On July 4th, Jonny Briggs will be coming to Hautlieu to do a work shop with us during our lesson time. For the workshop, we’re expected to bring in items of significant meaning, like something that could relate to us personally, or to our family. Examples of things we could bring are photos, clothes, jewelry or gifts that we were given that mean a lot to us. We are expected to write a bit about why we choose the items and why they are significant to us. If the items are of more importance then it would be a more detailed response to why we choose the items. We were also asked to bring in an image or more than one image that we could use to manipulate by hand, similarly to how Briggs showed us during the workshop and the Archives.

 

Tom Pope

Tom Pope was part of the international Photographers in Residence in 2015 as part of the Archisle Project. This brings international photographers to Jersey to work and exhibit their photography,  awarding a bursary of £10,000 for an exhibition into to the culture of the Jersey which these works enter the Archisle Collection at the Société Jersiaise  Archive for the future public.

Pope was born in Bristol, in 1986.  Tom Pope studied Photography at Swansea Metropolitan University and received his Masters in Photography from the Royal College of Art in 2011. His works are presented around in the National Museum of Wales and National Portrait Gallery.

His artistic practice is  based within performed photograph where Pope’s playful and whimsical approach develops situations using performed gestures of social interaction. Within these settings the public become entwined with the act of taking photographs as a social event where spontaneity and chance are encouraged.  Pope’s work isn’t purposed for a community but essentially creates a sense of community through the act of making art through  improvised events and social intervention.

This photograph I chose responding to the issue of enviornment, because to me it shows quite a strange but yet personnel relationship with the girl and her environment.  Firstly, the diagonal line s created by the shadows and floor tiles, suggests that the environment isn’t necessarily that stable a place.  Interestingly, the girl appears to be clinging on as if sort of her life appears to be at risk of some sort.  This therefore suggests that the girl’s environment isn’t normal, and she is trying to make it as normal as possible.  This is emphasised by the colour of the girls clothes which is black, and her body composure, refusing to show us, suggesting there are particular complicated emotional ties associated.  This is reflected by the fact that the environment appears quite hostile and unwelcoming, for example – the fact she is sort of showing so much affection towards something so lifeless, and also the sharpened bold shadows that are displayed almost appear quite hostile.  Essentially I like this photograph because it shows the complicated relationship one can have with the external environment in which it lives within.

Michelle Sank

Michelle Sank was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Leaving there in 1978, she has been living in England since 1987. Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and style, and anything else that encompasses this.  Therefore this can be viewed as a sort of documentary, encompassing issues around social and cultural diversity.

I like this photograph because for me, it strongly represents the idea of family quite strongly.  I have personally known this pair of twins in the past, and I have come to know the similarities and differences that perfectly portray the idea of family.  For example, in terms of appearance they may be very similar through looks and style.  However the differences encompassing these two are arguably what brings them together.  I particularly like how the composition presents the idea of a strong bond between the two.  For example, the lighting isn’t too harsh but warm, and that reflects the atmosphere and feelings of each other.  Furthermore I like how the background, not necessarily the most beautiful beach and buildings shows how their sister relationship, may not always be perfect, but it is what it is, and so through the fact how each other appears comfortable, this shows their relationship is special to them.

On Tuesday the 20th June 2017 we went on a trip with photographer Tanja Deman to Grosnez and explored around towards L’Etacq.  I was very much influenced by her style on this trip, where she explores space and her environment, which I incorporated into my work taking photographs of long and short backdrops.  This way it gave me a scope to explore and capture how man has impacted the land through the various forms.  For example the long shots, showed how man has impacted on the land from a wider perspective of the surrounding environment, whereas the shorter shoots show how mans inventions have been much more intrusive and invasive as we can reveal the finer areas of the land.  With my work, I hope to create some photo collages relating to a series of work relating to Tanja’s guidance and instructions.  I categorised my work into themes that I explored during the trip.  These included:

I was heavily inspired by Tanja’s work, but strongly from this developed my own particular style.  For example: I wanted to explore the historical side of mans impact on the land, and how it has changed through the years and what the aim or ambitions were of constructing these projects.  For example all buildings generally had a common purpose of defence, but projects like Grosnez castle or Nazi bunkers, the surrounding context around these buildings that impacts the way they were built, I am wishing to explore and shoot.  I want to mention the fact that a lot of these buildings, very brash and dominating, the contrast between the people who ran these projects who were humans with emotions, is very important to link. 

