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Full Essay – Final (Personal Study)
This the final draft if my essay. I will insert this into my book at the end with the included images to illustrate it. Once this is completed, I can upload my boko to Blurb and purchase it.
How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through their work and, in particular, their most recent projects looking at family?
“As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” [1]
My interest in photography derives from how raw and truthful an image or series of images are. I achieve satisfaction from photographs which show everything as it is without removing any factor of reality; it as it this point at which imagery loses my interest. I believe that this relates to the beauty that comes from images created from the insecurity from the person behind the camera. Within my own work, I attempt to do this. The space in which I am insecure encourages an emotional and physical urge and a sometimes-unwanted force to venture into a neighbouring space in which I feel less comfortable but more willing to experience more challenging emotions. It is with my camera and in my project looking at the reality of feeling attached yet isolated, that I can explore this feeling of lonesomeness. I am using my mum and dad’s divorce thirteen years ago as a starting point for the development of my series which centres around my experiences with the people closest to me. As I grow into an ever-maturing yet still sensitive man, I struggle to find myself in this fast-moving, fragile world; I find myself unknowingly becoming detached from the people who should be my most dear. I see this project as a way of building lost relationships. Using a subject close to my heart, I have been able to capture a view that feels very poetic, like that of Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s work. My aim is to make the intangible, tangible by collaborating closely with my subjects to create a meaningful insight into my family with room for interpretation by the viewer – an aspect I have been focusing on heavily for my project. I wish to create something for the audience to interact with (the book) and content the audience can relate with. Taking inspiration from photo-books of several artists, others including JH Engstrom and Anders Petersen and their use of images of several formats and styles, I have generated an immense interest in putting aside much of my time and effort to create a book, paying close attention to design, font, concept and other marginal details. My project is an exploration into my family and myself for personal satisfaction and as a visual documentation to cherish and keep, providing that very possession of a moment in time that can be so easily be forgotten. “Memory is fragile; the moments are fleeting and have to be wrestled into a permanent state” [2], said Eich in his statement for recent body of work, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. It is with my photographs that memories become realised and documenting my own familial circle, like Eich and Frazier, I can provide a structure to my family’s memory that can be built to last instead of a moment in time being brushed aside and forgotten. It is the little moments that require time to step back and appreciate that we should treasure; when I release the camera’s shutter, is an acknowledgement that a moment is significant…
When I hear the word attachment, images of love surface within my mind. I visualise scenes of a girlfriend clinging lovingly to her boyfriend in moments of laughter and intimacy within their new-found romance; young love is what attachment is. Reasoning for this visualisation comes from experience. The knowledge that I am needed by someone else is what provides me with comfort. Attachment is feeling a sense of belonging within this world which can be so harsh in its unforgiving realities. Attachment and acceptance is something I long for in a life that has shown me, face-on and in a time of tenderness at the age of four, the direct implications of what love can do to two adults – unite, yet divide. I have grown up in two different lives, one with my mum and the other with my dad. Through this, I have been gently nurtured into a still-developing young man who has learnt and is still learning the meaning of romance. I have understood the sensation of sibling-love. As well, I have accepted the fact that my parents are no longer together and I will, for the rest of my life, live this life and embrace it, as I have done for the past 18 years. There is a still, however, the underlying reality of detachment which on the other hand, connotes opposing visuals; a lonesome astronaut drifting into a deep, dark existence without anything to cling on to.
Harry Harlow, an American psychologist in the mid-1900s studied, in great detail, the concept of maternal separation and dependency needs. He experimented with rhesus monkeys, an Asian species that adapts easily to living with humans [3]. He carried out an experiment in the laboratory to confirm theorist, Bowlby’s previous theory on attachment; Harlow separated the baby monkeys from their biological mothers and paired them with a surrogate mother in the form of a baby doll. He observed that, although the doll did not provide them with food or drink, at a time of feeling scared, the baby monkeys clung to the doll for comfort as it had adopted the roll of mother to them. Harlow used this to verify the importance of a mother-child relationship when the child is very young because it reiterates the idea of unconditional love. I feel very strongly that my own mum and I have experienced this when I was much younger and it has benefited our relationship over the last 18 years. This maternal attachment has expanded into a much more secure relationship as we have both developed into our own selves and, along the way, we have learnt to respect and trust each other, as a mother and son should. With my dad, however, he was the parental figure who was taken away from me. Oblivious to what this would mean to how I would experience future life events, I clung to my mum as a figure of comfort because the next few years of my infancy would prove to be a time of constant change as I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. My project embraces both attachment and detachment and how I situate myself in the centre of it all.
Furthermore, the first 20 years of your life can prove to be the most important and impactful for the years to follow. In this period of time, the most vital events which contribute to self-growth and self-confidence occur. But not everything runs smoothly, as illustrated by my parent’s separation. It is with my camera that I am able to capture memories and when I pick up my camera and release the shutter it is then that I am acknowledging a moment of significance. Joerg Colberg said, in an article published outlining memory in photography, “just like memories, photographs are created with intent” and “all photographs, when used as memories, give us something to hold on to.” [4]. It is this interpretation by Colberg that resonates with my intent as a photographer to capture, consciously, the intimate moments in life. My parents took on this role when I was younger to provide me with the endless photo albums of my 9lb 12oz-self as a baby bouncing around the house I grew up in for 10 years. It is now that I am beginning to take inspiration from my own archival imagery of myself as a young child to capture similar moments of my half-sister, Minnie. As a photographer, I use my camera to collaborate not only with my subjects, but with myself when including myself within the images. Taking inspiration from the work produced by Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier in their diaristic black and white images for projects looking at family, I have been able to change my perspective from a witness to a performer; from being a witness to the occurrences in front of the camera, I have since found reward from being an actor who performs for the camera and it has expanded my abilities to tell a visual narrative – a skill I have developed from observations of the work of Swedish photographers, JH Engstrom and Anders Petersen. Looking at the books of these artists, I have developed the ability to collate select images which can in-turn have the power to provide meaning beyond the indexical of the photograph to impact the viewer.
Using the camera as a tool of documentation can provide outcomes that are very real and using these images as a way of telling a visual narrative can make for a much deeper, more meaningful story than that comprised of words, in my opinion. The work of Matt Eich shows this concept in its full affect, especially in that of his recent project ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. His imagery and way of composing and presenting images have the ability to work in conjunction with each other to create an obscure, yet very simple narrative in which the viewer is required to decode in order to derive meaning. This ability to present a reportage sequence which reveals only part of the story and leaves the remainder up to the audience’s imagination is something I am attempting to do in my project. By photographing inanimate states such as landscapes or still life, I can provide indirect and underlying representations of the main focus throughout the book. Much like literary stories, photographic stories can use metaphors to explain a meaning beyond the direct face value. An object as simple as a car covered by a cloth (an image I will use in my book) can connote a far more captivating significance than its face value and instead, using the context of my book, it can show the affect of a lost identity; the affect of a new beginning; becoming isolated and forcing a withdrawal from the people you love because it seems easier to hide away. It is these inanimate objects that provide substance and body to fill the gaps in my book because the project is an exploration into not only the people present but of the emotions that come with the concept I am exploring.
I make photographs with the intent to create memories so that moments of importance are not forgotten. I am forever holding a camera or a smartphone to capture any point in time in which I may be present and this has become a second nature now I am a big brother to my 5-year-old sister, Minnie. It fills me with joy to document with my camera the smiles and laughter which glow off my sister’s face every time I see her. As I have seen from my own family albums when I was a child, it is a way of creating these important memories that, inevitably lend themselves to never be forgotten, and in-turn manufacture a life-long feeling of attachment to what may have once been forgotten or mentally discarded. The photo albums which live in my loft are what allows me to experience my childhood again, where I can feel this magical sense of attachment at a point when it was just my mum, my dad and I. These memories; these shadows that I have near to no recollection of become illuminated when I flick through these never-ending photo albums. Mark Alice Durant, in his book ’27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography’ tells the reader of his experience when he re-lived his parent’s wedding album and quotes “in memory, colour comes alive, and for me it is only blue.” [5]. I feel very strongly about this message; the notion that an irretrievable recollection that, as the years go by, becomes a haze can be re-lived in the form of colour.
Eich’s work has a way of storytelling which affects the viewer to the point which, I for one, begin to feel quite out-of-place flicking through page after page because of the fact that it is a very personal and intimate insight into how his family live and his own place within it. Towards the end of Eich’s book, we are presented with an image of Eich’s wife, and his two children in the bath, looking blankly down the camera lens [6] – an image that I personally find enchanting because of its ability to connect with the audience – helped by the subjects immense focus on the camera, whether planned or not, it works brilliantly. The audience, although may get an urge to flick past quickly, it is vital to admire the rawness of the photograph and it echoes, again, how the camera can provide a way to tell a story easier in a poetic style.
