mother of four extremely successful and lovely natured children and this death would leave a void in their lives all too soon. However, on the day of the funeral, with hundreds of people attending who were crying, sobbing, snuffling, the church televised an extract from the Bible. The b***** Bible. At such a tender time, the priest discussed how now sweet Elizabeth will rest with God. I can’t really justify why this angered me except to say its selfish. At this point, these four suffering children are numb with tears streaming down their face whilst a priest recites a quotation from the Bible. It goes unsaid I appreciate my mother’s health and eternally grateful that I wasn’t in that position, but I envisioned myself in that position of my close friend. I imagined that I was stood in her position, crying and having to say goodbye to my mother for the final time whilst this priest mumbled and gargled shit from the Bible. I stand outside of the ceremony starring inside to again, see my friend crying which is when I remember a thing I once discovered from a source I have now forgotten but it was the ‘seven’ stages of grief and this relates so well to what I can see happening to my friend.
Another reason to base upon my work upon grief, the church and orientate the production around the number ‘seven’ is that, within the content of the Bible, it states there are ‘seven’ deadly sins. I think basing my piece around the number seven will also give me some guidance to how I should arrange my work.
7 Deadly Sins List & Meanings
Envy = the desire to have an item or experience that someone else possesses
Gluttony = excessive ongoing consumption of food or drink
Greed or Avarice = an excessive pursuit of material possessions
Lust = an uncontrollable passion or longing, especially for sexual desires
Pride = excessive view of one’s self without regard to others.
Sloth = excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents
Wrath = uncontrollable feelings of anger and hate towards another person
On Sunday the 15th of October, I plan to photograph as many churches as I can from outside in order to create a typology of churches. This will give me experience with photographing churches and discovering what churches are the best buildings to capture images of for future preference.
Due to my shoot being on a Sunday, I may also capture the services churches hold on a Sunday in order to gather more images for the future.
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.
For this shoot I went back to the area where I used to frequently play as a child and constructed an Environment of what I remember the sort of activities I got up to as a child. I shot things such as dug holes, sand castles and other things that showed the activities of playing on the beach, but also other things such as possessions like towels and buckets and spades to show me bringing my own objects to the beach that helped influence my personal opinion of the beach. I believe this shows my personal relationship that I have with the beach which is quite precious in the sense that this particular beach is quite a quiet beach, allowing me to explore and enhance my understanding of the beach.
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.
CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: Truth in Documentary Photography Week 3-4: 20th Sept – 4th Oct
Can a photograph lie?
Robert Capa, Death of a Loyalist Soldier, 1936
Are all photographs reliable?
Joe Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945
A common phrase is to ‘shed light on a situation’ meaning to find out the truth.
‘A picture tells a 1000 words‘, is another aphorism that imply images are more reliable.
Picasso famously said: ‘We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth.’
Magritte’s painting La Trahison des Images in which he painted a picture of a pipe with the words ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ (This is not a pipe) goes some way to towards an explanation.
‘The camera was there and recorded what I saw’.
A certain delivery of facts?
Claims of truth that most people take for granted?
Art or photography is not reality but can examine and model reality.
Traditional documentary believes the viewer to be a receptive subject taking in the objective information of the world through the photograph.
Documentary photography’s central aesthetic, political and moral associations are:
depicting truth
recording life as it is
camera as a witness.
TASKS: Produce a number of blog posts that show evidence of the following
DEADLINE: Wed 4th Oct
In order to complete the tasks successfully read and look through supporting material and consider the bullit points too that may prompt you in your answers . Make notes and include direct quotes sources. Conduct independent research too .
Documentary photography is based on assumptions that the photograph represents a one-to-one correspondence with reality, which is nearly accurate and adequate, and that the photographic image is capable of conveying information objectively.
Traditional documentary believes the viewer to be a receptive subject taking in the objective information of the world through the photograph
Can we rely on its ability to capture a moment in time accurately as historical evidence or as a witness to the world?
Postmodernism points out that all forms of representation is subjective? How? Why?
Digital photography has made manipulation much easier?
2. ANALYSIS: Choose one image (either historical or contemporary – ppts above) that questions the notion of truth and explain why. Follow this method of analysis: Description – Interpretation – Evaluation – Theory/Context
3. PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT: Based on your chosen themes, FAMILY or ENVIRONMENT make two images, one that you consider truthful and one that is not.
4. CASE STUDY – EXTENSION: Using current news images as an example, such as the drowned Syrian boy (read articlehere), consider if photographs can change the world or change people’s perception?
Here is a link to another article about the photographer who took the photos of the dead Syrian boy where she speaks about why she took them.
For a different point of view read this blog post by photographer and lecturer, Lewis Bush where he discuss the above in light of recent images of dead Syrian refugees in Europe. Incorporate his views and include quotes, for or against your own analysis and point of view.
EXTRA READING: For those of you who likes to read theory of documentary practice, see Susan Sontag (1977), On Photography , Roland Barthes (1982), Camera Lucida. John Tagg (1993) or the famous essay by conceptual artist, Martha Rosler, In, around, and afterthoughts (on documentary photography) in book: Bolton, R. (1992) ‘The Contest of Meaning’. MIT Press. See me if you are interested in reading of the above books and essays.