Tanja Deman

Tanja’s art is heavily influenced by her strong interest in how space, physical and emotional connection to a place and her relationship to nature are perceived.  Her works take various forms – photography, collage, video and public art, conveying strong images, memories, or feelings to mind of her relationship with her and her environment on urban and rural space.

By exploring the effects of recently built legacy or natural sites, she investigates the development , structure and functions of space and captures dynamics concerning the mechanics hidden behind the face of both the built and natural environment.

When meeting her, she said of how she had used the archive to help her explore her work and develop ideas relating to the themes that she portrays in her own work.  Also aside from helping her from a technical point of view, the archive helped in a more practical way in the sense that as she is from Croatia and she is somewhat ignorant of the island and so the archive has helped by allowing her to have a certain eye for the islands best resources when shooting, basing her work on past works.  For example, by analyzing cliff faces or water shots, she can grasp an understanding of how the environment responds to external influences such as lighting.  As many cliffs are relatively similar in structure, she can explore the ways to strengthen her contrast levels through shadow, and explore angles, presenting textures that depict the island in a way that represents her relationship with it.

This photograph fascinates me in many ways.  Firstly I like how range of tones of black progressing to white are captured so strongly here.  This is because the contrast levels are very high, which allows us to delve deeper into the various compositions of areas of the photograph.  I particularly like how the waters surface appears almost like a roof to the photograph that gives a sense of strength and stability to the water.  This enhances the deep, dark and bold shades of black that encompass the photograph which allows us to focus on the lighter tones.  Interestingly the whiter areas appears more refined beautiful and elegant.  However the fact it is shot as if it has just pierced or intruded on the dark calm ocean but in such an elegant way, this contrast makes us feel somewhat interested in how the formation of the environment, being captured in 2 juxtaposing ways can change so suddenly.  It almost appears there is a living spirit or presence captures, and that further re-enforces my view of how living things change suddenly – pictured through the juxtaposition.  This clearly shows the relationship between Tanja and her environment as she is clearly aware of space, using this to create a sense of eeriness, however we can see with how with how the composition is used to crate a scene of awe and serenity, it describes the relationship between Tanja and the environment in the sense that despite the world we live in, there is beauty to be found.

Liurri Ghirri

Luigi Ghirri, 5 January 1943 – 14 February 1992 was an Italian artist and photographer who gained a strong reputation as a pioneer of contemporary photography, with a close reference to its relationship between fiction and reality.

Starting his career in the 1970s he was influenced by conceptual art, creating Atlante (1973) and Kodachrome (1978).  Here his images of the landscape were presented with a “deadpan, often ironic wit and a continuous anthropological engagement with his surroundings.” The various compositions and hues of colour in his photographs suggested are particularly interesting to me because they the colours appear quite retro like and warm.  This suggests that these environments he is shooting display apparent emotional tones suggesting he has a somewhat personal relationship, which his use of hues and colours to present what his relationship is like.   This is similar to Tanja’s work in the sense they both explore not just the style of relationship with their environment but what it essentially means to them.  Therefore this is where both artists differ in the sense Tanja appears to seek and explore the relationships, Tanja shows how she reacts to the environment from her personnel relationship whereas Luiggi seems to be more about creating the environment which he feels strongly about.

Superstudio  

Superstudio was an architecture firm, founded in 1966 in Florence, Italy by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia. Superstudio was a major part of the radical architecture movement of the late 1960s. The founders had gone to school at the University of Florence,and first showed their work in the Superarchitettura  show in 1966.

Their work has been particularly influential, through the strong use of symmetrical lines and geometry.  This has influenced Tanja as she focused on the relationship between man and place whereas here, they became known for creating quite abstract designs that showed a new style of architecture, through forms such as photo montage, which too influenced Tanja.  In a sense by the fact that they created almost a new world, suggesting to us where perhaps where humanity is going, this could influence Tanja’s work as she presents her relationship with her environment which could be ever changing.

Grosnez is a ruined 14th century castle in St Ouen in the northwest corner of Jersey.  Today, the ruins are open to the public.  The name comes from the old Norse words for “grey headland”.  he castle’s purpose was to provide local farmers with a place of refugee from French attacks upon being built in 1313.  Today:

L’Etacq is an area below Grosnez, early in its years it has been affected by numerous crimes, for example the unsolved “St Ouens murder case”.  Also, an old part of Jersey folkore says of an old manor house in a Forrest, one day being engulfed by the sea, and you can still see those old tree stumps today when the tide is low from 650 years ago.  There were major quarry developments there that occurred in 1853 when building the local road.

A few of my own images that I took from Tanja’s task she set us of presenting eye soars.  I plan to use this as a basis for my new work.

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