Another image in his book uses a technique that is rarely seen in contemporary photography – a man showing his vulnerability and his sensitivity by including himself in his photographs. We see Eich, sat down and eyes-closed, with his head leant on the support of his wife’s stomach as she stands cradling its weight. Eich is topless and his wife stands in her bra and underwear. It is an image of such grace and elegancy. Images like these are avoided in photography but I admire the honesty of Eich to present himself to his own camera as he is doing. Using images which scratch upon the surface of taboo subject matter within photography, and society as a whole; this being certain representations of women through nudity and misogynistic references is brave but it gives a very raw feel to what we are seeing. In my own project, using my girlfriend, I have utilised the casual time we spend together in my bedroom to use my camera as a way of photographing her in a way which, for me, is normal. We often lie, lazily on my bed and talk for endless periods of time about anything. At this particular moment, she was lying in a way which looked quite seductive; curled up, in her t-shirt and tights, in which you could see her underwear through – a blue pair of briefs which read ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’. Her rear pointing to camera, it makes for an image which divides the sequencing of dull, inanimate scenes in my book. This image provides a sense of spontaneity; it can be seen as naughty. Moments like these, shown in my project through this one image, Eich’s in his portrayal of an evening with his family and in Frazier’s through her snapshots of leisure time in their household [7] present this underlying theme of attachment. It is the moments that are ordinary and seen as just part of the daily routine within your own circle of comfort and joy that make for the most truthful representations of what attachment can be. Not acknowledging the presence of the camera is how memories are formed. Yet, referring back to the wording that takes its place on my girlfriend, Lucy’s underwear – ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’ also connotes visuals of what detachment can be. Romance amongst young couples often brings its petty arguments – the phrase on Lucy’s underwear connotes this – that often she may try to fix an argument but it doesn’t always work and we find ourselves giving each other the cold shoulder – much like her body positioning suggests in this image.
Scanlan [8], in 2012, suggested the theory which provided an explanation to the importance of romantic development in adolescence, much like what I am experiencing as I grow, maturely into an adult, with my girlfriend as a mechanism of support. He said that teenage romantic relationships are, in a sense, a training ground for adult intimacy. He elaborated on this statement and said that romance during adolescence provides an opportunity for learning to engage strong emotions, to negotiate conflict, to communicate needs and to respond to a partner’s needs as well. Both Lucy and I often joke about the fact that we have been together for two years, because, considering we are only eighteen years of age, this is a significant period of time to maintain a relationship alongside all other demands of teenage life. At the start of our relationship, we both told one another that we would take it slow and see how it goes – because of the fact we were best friends for five years prior to our relationship, we didn’t see it going too far because we were used to living in comfort of a ‘friendzone’. However, now, in retrospect, I am relieved that circle of comfort was broken because she is the most important person in my life. I hope to show this in my project, ‘All My Love’ through the abilities of documentary photography and the ability to create sequencing of imagery to tell a story. We are only teenagers and love can be confusing but our relationship is simply a partnership of two alike personalities which coincide with one another to complement one another.
In Eich’s work, he doesn’t use his power as a photographer to abuse the relationship he holds with his wife, nor his children, nor his own parents and instead, like myself, uses his control of the camera to collaborate with his subjects that present a truthful picture of the benefits of clinging on to the ones you love most. Eich, in a mini-documentary series outlining his work and how he captures intimacy, said “I can articulate myself better with images than with words” [9]. This concept is very relevant to my own work also and is why I love shooting documentary images because it is the moments of intimacy between people, as well as a relationship between a person and a place that form the poetic images that make up my project. I have touched upon the relationship between people and places and the attachment that comes with this in my work through photographing the transition from my old family home to my new one – a process of losing one identity that has shaped your life for so long and generating a new identity. The process of change is something I do not deal with too well but it is with change that new opportunities exist to be photographed. Although I see change in any aspect of life as a negative, it is important to embrace it – as I did when my parents split; I had no choice. It emphasises the importance of forming an attachment to what comes with the change even though it is tempting to become disconnected instead.
Eich, in the same documentary, states that “photographing my family is incredibly important to me because it goes back to the frailty of memory” [10]. Memory is what Eich hopes he can use as a tool to tell his kids that he loves them and that he was there for their important moments of growth, to reflect back on when they are older. I use memory as a tool to do the same – to form a collection of images that holds meaning of a moment in time, but instead, as a way to show Minnie that I love her and that I was by her side to capture her moments of tranquillity and bliss. As a figure of authority over Minnie, I feel a sense of responsibility to act as a big brother should and provide her with the moments of fun she longs for when she asks me to play. I use my ability, as a teenager, to connect with Minnie as I watch her grow. She brings fun to my life and it is with a camera and with memory, this fun is everlasting. The colour that glows from Minnie’s personality comes alive in my images, made for her, from inspiration of my old childhood images.
In theorist, Dunn’s research surrounding attachment in sibling relationships in 2007, he stated that siblings serve as companions, confidants, and role models in childhood and adolescence [11]. This study came from the discovery made by Connidis & Campbell that siblings serve, instead, as sources of support throughout adulthood [12]. Although I am 18 years old, Minnie is only 5 and there is a 12-year age gap between us, I would like to think that I serve as a role model for my younger sister, as Dunn has stated is usually the case in sibling relationships. The moment I was told I was going to be a big brother, I felt as a sense of companionship between myself and my unborn sibling because it is such a special feeling – I longed to have a younger sibling during my time growing up. I had encountered in my life, the consequences of my parent’s detachment and I, because of this, became detached from my dad. I wanted that special someone to share a life with as we grew together and Minnie has provided me with that. I hope Minnie sees me as a role model but I certainly do see her as a companion and someone I can confide in.
Eich’s project, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ consists of 64 pages and 46 photos. I have picked out one in particular and will critically analyse this in relation to family and intend to include discussions about underlying themes of attachment and detachment.
This photograph taken from Eich’s series is a very simple yet well executed and elegant image full of character. Because of it obscurity, I believe that is a very attractive and intriguing image that would draw me in to know more about the photographer as well as the project.
The image frames one person – who is unknown and the only part of the subject’s body that we can see is the subject’s feet poking out of the bottom of the silk sheet which falls gracefully, and rather ghostly over the shape and contours of the body underneath which is curled up in a rather, tight clustered ball-like shape, as if the subject is scared. Connotations of ghostliness and eeriness exuberate from this image. It is likely that the subject is one of Eich’s daughters who may be playing hide and seek or may in fact be hiding underneath these sheets because she is scared. The audience do not know the whole context of the image but this openness for interpretation is what provides intrigue. The image is very neutral in its formation and structure of greys which provide body to the image. The slight shadows which form from creases in the sheet which drape over the curled-up body contrast that of the harsh, darkened shadow of the feet which projects onto the wall in the background. Furthermore, the silk texture of the sheet provides a certain glow and shine to the overall look. It is a photograph of great skill and is one that I believe works brilliantly in a solitaire state, and does not need the other images from Eich’s work to give it meaning.
Although the little girl may only be playing around with her father as she hides under the sheet in a game of hide-and-seek, it is useful to look further into it to infer and interpret another meaning that could also be realistic. The fact that we cannot see the body underneath the sheet may represent a feeling a lost identity in the new life the family leads. Eich, along with his wife has made the joint decision that it would be best to move away to start a new life, to create more memories. It is likely that the children may have felt a sense of a lost identity that the home they once lived in and began their lives in has now been taken away. I am aware of this feeling from personal experience when I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. After moving out of his home, he had to find a place to live which came as a struggle at the time and as his son, I felt quite confused but found ways to make the most of the new surroundings I found myself in when visiting him. This leads me onto to the notion of children letting their imaginations run free and finding enjoyment out of discovering places in your home to act as den-like nooks; these little places where you can go to sit and do nothing, as I once did. This image may be a demonstration of this.
Alongside Matt Eich, I have also been studying the hugely influential work of American artist and professor of photography, LaToya Ruby Frazier and in particular, her project entitled ‘The Notion Of Family’. Frazier is a very highly regarded figure in American culture. She is both a photographer and a motivational talker which she undertakes alongside her photography and video work to coincide with the images she produces. She is a well-known artist and her status is shown throughout her work through the pure thought that goes behind little details such as composition and framing. Her project looking at her family validates this.
Her work is inspired by influential American documentary-journalism photographer, Gordon Parks. He promoted the camera as a weapon for social justice. Frazier uses her tight focus to make apparent the impact of systemic problems, from racism to deindustrialization, on individual bodies, relationships and spaces [13]. In her work, Frazier is concerned with bringing to light these problems which she describes as global issues [14].
This is an image taken from LaToya Ruby Frazier’s project, ‘The Notion Of Family’ which is an “incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America’s small towns. The work also considers the impact of that decline on her communicability and her family.” [15].