5. CASE STUDY – EXTENSION 2:
Kevin Carter and The Bang Bang Club
Starving Child and Vulture
Kevin Carter
1993
Kevin Carter knew the stench of death. As a member of the Bang-Bang Club, a quartet of brave photographers who chronicled apartheid-era South Africa, he had seen more than his share of heartbreak. In 1993 he flew to Sudan to photograph the famine racking that land. Exhausted after a day of taking pictures in the village of Ayod, he headed out into the open bush. There he heard whimpering and came across an emaciated toddler who had collapsed on the way to a feeding center. As he took the child’s picture, a plump vulture landed nearby. Carter had reportedly been advised not to touch the victims because of disease, so instead of helping, he spent 20 minutes waiting in the hope that the stalking bird would open its wings. It did not. Carter scared the creature away and watched as the child continued toward the center. He then lit a cigarette, talked to God and wept. The New York Times ran the photo, and readers were eager to find out what happened to the child—and to criticize Carter for not coming to his subject’s aid. His image quickly became a wrenching case study in the debate over when photographers should intervene. Subsequent research seemed to reveal that the child did survive yet died 14 years later from malarial fever. Carter won a Pulitzer for his image, but the darkness of that bright day never lifted from him. In July 1994 he took his own life, writing, “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain.”Read more here:http://100photos.time.com/photos/kevin-carter-starving-child-vulture
Documentary usually means that something is occurring naturally and is being captured purely for recording purposes.Documentary photography is one of the most popular forms of photography and occurs all over the world environmental, social and chronicle events which have a certain relevance to history.During the first world war when documentary photography properly emerged it was used purely for ‘gathering a creative education about actuality, life itself’ says David Bate in ‘documentary and storytelling’ . the photographer wanted the images they took to be records of everyday life.
There are many different views of what documentary photography really is and is you look at it from a now modern perspective and the opinion of Tate they describe documentary as ‘a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage’. However there was a very different view of this before the middle of the twentieth century were documentary photography was vital for capturing key events.
Greer and Robert on the bed, NYC 1982 Nan Goldin born 1953 Purchased 1997 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78044
Nowadays documentary photography follows the lines that it shows a story through a series of photographs in depth which can be seen as different to photojournalism which is more what is happening in reality ( similar to documentary photography when it was first set up). Documentary photography gives us a deeper understanding and sense of meaning to critical events, public connections, stories of political justices, and human rights issues which are all very relevant to the audience of the photographs.
Documentary photography is very important in today’s open society as they have the ability to highlight stories and are one of this generations best chances of making people understand that change does need to happen. I think that this is why i really like documentary photography because it has the power to maybe make a difference and change the society with live in today to a better more peaceful place, and this is the type of photography which i would like to achieve this year ( something with a bigger meaning.
former combat medic with the Us army and his grandmother – Eugene Richards, War is Personal
I think that documentary photography does have different meanings to it but what interpret it as is a way of showing social, political and environmental issues which are going on around the world that our society needs to know about and a photographer which i have found really influential when researching is Marcus Bleasdale who documents natural disasters in the Congo. He photographs show true stories of real life tragedies and although his work is spreading awareness of some issues going on around the world ‘Open society foundations’“believe that photographers can be more effective when connecting to those who are already working towards change in an ongoing way.”
French for ‘Living picture’ Tableaux photography is what it means. it is a style of artist presentation which tends to ‘describe a group of suitably costumed actors, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.’ – wikipedia. The idea of Tableau has been around since before photography when people from the middle and lower class liked to recreate scenes from paintings of famous parties. Photographic experimentation began to appear more regularly during the 1970’s were it became more known of performance art and photography among women. Cindy Sherman is an example of woman photographers immerging in tableaux photography. Brighthub state that “Cindy Sherman’s “Film Stills” series dating from the late 1970’s to early 1980’s are all narrative tableau constructions that create archetypal women from B movies – posed, staged and lit to convey meaning and message. Sherman starred in every image, making herself into art.”
Cindy Sherman – ‘film stills’
Susan brights opinion on what Tableaux and narrative photography is shows that she thinks that you can create exciting staged images which still tell a story but have been created in a specific. she states ” narrative is crucial to photography, as is artificial and contemporary artists realise this and use these as strategies to tell stories”. Similar to Documentary photography narrative/Tableaux images have a deeper meaning behind them and are often telling the story of a social situation or issue.
Therefore the difference between tableaux photography and documentary photography becomes clear as tableaux photography is staged, artificial photographs which act on the before of telling either fantasy or real life situations but are not actual in the real environment/ situation. Whereas documentary photography capture real life in the moment image which have been less staged or not staged at all however still tell a very relevant and real story/ message about current social situations.
Contextual Studies is vital in developing a deeper understanding of photography and its relationship with art, history, politics and culture at large. This year we will be spending one lesson a week (mainly Wednesdays) on theoretical issues relating to your study on Documentary and Narrative Photography.
Contextual Studies will inform your practical work and vice versa. To achieve high marks and make work that is critical, and which engages with contemporary subject-matter it is essential for you to spend time reading, thinking and writing about issues discussed and how they relate to your ongoing projects.
Write 500-1000 words where you try and answer the following two questions. Deadline Mon 18 Sept.
Q1: Define what we mean by Documentary Photography?
Q2:What is Tableaux Photography and how does it construct a narrative different from documentary photography?
You must read the following two texts and include images to illustrate your essay and include quotes using Harvard System of Referencing from sources that shows evidence of reading and understanding.
EXTRA READING: To develop a better understanding in answering the above questions, read these two texts by David Bate from his new book, Art Photography (2016) Tate Publishing
ion in Burkina Faso are inexact because Islam and Christianity are often practiced in tandem with indigenous religious beliefs. The Government of Burkina Faso 2006 census reported that 60.5% of the population practice Islam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch,]while a small minority adheres to Shia Islam.There are also large concentrations of the Ahmadiyya Muslims.