The photograph frames both Frazier as a teenager and what looks like her mum. The project was completed over a period of 13 years in which, during this time, Frazier and her family grew yet, at the same time, declined due to the economic state of the town they were living in. She says that she does not pretend to speak for the Braddock community or African-Americans as a whole and instead intends to simply photograph the three generations of herself, her mum and her grandmother by representing the substandard living conditions and human cost of political neglect [16]. We see Frazier on the right sat on the edge of her bed and, on the left side, her mum lies, relaxed on her bed in the parent’s room, with her back to the camera – likely oblivious to the camera’s presence as I would imagine Frazier would not have wanted to tell her mum that she was taking the picture as it may have removed the element of reality.
The visual divide we see between both subjects can also represent an emotional separation between the two of them; the relationship they have with one another may be very weak and this could be as result of the economic crisis in which the town of Braddock faces. They both have their back to each other and this could represent their, perhaps dislike for one another. Furthermore, the wording on the back if her vest may in fact be quite ironic because the mood that Frazier’s’ persona is indicating is one of hatred. We can’t actually see the mother’s face and instead, get a view of her back and her vest which reads ‘THE SMOOTH EDGE’ and this could be an accurate representation of her or perhaps ironical – she may in fact be the smooth edge or instead, may be a figure that causes a division between the entire family. An individual who Frazier may get along with and from this, the statement can be seen as ironic as she could be instead branded as ‘THE SHARP EDGE’. Perhaps her positioning with her back facing the viewer is how she is seen to Frazier – as though she does not show her face in the most crucial of times as she has been growing up – she may have been dislocated from family life.
In conclusion, this image could represent the breakdown of family life, shown in this one image due to the crisis that Braddock faces as a result of explicit and constant discrimination against the black community. They are crying for help within and it is kept this way – internal and within the four walls of their home because they are too scared to speak up. As a result, they become isolated and damaged to a point that they do not know how to show it – detachment from social norms and a distancing from society as a collective – this is Frazier’s family – dislocated from the rest of America and detached from one another because of it.
With reference to other images within her detailed exploration into family life, Frazier encapsulates in its entirety, the meaning of post-modernist photography. Post-modernist art borrows from references of historical, cultural, social and psychological issues – as Frazier does. Her photographs are more than just an observation of family life – they present the life of a family within the struggle of racism. Frazier uses references of racism and economic decline throughout the book with added an orientation on Bill Cosby – a household name in the American society in the mid-late 1900’s but allegations of sexual assault against his name was released and he became a figure of hate and remorse – as though he betrayed the black culture. Frazier uses this post-modernist approach to highlight key events in American history. Additionally, it again restates the cost that comes with a familial detachment; becoming quiet because of a lack of interest from a parental figure. Frazier shows this consequence which she had to face alone and silently – she looks as though she is suffering in silence, as though she as well longs for an attachment with a figure because it provides a sense of belonging – something I have the knowledge of from experience.
Photography should be used as a means to form bonds within your own familial circle. The camera is a powerful instrument and should be utilised to its full function; it only benefits your ability as a photographer to create relationship with your subjects and it is a way to find that intimacy that makes for very real photographic work. I have aimed to create a miss-matched diary of poetic imagery which, at its face value, looks muddled but on closer inspection, holds meaning and memory beyond what words can express. My project intercepts the safety net that an attachment brings and expands on the damage that comes with a detachment but these themes are underlying as the forefront comprises of where I stand in my own life with the people within it. There is no easy way to document the content matter surrounding my parent’s divorce but I have attempted to achieve this in a way that recognises its existence in a light-hearted way. I have neither forgotten the relationship they once had nor have I avoided showing their divorce as a cause of damage for me. Yet, I have attempted to use my relationship with my girlfriend as a contrast to what my parents once had. The content touches upon how I, in the company of Lucy develop into the individual I am at the age of 18 where I drift, naturally further away from the two figures who raised me. My mum and dad are at the forefront of my quality of living but I wanted to focus on how I am centred in the middle of these experiences. An attachment is bound to come at the cost of a detachment and I have learnt this in the past couple years I drift away from my friends and become closer with my girlfriend of two years.
Taking inspiration from artist such as Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier, I have been able to understand how to use my camera to create a skilful and expressive snapshot of a moment in time, which, eventually will come together with several other images to create a sequence and visual narrative of a personal exploration.
Both Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explore the themes of attachment and detachment in a very close manner, and his is evident in the quality of their work. Both artists’ work are very similar in the way they are produced where, most of the time, every image sees their family within a moment – it is a snapshot of a moment in time and this allows them to express a story that is personal to them both. The audience can see this clearly and because of this, we are able to build connections with each character in the story – the reader can form a sense of sympathy for a character or experience their sense of joy depending on the particular scene. Throughout, however, Eich and Frazier explore closely, the attachments and detachments that arise within their family and how this affects them – in the centre. What I like is that Eich and Frazier position themselves in the centre of all the action and produce a project that considers their own feelings and emotions that come from a detachment – whether it is because of an economic decline or a divorce. It still affects the reader to the point where we don’t want to it the book down because of the photographs ability to speak not only for the characters in the story but for other people.
Bibliography:
[1] Sontag. S (1977), On Photography. London: Penguin Books
[2] The Fence (2017), Matt Eich: I Love You, I’m Leaving. The Fence: http://fence.photoville.com/artist/love-im-leaving/
[3] Exploring Your Mind (2017), Harlow’s Experiments On Attachment Theory. Exploring Your Mind: https://exploringyourmind.com/harlows-experiments-on-attachment-theory/
[4] Colberg. J (2012), Photography and Memory. Conscientious Extended: http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_and_memory/
[5] Alice Durant. M (2017), 27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography. London: SaintLucy Books
[6] Eich. M (2017), I Love You, I’m Leaving. Italy: ceiba editions
[7] Ruby Frazier. LT (2014), The Notion Of Family. U.S.: Aperture
[8] Moore. S (2016), Teenagers In Love. The Psychologist: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/july/teenagers-love
[9] Curate Series (2014), The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5). [online video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwvPgyHqfs
[10] Curate Series (2014), The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5). [online video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwvPgyHqfs
[11] D. Whiteman. S, M. McHale. S, Soli. S (2011), Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships. NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127252/
[12] D. Whiteman. S, M. McHale. S, Soli. S (2011), Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships. NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127252/
[13] Berger. M (2014), LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Notion of Family. The New York Times: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/latoya-ruby-fraziers-notion-of-family/
[14] MacArthur Foundation (2015), LaToya Ruby Frazier. MacArthur Foundation: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/937/
[15] Ruby Frazier. LT (2014), The Notion Of Family. LaToya Ruby Frazier: http://www.latoyarubyfrazier.com/work/notion-of-family/
[16] Berger. M (2014), LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Notion of Family. The New York Times: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/latoya-ruby-fraziers-notion-of-family/
final edits to photo book
To fully complete my book I needed to add the last details to it, such as the title. The title “Inside Out” came from my main idea for the project , which was to express hidden emotions in a physical way using the human body. The name Inside Out represents this concept of showing the inside feelings on the outside. Another thing I wanted to add to my book to make it look more aesthetically pleasing and professional was too add some colour onto the pages where the poems where going to be. I made sure that the colour stuck with the colour theme, and also linked to the colour on the opposite page. Overall, I am very happy with the final edits of my photo book.
essay draft 1 // body image
How do the photographers Viviane Sassen and Michal Konrad use the human body to physically express hidden emotions?
” I run in my thoughts, in my head.
The influx of false thoughts.
I am looking for one true thought.
Which will let me fall asleep on time.”- Michal Konrad
The depiction of the Human body has been a reality since the origins of photography. The body is used to force the viewer to think critically about contemporary political, cultural, sexual, gender, and socio-economic issues. There is a large amount of work depicting the human body in very different ways. It’s used as a tool to express what can’t be said in a photograph. It’s a physical visualisation of unearthed emotions. Although photograph’s fail to capture people’s voices, many psychologists believe that non-verbal communications reveal much more than words. The Diverse representation of the body has inspired many contemporary artists, including the contemporary photographers Viviane Sassen and Michal Konrad. Both these photographers use the human body to represent the process of the mind. Some photographers explore the possibilities by fragmenting the body in order to express their concerns. The surrealist photographers disturb the viewer in order to provoke a reflection in the Modern World. Within my essay I will be discussing how photographers over time have changed their perspective of the female body. They have created a unique angle of what they view the human body to represent. The historical photographers that I will be comparing are Rebecca Horn and Francesca Woodman.These women don’t simply just take images of the body; they distort it in some way to create their twisted realities. Both these women are from challenging backgrounds and faced many complications when expressing their views. I will also be exploring the social and cultural meanings of the female nude within my project. I will be discussing how women have transformed photography by becoming the photographer rather than just the subject. In my project, my main aim is to create a visual link between body image and mental processes. I also plan to include conceptual photography into it and discuss how the influence of the imagination links to the process of the mind. The two combined creates this false world that photographers use to influence their work.
My initial step to explore, ‘How do the photographers Viviane Sassen and Michal Konrad use the human body to physically express hidden emotions’, is to analyse the life and work of the photographs in question. The first photographer I will be exploring is Viviane Sassen who is a Dutch Photographer, born in 1972. Her work includes both fashion and fine art photography. She is mostly known for her use of geometric shapes, regularly abstractions of bodies. The images of bodies are usually intertwined, inspired by daily physical contact with strangers which she experienced in Africa. As a child Sassen lived in Kenya which now influences much of her work. She often travels to Africa to complete her projects and she allows the local culture and environment to stimulate new ideas. Sassen started studying fashion in Arnhem, Netherlands, however she swiftly choose to focus primarily on photography. Her work comes from an extremely alternative route where she combines personal, editorial and commercial ideas. She loves to embrace an interdisciplinary attitude, which is along the bases of combining two or more academic disciplines into one activity. Sassen believes “You should always be able to judge a photograph on different grounds, on political, social, emotional, but also on personal grounds.”
After learning more about Vivane Sassen, I know that her ultimate stimulant for her ideas and inspirations is her own ‘personal grounds’ and experiences. She draws on the memories of three years spent in Kenya as a child. Sassen is using her own personal experiences and emotions to create her ideal format of work. However, Sassen does not solely focus on her own emotions, she also explores the emotions of others. In a series called ‘Parasomnia’ in 2010, she references a sleep disorder that involves abnormal dreams, nightmares and sleepwalking. Much of Sassen’s work references this dream-like world that she creates using colours and shapes. In a quote from Sassen she says, ‘I try to make images that confuse me, and I hope they confuse you too’. I believe I would base Sassen’s work into the Surrealist category. Her work contains elements of a surreal dreamscape containing ‘Lithe bodies, their faces often casting shadow, pose with mysterious props and objects’. Sassen aims to confuse us as viewers because surrealist photographers disturb the viewer in some way to provoke a reflection on what they are witnessing. In an interview by Dazed Magazine with Vivane Sassen, she says, ‘I feel that most of my work is about love and loss’, she also includes, ‘fear and longing.’ Sassen is using these common human emotions to interpret into her work. She is also fundamentally using the human body as a symbol of these emotions.
In a series of books by Sassen called ‘Roxane I’ and ‘Roxane II’, she investigates what it means to be female. Within this series she focuses solely on a women called Roxane Danset. The books contain images of Danset posing as a ‘goddess, the wise mother, the sexual Venus, the innocent and playful child and more’. When questioned about the series, Sassen explains how it is useful being a woman when using a woman as her subject. She says, ‘it helps because we are both preoccupied with the female gaze’. Sassen is wanting to explore the psychology of collaboration and inclusivity when creating images of women, instead of wanting to display them in a sexual manner. When she says, ‘we are both preoccupied with the female gaze’, she is exploring the female body from a women’s point of view, rather then a males. Sassen also says she aims to ‘cherish the female body and mind with all its imperfections’. This again shows how men and women view female bodies in a completely different manner. Females ‘cherish the female body and mind’ because they see and think about things in a varied way compared to men. (whereas males objectify it in a sexual manner. ) Viviane Sassen is included in the generation of female photographers who have challenged the normal perspective and have created their unique idealistic interpretation of the human body. She is also one of the many female photographers who have helped with the progression of woman in this field.
The next photographer I will be exploring is the work by Michal Konrad who is a polish photographer born in 1983 in Wodzistaw Slaski. From an early age Konrad was fascinated with photography and visual art. In the Dodho Magazine, Michal talks about when he first began becoming interested in this form of art, ‘I started photographing analogue camera in my youth’. He as been studying and evolving his style of work for several years, however since 2010 his work has become more conscious and planned. Konrad has always been interested in conceptual photography and believes it is extremely important to always have a deeper thought process when creating a series of work. Konrad says ‘photography becomes a way of their expression.’. He is explaining how he uses his thoughts and emotions to provoke his images. He is using his photography to express hidden thoughts. Konrad also writes, ‘ I always liked to play with memory’. He uses his own personal memories to create his series. An example of one of his series where he uses this concept is a series called Transition which he did in the summer and autumn of 2016. Within this project he takes the images using a 20 second shutter release. According to Michal Konrad, the entire cycle of the project took three months. The quote that Konrad uses to explain the series is ‘You can go to the other side, or change the state of consciousness. You can find the secret window through which we will enter a new dimension.’. Konrad is basically explaining what the meaning of transition is in a descriptive way. He is describing it as a process of climbing through a ‘secret window’. Konrad is stating it can be a psychological process as well as a physical process. He says you can either ‘go to the other side’, which would mean a physical movement, or ‘change the state of consciousness.’, which would be a process of the mind. This is what Konrad is demonstrating within the project. He is capturing the process of a physical movement to symbolise a psychological transition. This series, Transition is an example of how Michal Konrad uses the human body to physically express hidden emotions.
Another series that Konrad has created is called Insomnia. The main subject of his photography is men, mainly himself. The series Insomnia primarily focuses on psychology and the process of a persons mind. He is again using the body to express hidden emotions. The project shows how a person perceives the environment in the modern world and how the environment effects him. The busy world that we live in can often provoke unsettling emotions such as pain and confusion. On the website scopio, Konrad explains that the title Insomnia is meant to ‘show the anxiety in the modern world, caused by lies.’. Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that is characterised by difficulty falling asleep. I believe that Konrad used this title for this series because he wants the title to clearly express what the series is about. He is showing that the ‘anxiety’ caused by ‘lies’ could cause the disorder Insomnia. Similarly to Viviane Sassen, Konrad can be based under the category of Surrealist Photographers because his images are balancing on the border of dream and imagination. Konrad himself has experienced the disorder insomnia and he is using his experiences to influence his work. The series Insomnia is yet again another example of Konrad using the human body to express hidden emotions, in this case confusion and anxiety.
Michal Konrad is fundamentally using himself, and other men to photograph in comparison to Vivian Sassen, who also likes to use other females to express her points of view. I believe photographers who aim to discover a deeper and more thought provoking set of images mainly stick to using a subject who is of the same gender as them. I believe they do this because they can relate to the emotions and psychological process of someone who is of the same sex more than someone who is of the opposite sex. This relates to the female and male gaze.
As well as the contemporary photographers Viviane Sassen and Michal Konrad, I am also going to be discussing the historical artist photographer Rebecca Horn and Francesca Woodman. Both these women went through some process of hardship during there lives which they used to inspire their work. They also both defied the norm to create their ideal reality. They expressed their unique view using their individual style and set of images.
Rebecca Horn was born in March 1944 in Michelstadt, Hesse. She is a German visual artist who creates these unique sculptures and installations to express suffering and torment. She is best known for her film directing and unique body modifications. She also practices body art using different medias such as performance art, installation art, sculpture and film. She also writes poems which she often uses to influence her work. It was in 1968 when Horn produced her first body sculpture where she attached objects and instruments to the human body. She used the relationship between a person and their environment as the theme. One of Rebecca Horn’s most well known performance pieces is called Einhirn, which translates into Unicorn. The subject of this piece is a women who was described by Horn as ‘very bourgeois’. Within the film the subject is seen walking through a field and forest on a summer morning wearing nothing but a white horn from the top of her head. Her work can be interpreted in many ways, however from researching Horn I know that just like the other photographers I have talked about so far, she also uses her past memories and personal emotions to access these unique ideas and concepts.Rebecca Horn had a difficult life, similar to many women during her time. Her parents sent her to boarding school to later study economics, however at nineteen Horn rebelled against her parents to study art. In 1963 she attended the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. Exactly a year after joining, Horn had to pull out after contracting severe lung poisoning. This is how Horn describes her experience, ‘I was working with glass fibre, without a mask, because nobody said it was dangerous, I got very sick. For a year I was in a sanatorium’. Even after working so hard to achieve the career that she dreamed to reach, Horn’s hardship was not over. She carries on to say, ‘My parents died. I was totally isolated’. Horn experienced severe isolation during her life, and felt like her life was over before it had begun. She was too ill to go back to school when leaving the hospital, and therefore she turned to creating sculptures and strange extensions using wood and cloth as a type of therapy. Horn is yet again another example of an artist who uses her emotions and anger to promote her work. Instead of simply taking images of the human body as a symbolic reference of her emotions, Horn goes further by creating sculptures as extensions of the body. She uses these extensions, as well as the human form to transform her ideas and hidden feelings. Rebecca Horn is a well known artist who has achieved so much. She is a female who did not conform to society’s rules and regulations, and similarly to Francesca Woodman, she took part in developing the progression of how people view women in the modern world.
Francesca Woodman is the other Historical Photographer that I will be referencing in my essay. She is an American Photographer who was born in April 1958. She is best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or other females. Many of Woodman’s images contain the subject naked or clothed, blurred or merging with their surroundings. Her work only began gaining attention after her death at the age of 22 in 1981. Life as a working artist was extremely hard, especially as a female. According to Francesca’s father, she found it sufficiently difficult trying to become an established artist. He says it wasn’t Francesca’s work that troubled her; it was the art world, competitive and precarious, that she found scary. In the late 1980’s Woodman became depressed due to the failure of her work to attract attention. She survived a suicide attempt in the autumn of 1980. However, on the 19th January 1981, Woodman died by suicide after jumping out of a loft window. The images that Woodman creates are very haunting and mysterious because she uses her emotions of depression, as an influence. They contain this eary atmosphere because of her use of environment, the bleakness, and also because of the poses that the subject is doing. Woodman was clearly struggling with her life which I can feel when dissecting her images. The black and white really emphasises the haunting and death like atmosphere that Woodman creates. Her images are relatively similar to Rebecca Horn’s because they both use themselves as the main subject. The atmosphere that they create coincide with their experiences with their life.
Photography for women has developed sufficiently since the origins of this visual art. Women like Woodman and Horn no longer have to strive to become well established artists and photographers.
The book called ‘The female Nude’ by Lynda Nead clearly demonstrates how peoples perspectives of the female body have progressed over time. Men have always been, and still are the….
Within Nead’s book, she interprets quotes from important males and females who works in different lines of art forms.
Final outcomes
On top of the photo-book made we were given the opportunity to selected 5-6 photographs, which would be printed for us to present along side our book. I gathered that these photographs may be the same photographs, which were introduced in the book or slightly different images relating to your overall theme and concept. These images are supposed to tell your story in a similar way to the book in fewer images and will correlate to what has already been presented.
After receiving some advice about strong images and making sure that the images, which I present would work as a collective story board. I choose to work with the images of objects I had taken, we were asked to choose 6 images to send for printing, so these are the 6 images I chose. 
I decided to present these images in a picture story format as they provided a story and theme and therefore worked well together to express this. I decided to keep the name of the collection the same as my book, which is ‘ The Aftermath.’ I felt this fit the theme and story I was trying to portray quite well. Overall, I enjoyed the project as it allowed me to connect with my Granddad on a much deeper level. I liked working with in a documentary style and also taking snapshot images, however for future projects I would like to maybe explore staged images as well snapshot images, still working in this documentary style genre.
My photobook
I decided to produce my book in a portrait layout as I felt it would be better for when landscape photographs are spread over two pages, which is a common theme throughout my book. I decided to sequence the photographs so that the viewer does not know what condition my granddad is in until later in the book, revealing the story slowly. The viewer will be able to identify juxtaposition between archival photographs and photographs of him now as well as objects, which provide evidence and give clues to the viewer of what had happened. The images within the photobook are a mixture of both black and white and colour. I have also included text within my book, which provides additional information. The layout of my book changed as I made the book, which was because I would come up with new ideas I didn’t have before or when asking for the perspective of others, they seen it differently to what I did. I found this extremely helpful to have critique as well as positive feedback, as it guided me to my final outcome. The research into photobooks and also looked on the website blurb to gain ideas and inspiration for my book. The way I came to my final outcome was trial and error, moving images around consistently until I was happy with the layout. Once I was content with my layout, I started to choose the image templates to select what the image would look like on the page. You could choose a variety of layouts from 1, 2, 3, 4 photographs to a page. We also had an option to pick multiple photographs, two page spreads and text pages. I used 1,2, multiple photographs, two page spreads and text pages. This is my final layout for my photobook.
This is the front cover I decided to choose in the end. It is one archival image in some sort of paper frame or folder. The image is of my granddad at 19 years old, his brother and his father, who has been covered in black. This is because they lost at a fairly young age, the black is to show loss but is painted as a silhouette figure to show he is still there but just not present in our world. He is still spoken about by my granddad as he looked up to his father and always says this is why he’s the man he is today. The father figure is in the middle of the two pages so he is split in half by the spine, which represents my granddad and his brother is half of him and always will be. This image might have been interpreted differently by viewers, which is what I would like to happen. Consistent questions being asked throughout the book. It took me a while to pick this front cover and I spent time adjusting the image to make sure it was exactly the way I wanted it. Getting the father figure in the middle was difficult to achieve as well as including other parts of the image I wanted, such as the frame and the sharp paper corners.
My title for my book is “The Aftermath” I feel this again leaves it open to interpretation and also keeps the reader guessing, which might intrigue them to look through my book to learn more. This is a simple title, which contrasts to the difficulty within my Granddad’s life. The aftermath represents the consequences of a unpleasant event, this was the strokes which occurred. The consequences were what resulted from this. These consequences and symptoms are presented in the book later on, to provide the viewer more information on what a stroke is and how it can effect the individual.
This is the first image within the book, this is an archival image which has been slightly manipulated. The manipulation taken place was the black line, which is located across the eyes. This leaves the viewer interested to know why this is the case, which is what I wanted. The reason why I did this is because he is now nearly completely blind due to the stroke. This indicates this, without being obvious. Again this is showing loss. He found this particularly hard as he enjoyed reading in his space time and felt like everything he loved to do, was taken away from him. He now reads the newspaper with a magnifying glass but can not read a book due to the pain he feels if he is straining his eye to much. This image represents this.
This is a double page spread, full bleed. I selected this as I wanted the viewer to feel as if they were in the room. This is the interior of my granddads house. This shows where he spends more of his time and will see his life out. I feel it represents family showing how he lives. Also, on the television located in the left half of the photograph there is a politician, which represents his personality and interests as he is extremely interested in politics and history. I feel this gives the viewer an insight into my granddads life behind closed doors and where he lives.
My granddad often scratches his head, the same specific part. I never really knew why but I researched into this as I know many older individuals, which excessively scratch their skin. I found that the sensation of scratching at skin can be pleasurable for some, while others describe a feeling of tension release when scratching. It can also have a calming effect as the sensation can be soothing to the nervous system. The scratching may therefore be a response to feelings of anxiety, depression, nervousness or fear. These are all common emotions in the aging adult, compounded by the deterioration of other mental faculties such as memory. I found this extremely interesting how this was a common activity for elderly individuals and felt this was important to photograph as it is something he likes to do.
The image of a magnifying glass, is something my Granddad uses when reading as he struggles to see as he currently only has one eye which he can partially see out of the other eye but not very well. He uses this to make the words bigger on page to enable him to see the words to read. Reading and learning has always been a significant element in his life, even as a young man so he does not want to give this up so therefore he uses as a way of adapting to his condition. I decided to photograph objects which were significant things in his life, this is one of them, without this he would not be able to read. This is a result of his eye being taken out which is correlating with the photograph of his glass eye. The two images go well together as they are taken in the same way but also because one is a result of the other.
Although this photograph is not of a good quality, I feel it shows how my family are extremely family orientated. This is full bleed as I wanted the viewer to feel they were sitting on the table, making them feel included. This also shows how many people actually care about my Granddad and how many people are effected by his condition.
These are my granddad’s childhood friends, most of his friends are now dead, he only has 2 of them who are still alive today. They are both in this picture. The two people, which are covered by a black overlay to make an almost silhouette effect to show the absence of these people in my granddad’s life as they have both sadly passed away. The other two men in the photograph, which are either side of my granddad in the image are still alive, they are both fairly ill themselves so have not seen my granddad in a long time. But are hopefully going to make an appearance for my granddad’s 80th birthday in December. This photograph is to again empathises the absence and presence in my Granddad’s life.
This is my granddad washing his eye, everyday he has to clean and wash his eye so he doesn’t get infections. This is a snapshot image and illustrates a part of his daily routine, which I wanted to capture in my photo book as this is the main theme of my book- how his life has changed due to the illness and the adaptations he has to make to his daily routine. Although the window is seen as white in the photograph due to the light reacting with the camera, the main focus is my granddad so I feel this does not matter as much as if it was a environmental or landscape photograph. This is a portrait image and shows my granddad in action.
I decided to make a collective image of all his medication he uses for various reasons- all resulting from his strokes. Every week he puts his tablets into his container so that he remembers to take them as he regularly used to forget to take them all. This way they are all in the same place and this is kept next to his bedside table, the tablets has changed his life significantly as they are extremely strong, which results in him not being allowed to drink or take any other tablets in conjunction with them. They are also evidence that he needs medical help, which is something he never needed before his strokes. The tablets are also placed in an orderly manner, which is to show the structure in his life as he has a very structured routine when it comes to his medication and medical care.
These are interviews with my uncles, which are my Granddad’s sons. I turned the interviews into paragraphs about my Granddad and also took images of them to show who said it. This provides outside voices and opinions about my Granddad’s condition, supplying further details.
This shows the house from the outside looking in. You can see my Granddad sitting on his chair, which shows what people see from the external. His chair is where he spends most of his time. So this will be an image others see regularly.
These are interviews with my Mum and Gran, which are my Granddad’s daughter and wife. I turned the interviews into paragraphs about my Granddad and also took images of them to show who said it. This provides outside voices and opinions about my Granddad’s condition, supplying further details.
The images are of my granddad’s glass eye, this goes in his right eye socket, he hates putting it in as it causes discomfit and pain for him. He got his eye taken out after his second stroke in an attempt to remove pain he was getting behind the eye, he had already lost his sight in that eye and he was desperate to stop the pain, he agreed to have his eye taken out and replaced with a glass eye, which was matched to the original colour of his eye. He told me that this was the hardest part of his stroke and often thinks about how he regrets making this decision as the pain is still there and the glass eye causes infections, which are again extremely painful. The box is what he keeps it in to protect it from damage, when in the house he takes it out and relaxes his eye, he finds this extremely soothing and relaxing, This represents the change in my granddad’s life as he has had things taken off him- his freedom, his eye, his ability to see, walk and talk as he did before.
I felt it was equally important to have words from my Granddad about what he thought about his current situation and how he feels both physically and mentally. You see him from a almost side profile, revealing his nose, which as you can see has partly deteriorated leaving him with half a right nostril. It was the whole of the right side of his body which was mostly affected by the stroke. This image shows this as you see his eye socket without his glass eye in it.
This is a photograph from the 60’s of my granddad and his friends, in this photograph is he 21. The red overlay over half the photo is to show separation between the boys as the two underneath the overlay are not here anymore as they passed away over the last 5 years, which brought a lot of emotional to my granddad as he felt this was a part of his childhood disappearing. He currently still has his brother with him but doesn’t see him due to him too being ill, he also had a stroke, which could link to my granddad as an heredity factor.
This is a snapshot of my granddad, receiving his birthday cake. He is now 80 years old, I wanted an image in the book to show his age. I feel like this shows this well. This is also a natural image of my Granddad, which means it is his true self.
This image has been edited in photoshop, only half of the image has been manipulated to show the loss of feeling in one side of his body due to the stroke. He finds it difficult to move this part of his body and this is represented in the photograph by a darken the right side of the body/photograph. Also when you cover one half of the photograph each part looks like a different person to show how he has changed as a person both physically and mentally. The text along side this image, describes what a stroke is and what the short and long term symptoms are. I felt this was important for the viewers to know as they go through the book.
This is my granddad’s eye patch, this is to protect his eye socket from getting infections when he is not wearing his glass eye, as this is potentially a hole or wound in his face. My granddad does not like wearing this as he finds it uncomfortable and he often calls it his pirate patch as admittedly he looks like a pirate when wearing it. He also has to get a new eye patch every few months as it gets dirty, which could result in infection this is collected from the chemist and comes with his repeat descriptions. This is something he uses regularly, which is why I felt it was important to photograph this. The image of the face is the symbol of fate, this is a common theme within my book.
I took images of thinks I seen round where they live. These would be objects my granddad would see when he leaves the house. This tree is located outside their house and is in clear view out of the window next to my granddad’s chair. I decided to turn it black and white and add more contrast to make it a bit eerie, which is because its something my granddad can see but will never touch as its too fair of a walk for him.
This photograph was taken while sitting in my Granddad’s chair. The photograph shows what he would see when looking out the window, I thought this was quite interesting as the viewer sees what my Granddad sees daily, almost putting themselves in his shoes.
These are archival photographs. One of my Granddad and my mum and the one of my Granddad and I. These correlate with each other because he made my mum, who made me. This shows generation and family.
This photograph seems like he is thinking about something, my Nan says he does this daily and she thinks that he is thinking about the life he used to have but whenever anyone asks him what he is thinking about he demands its nothing. Again this is demonstrating that his life is mostly him sitting on his chair. I often catch him staring into space and I am convinced he is reminiscing about how good his life used to be and how he wishes he could move. He also frequently grips his hands together and scratches his head, maybe to release his pain as his grip is usually tight and strong as if he is distracting his attention to other pressure instead of the pain he feels in his body.
This is a cut down tree, which is near their house. About 10 years ago my granddad fought to keep this tree, instead of it being cut down, however he lost that battle. The tree was 15 years old and it was a beautiful feature, they cut it down to give one of the houses a sufficient view. My granddad didn’t think this was a good enough reason to cut down trees and ruin out environment and nature. This image illustrates his strong beliefs in nature.
Finally, this image is my Granddad singing, which he has loved to do from a very young age. This represents his personality and hobbies, he was always a very outgoing person, who would always want to be the life and soul of the party. He was confident and witty, which I feels shows in this image. I wanted to start with an archival image and end with one also, these photographs are included so that the viewer can make comparisons of who he was then and who he is now. The other peoples fill the gaps and explain his journey. I have enjoyed making this book as I felt I was able to reconnect with my Granddad in a much deeper way. A way I never thought I would. Making the comparison myself about what my Granddad used to be like before the stroke made me and my family realise just how much he has been affected by his illness. This is a sensitive topic and I hope my concern for his health and my love for my family show within this book.
sea landscape // shoot // edits
Although my project is focusing on body image, I also wanted my book to contain some images of landscapes and close up details of certain scenes within the landscape. I wanted to add some contrast within the book to change the subject and view slightly. I decided to go to St Ouens bay to capture the landscape images because I wanted scenes of the sea and the vast emptiness that St Ouen contained. My project is about portraying hidden emotions in a physical way and I believe that inserting images of an empty landscape would work well with my theme because its portraying the feeling of loneliness and emptyness.
For the close up details of the landscape I wanted the sand to resemble skin because my project is based on body image. I edited the images using Photoshop because I only needed to do simple edits such as exposure changes and colour changes to achieve an overall look that suited my aesthetic.
Progression of Essay (Personal Study)
(LEFT TO COMPLETE – DISCUSSION OF ARTIST 2 + CONCLUSION)
How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through their work and, in particular, their most recent projects looking at family?
“As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” [1]
My interest in photography derives from how raw and truthful an image or series of images are. I achieve satisfaction from photographs which show everything as it is without removing any factor of reality; it as it this point at which imagery loses my interest. I believe that this relates to the beauty that comes from images created from the insecurity from the person behind the camera. Within my own work, I attempt to do this. The space in which I am insecure encourages an emotional and physical urge and a sometimes-unwanted force to venture into a neighbouring space in which I feel less comfortable but more willing to experience more challenging emotions. It is with my camera and in my project looking at the reality of feeling attached yet isolated, that I can explore this feeling of lonesomeness. I am using my mum and dad’s divorce thirteen years ago as a starting point for the development of my series which centres around my experiences with the people closest to me. As I grow into an ever-maturing yet still sensitive man, I struggle to find myself in this fast-moving, fragile world; I find myself unknowingly becoming detached from the people who should be my most dear. I see this project as a way of building lost relationships. Using a subject close to my heart, I have been able to capture a view that feels very poetic, like that of Eich and Frazier’s work. My aim is to make the intangible, tangible by collaborating closely with my subjects to create a meaningful insight into my family with room for interpretation by the viewer – an aspect I have been focusing on heavily for my project – to create something for the audience to interact with (the book) and content the audience can relate with. Taking inspiration from photo-books of several artists, others including JH Engstrom and Anders Peterson and their use of images of several formats and styles, I have generated an immense interest in putting aside much of my time and effort to create a book, paying close attention to design, font, concept and other marginal details. My project is an exploration into my family and myself for personal satisfaction and as a visual documentation to cherish and keep, providing that very possession of a moment in time that can be so easily be forgotten. “Memory is fragile; the moments are fleeting and have to be wrestled into a permanent state.” [2] said Eich in his statement for recent body of work, ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. It is with my photographs that memories become realised and documenting my own familial circle, like Eich and Frazier, I can provide a structure to my family’s memory that can be built to last instead of a moment in time being brushed aside when forgotten within the busier, more active momentous of life. It is the little moments that require time to step back and appreciate that we should treasure; when I release the camera’s shutter, is an acknowledgement that a moment is significant…
When I hear the word attachment, images of love surface within my mind. I visualise scenes of a girlfriend clinging lovingly to her boyfriend in moments of laughter and intimacy within their new-found romance; young love is what attachment is. Reasoning for this visualisation comes from experience. The knowledge that I am needed by someone else is what provides me with comfort. Attachment is feeling a sense of belonging within this world which can be so harsh in its unforgiving realities. Attachment and acceptance is something I long for in a life that has shown me, face-on and in a time of tenderness at the age of four, the direct implications of what love can do to two adults – unite, yet divide. I have grown up in two different lives, one with my mum and the other with my dad. Through this, I have been gently nurtured into a still-developing young man who has learnt and is still learning the meaning of romance. I have understood the sensation of sibling-love. As well, I have accepted the fact that my parents are no longer together and I will, for the rest of my life, live this life and embrace it, as I have done for the past 18 years. There is a still, however, the underlying reality of detachment which on the other hand, connotes opposing visuals; a lonesome astronaut drifting into a deep, dark existence without anything to cling on to.
Harry Harlow, an American psychologist in the mid-1900s studied, in great detail, the concept of maternal separation and dependency needs. He experimented with rhesus monkeys, an Asian species that adapts easily to living with humans [3]. He carried out an experiment in the laboratory to confirm theorist, Bowlby’s previous theory on attachment; Harlow separated the baby monkeys from their biological mothers and paired them with a surrogate mother in the form of a baby doll. He observed that, although the doll didn’t provide them with food or drink, at a time of feeling scared, the baby monkeys clung to the doll for comfort as it had adopted the roll of mother to them. Harlow used this to verify the importance of a mother-child relationship when the child is very young because it reiterates the idea of unconditional love. I feel very strongly that my own mum and I have experienced this when I was much younger and it has benefited our relationship over the last 18 years. This maternal attachment has expanded into a much more secure relationship as we have both developed into our own selves and, along the way, we have learnt to respect and trust each other, as a mother and son should. With my dad, however, he was the parental figure who was taken away from me. Oblivious to what this would mean to how I would experience future life events, I clung to my mum as a figure of comfort because the next few years of my infancy would prove to be a time of constant change as I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. My project embraces both attachment and detachment and how I situate myself in the centre of it all as I continue to learn the lessons of life both at home and at school with the several people I interact with on a daily basis.
Furthermore, the first 20 years of your life can prove to be the most important and impactful for the years to follow. In this period of time, the most vital events which contribute to self-growth and self-confidence occur. But not everything runs smoothly, as illustrated by my parent’s separation. It is with my camera that I am able to capture memories and when I pick up my camera and release the shutter it is then that I am acknowledging a moment of significance. Joerg Colberg said, in an article published outlining memory in photography, “just like memories, photographs are created with intent” and “all photographs, when used as memories, give us something to hold on to.” [4]. It is this interpretation by Colberg that resonates with my intent as a photographer to capture, consciously, the intimate moments in life. My parents took on this role when I was younger to provide me with the endless photo albums of my 9lb 12oz-self as a baby bouncing around the house I grew up in for 10 years. It is now that I am beginning to take inspiration from my own archival imagery of myself as a young child to capture similar moments of my half-sister, Minnie. As a photographer, I use my camera to collaborate not only with my subjects, but with myself when including myself within the images. Taking inspiration from the work produced by Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier in their diaristic black and white images for projects looking at family, I have been able to change my perspective from a witness to a performer; from being a witness to the occurrences in front of the camera. I have since found reward from being an actor who performs for the camera and it has expanded my abilities to tell a visual narrative – a skill I have developed from observations of the work of Swedish photographers, JH Engstrom and Anders Petersen. Looking at the books of these artists, I have developed the ability to collate select images which can in-turn have the power to provide meaning beyond the face of the photograph to impact the viewer.
Using the camera as a tool of documentation can provide outcomes that are very real and using these images as a way of telling a visual narrative can make for a much deeper, more meaningful story than that comprised of words, in my opinion. The work of Matt Eich shows this concept in its full affect, especially in that of his recent project ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. His imagery and way of composing and presenting images have the ability to work in conjunction with each other to create an obscure, yet very simple narrative in which the viewer is required to decode the sequencing to images to derive meaning – a beauty that I believe photography encourages. This ability to present a reportage sequence which reveals only part of the story and leaves the reader up to the audience’s imagination is something I am attempting to do in my project. By photographing inanimate states such as landscapes or still life, I can provide indirect and underlying representations of the main focus throughout the book. Much like literary stories, photographic stories can use metaphors to explain a meaning beyond the direct face value – making for very interesting outcomes. An object as simple as a car covered by a cloth (an image I will use in my book) can connote a far more captivating significance than its face value and instead, using the context of my book, it can show the affect of a lost identity; the affect of a new beginning; becoming isolated and forcing a withdrawal from the people you love because it seems easier to hide away. It is these inanimate objects that provide substance and body to fill the gaps in my book because the project is an exploration into not only the people present but of the emotions that come with the concept I am covering.
I create all photographs with the intent to create memories so that moments of importance are not forgotten. I am forever holding a camera or a smartphone to capture any point in time in which I may be present and this has come a second nature now I am a big brother to my 5-year-old sister. It fills me with joy to document with my camera the smiles and laughter which glow off my sister’s face every time I see her. As I have seen from my own archives when I was a child, it is a way of creating these important memories that, inevitably lend themselves to never be forgotten, and in-turn manufacture a life-long feeling of attachment to what may have once been forgotten or mentally thrown away. The photo albums which live in my loft are what allows me to experience my childhood again, where I can feel this magical sense of attempt at a point when it was just my mum, my dad and I. These memories, these shadows that I have near to no recollection of become illuminated when I flick through these never-ending photo albums. Mark Alice Durant, in his book ’27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography’ tells the reader of his experience when he re-lived his parent’s wedding album and quotes “in memory, colour comes alive, and for me it is only blue.” [5]. I feel very strongly about this message; the notion that an irretrievable recollection that, as the years go by, becomes a haze can be re-lived in the form of colour.
Eich’s work has a way of storytelling which affects the viewer to the point which, I for one, begin to feel quite out-of-place flicking through page after page because of the fact that it is a very personal and intimate insight into how himself and his family live everyday life; a concept that is difficult to achieve but, when it occurs, works very effectively because the reader begins to want to see more, even though we get an urge to put the book down. Towards the end of Eich’s book, we are presented with an image of Eich’s wife, and his two children in the bath, looking blankly down the camera lens [6] – an image that I personally find enchanting and is in fact one of my favourites in the book’s entirety because of its ability to connect with the audience – helped by the subjects immense focus on the camera, whether planned or not, it works brilliantly; the audience, although may get an urge to flick past quickly, it is vital to admire the rawness of the photograph and it echoes, again, how the camera can provide a way to tell a story easier than using words. Another image in his book uses a technique that is rarely seen in contemporary photography – a man showing his vulnerability, his sensitivity by including himself in his photographs. We see Eich, sat down and eyes-closed, with his head leant on the support of his wife’s stomach as she stands cradling its weight. Eich is topless and his wife stands in her bra and underwear. It is an image of such grace and elegancy. Images like these are avoided in photography but I admire braveness of Eich to present himself to his own camera as he is doing. Using images which scratch upon the surface of taboo subject matter within photography, and society as a whole; this being nudity and feminism, it is brave but it gives a very raw feel to what we are seeing. In my own project, using my girlfriend, I have utilised the casual time we spend together in my bedroom to use my camera as a way of photographing her in a way which I see her normally. We often lay, lazily on my bed and talk for endless periods of time about anything. At this particular movement, she was lying in a way which looked quite proactive; curled up, in her t-shirt and pair of tights, in which you could see her underwear through – a blue pair of briefs which read ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’. Her rear pointing to camera, it makes for an image which divides the sequencing of arguably dull, inanimate scenes. This image provides a sense of liveliness, it can be seen as naughty. Moments like these, shown in my project through this one image, Eich’s in his portrayal of an evening with his family as his children get ready for bed, and in Frazier’s through her snapshots of leisure time in their household [7] present this underlying theme of attachment. It is the moments that are thought nothing of, and seen as just part of the daily routine within your own circle of comfort and joy that make for the most truthful representations of what attachment can be. Not acknowledging the presence of the camera is how memories are formed. Yet, referring back to the wording that takes its place on my girlfriend, Lucy’s underwear – ‘WHATEVER, I TRIED’ also connotes visuals of what detachment can be. Romance amongst young couples often brings its petty arguments – the phrase on Lucy’s underwear connotes this – that often she may try to end an argument, but it doesn’t always work and we find ourselves giving each other the cold shoulder – much like her body positioning suggests in this image.
Scanlan [8], in 2012, suggested the theory which provided an explanation to the importance of romantic development in adolescence, much like what I am experiencing as I grow, maturely into an adult, with my girlfriend as a mechanism of support – he said that teenage romantic relationships are, in a sense, a training ground for adult intimacy. He elaborated on this statement and said that romance during adolescence provides an opportunity for learning to engage strong emotions, to negotiate conflict, to communicate needs and to respond to a partner’s needs as well. Both Lucy and I often joke about the fact that we have been together for two years, because, considering we are only eighteen years of age, this is a significant period of time to maintain a relationship alongside all other stresses of teenage life. At the start of our relationship, we both told one another that we would take it slow and see how it goes – because of the fact we were best friends for five years prior to our relationship, we didn’t see it going too far because we were used to living in comfort of a ‘friendzone’. However, now, in retrospect, I am relieved that circle of comfort was broken because she is one of the most important people in my life. I hope to show this in my project, ‘All My Love’ through the abilities of reportage photography and the ability to create sequencing of imagery to tell a story. We are only teenagers and love can be confusing but or relationship is simply a partnership of two alike personalities which coincide with one another to complement one another. In Eich’s work, he doesn’t use his power as a photographer to abuse the relationship he holds with his wife, nor his children, nor his own parents and instead, like myself, uses his control of the camera to collaborate with his subjects that present a truthful picture of the benefits of clinging on to the one you love most. Eich, in a mini-documentary series outlining his work and how he captures intimacy, said “I can articulate myself better with images than with words” [9]. This concept is very relevant to my own work also and is why I love shooting reportage images because it is the moments of intimacy between people, as well as a relationship between a person and a place that form the poetic images that make up my project – I have touched upon the relationship between people and places and the attachment that comes with this in my work through photographing the transition from my old family home to my new one – this process of losing one identity that has shaped your life for so long and generating a new identity that co-exists with the new experiences that come with it. The process of change is something I don’t deal with too well but it is with change that come new opportunities to photograph. Although I see change in any aspect of life as a negative, it is important to embrace it – as I did when my parents split; I had no choice. It emphasises the importance of forming an attachment to what comes with the change even though it is tempting to become detached instead.
Eich, in the same documentary, states that “photographing my family is incredibly important to me because it goes back to the frailty of memory” [10]. Memory is what Eich hopes he can use as a tool to tell his kids that he loves them and that he was there for their important moments of growth, to reflect back on when they are older. I use memory as a tool to do the same – to form a collection of imagery that holds meaning of a moment in time, but instead, as a way to show my half-sister, Minnie that I love her and that I was by her side to capture her moments of tranquillity and bliss. As a figure if authority over Minnie, I feel a sense of responsibility to act as a big brother should and provide her with the moments of fun she longs for when she asks me to play. I use my ability, as a teenager, to connect with Minnie as I watch her grow. She brings fun to my life and it with a camera, and with memory, this fun is everlasting. The colour that glows from Minnie’s personality comes alive in my images, made for her, from inspiration of my old images as a child.
In theorist, Dunn’s research surrounding attachment in sibling relationships in 2007, he stated that siblings serve as companions, confidants, and role models in childhood and adolescence [11]. This study came from the discovery made by Connidis & Campbell that siblings serve, instead, as sources of support throughout adulthood [12]. Although I am 17 years old, Minnie is only 5 and there is a 12-year age gap between us, I would like to think that I serve as a role model for my younger sister, as Dunn has stated is usually the case in sibling relationships. The moment I was told I was going to be a big brother, I felt as a sense of companionship between myself and my unborn sibling because it is such a special feeling – I longed to have a younger sibling during my time growing up. I had encountered in my life, the consequences of my parent’s detachment and I, because of this, became detached from my dad. I wanted that special someone to share a life with as we grew together and Minnie has provided me with that. I hope Minnie sees me as a role model but I certainly do see her as a companion and someone I can confide in.
Eich’s project, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ consists of 64 pages and 46 photos. I have picked out one in particular and will critically analyse this in relation to family and intend to include discussions about underlying themes of attachment and detachment.
This photograph taken from Eich’s series is a very simple yet well executed and elegant image full of character. Because of it obscurity, I believe that is a very attractive and intriguing image that would draw me in to know more about the photographer as well as the project.
The image frames one person – who is unknown and the only part of the subject’s body that we can see is the subject’s feet poking out of the bottom of the silk sheet which falls gracefully, and rather ghostly over the shape and contours of the body underneath which is curled up in a rather, tight clustered ball-like shape, as if the subject is scared. Connotations of ghostliness and eeriness exuberate form this image. It is likely that the subject is one of Eich’s daughters who may be playing hide and seek or may in fact be hiding underneath these sheets because she scared. The audience do not know the whole context of the image but this availability for interpretation is what provides intrigue. The image is very neutral in its formation and structure of greys which provide body to the image. The slight shadows which form from creases in the sheet which drape over the curled-up body contrast that of the harsh, darkened shadow of the feet which projects onto the wall in the background. Furthermore, the silk texture of the sheet provides a certain glow and shine to the overall look. It is a photograph of great skill and is one that I believe works brilliantly in a solitaire state, and does not need the other images from Eich’s work to give it meaning.
Although the little girl may only be playing around with her father as she hides under the sheet in a game of hide-and-seek, it is useful to look further into it to infer and interpret another meaning that could also be realistic. The fact that we cannot see the body underneath the sheet may represent a feeling a lost identity in the new life the family leads. Eich, along with his wife has made the joint decision that it would be best to move away to start a new life, to create more memories. It is likely that the children may have felt a sense of a lost identity that the home they once lived in and began their lives in has now been taken away. I am aware of this feeling from personal experience when I moved from house to house to visit my dad wherever he was staying at the time. After moving out of his, once known home, he had to find a place to live which came as a struggle at the time and as his son, I felt quite confused but found ways to make the most of the new surroundings I found myself in when visiting him. This leads me onto to the notion of children letting their imaginations run free and finding enjoyment out of discovering places in your home to act as den-like nooks; these little places where you can go to sit and do nothing, as I once did. This image may be a demonstration of this.
Alongside Matt Eich, I have also been studying the hugely influential work of American artist and professor of photography, LaToya Ruby Frazier and in particular, her project entitled ‘The Notion Of Family’.
This is an image taken from LaToya Ruby Frazier’s project, The Notion Of Family which is an “incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America’s small towns. The work also considers the impact of that decline on her communicability and her family.” [13].
The photograph frames both Frazier as a teenager and what looks like her dad/step-dad. The project was completed over a period of 13 years in which, during this time, Frazier and her family grew yet, at the same time, declined due to the economic state of the town they were living in. We see Frazier on the right sat on the edge of her bed and, on the left side, her dad lies, relaxed on his bed in the parent’s room, with his back to the camera – likely oblivious to the camera’s presence.
Bibliography:
[1] Susan Sontag, On Photography
[2] Matt Eich, article published on The Fence
[3] Exploring Your Mind; Harlow’s Experiments On Attachment Theory
[4] Joerg Colberg, Photography and Memory
[5] Mark Alice Durant, 27 Contexts, An Anecdotal History in Photography
[6] I Love You, I’m Leaving, Matt Eich
[7] The Notion Of Family, LaToya Ruby Frazier
[8] The Psychologist – Teenagers In Love, Susan Moore
[9] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[10] The Scene (Local & Emerging Art Series) Matt Eich: Capturing Intimacy (Ep.5)
[11] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale, and Anna Soli
[12] NCBI, Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships, Shawn D. Whiteman, Susan M. McHale, and Anna Soli
Complete all CW for MOCK EXAM
DEADLINE: MOCK EXAM!
Mon 5 Feb Class 13A
Tue 6 Feb Class 13E
Wed 7 Feb Class 13D
IN PREPARATION FOR MOCK EXAM NEXT WEEK MAKE SURE THE FOLLOWING IS READY BY THE END OF THIS WEEK:
- You want to aim for a draft layout of your photobook before your Mock Exam day and use that day to fine tune design with teacher
- Complete and proof read essay by end of week so it is ready to be incorporated into book design.
- Make sure you monitor and track your progress by Fri 2 Feb here Personal Study Planner 2018 Publish tracking sheet on the blog
AT THE END OF YOUR MOCK EXAM DAY – ALL COURSEWORK MUST BE COMPLETE
PHOTOBOOK
Final book design checked and signed off by teacher.
ESSAY
Include essay in the back of your book. Work in text columns and make sure to include illustrations of your own images and that of artists, as well as a bibliography
BLURB – ORDER BOOK
Upload book design to BLURB, log onto your account on their website, pay and order the book.
Consider spending a few extra pounds on choosing better paper, such as Premium Lustre in check-out, change colour on end paper or choose different cloth/ linen
BLOGPOST
All blog post in relation to the above must be published, including any other posts missing from previous work modules since the beginning of A2 academic year.
FINAL PRINTS
Select your final prints from book project. They may need to be added to prints from exhibition.
Save each image in your name as a high-res image (4000 pixels) into shared PRINTING folder here M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Image Transfer\PRINTING
MOUNTING
If you complete all the above and has extra time in Mock exam begin to mount and present final prints.
Collect AS folder from Mr Cole’s room and add mounted images to your CW folder. Make sure each print is labelled with your name and candidate number.