Category Archives: Written Task

Filters

Author:
Category:
Essay writing, Instruction, Personal Study, Written Task

Full Essay – Final (Personal Study)

Leave a comment

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.

Jude Luce, ‘All My Love’

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.

Matt Eich, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’

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.

Jude Luce, ‘All My Love’

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.

Matt Eich, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’

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.

LaToya Ruby Frazier, ‘The Notion Of Family’

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/

 

 

Personal Study, Written Task

Progression of Essay (Personal Study)

Leave a comment

(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

 

Essay writing, Personal Study, Written Task

Extra Paragraphs – Draft 1 (Personal Study)

Leave a comment

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?

I began to write a couple of extra paragraphs with my personal study to add a bit more body to the while structure in which I can branch off from and begin talking in more detail about Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s work because to this pint, I have mainly been talking about different concepts about memory, attachment and detachment and relating this to theories surrounding the particular concocts. SAs well, I have been, in the furs few paragraphs, talking about how this relates to my project and my intentions with brief reference to Eich and Frazier. 

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 comsiign 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.

Analysis, Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Preparation, Research and analysis, Written Task

Critical Image Analysis (Matt Eich)

1 Comment

This post will outline a critical image analysis of a chosen photograph from Matt Eich’s diaristic project following the journey of his family through their time a time of distress and grief surrounding his parents divorce. It is entitled ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ and is one of two parts of my personal study for my coursework; LaToya Ruby Frazier being the other – whom I have already carried out a critical image analysis of.

Describing – FORM – What is here? What am I looking at?

The image above, which I will be analysing in detail, is taken form Matt Eich’s series entitled ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’. The insightful project follows the life of Matt Eich and his family as he documents, as a photographer, his relationships, as he serves as a father to his children, a husband to his wife and a son to his just divorced parents. It is a poetic and diaristic expression of love and what attachment and detachment can do to a family. Eich, in his statement for the project, taken form (website) expresses that the series was “created during a time of personal domestic unease. I made this work when my parents separated after 33 years of marriage and my wife, children and I had moved to a new city.”

The photograph in question is a very simple yet well executed and elegant image full of character. The image frames one person – and this subject is actually unknown and the only part of the subject’s body that we can see, informing us that it is a photo of realism, is the subjects feet poking out of the bottom of the silk sheet which falls gracefully, and rather ghostly over the shape of the body underneath. Looking at the feet of the subject it looks like it could be a little boy’s feet due to the size of them and the body underneath the cover.

However, observing Eich’s family which is revealed in the rest of the images in the project, their son only looks very young and the size of the body looks more suited to that of the their daughter’s height.

The little girl huddles lonesomely in the corner of her bed underneath a silk sheet which drapes gracefully over her body contours. There is certain glow and glaze which provides body to the image.

It is an image I really like because it is quite eerie in its ghostly state – with the shadow of the feet casting against the wall and the silk texture of the sheet providing a certain glow and shine to the overall look. Furthermore, the head is completely covered under the sheet and the only evidence of a human body is shown in the the feet which hand out the end. The girl is curled up in a semi-ball shape as though  she is scared of something. Connotations of ghostliness is reiterated in the relationship between the way she is curled up, huddled under a cover, like a child would when scared, as well as the fact that she, in her own form looks ghostly.

Interpreting – MEANING – What is it about?

Interpreting this image beyond its face value and deeper into the psychological meaning of it, it could mean much more relating to the grief the family may be going through. Eich states that the project was made during a time of personal domestic unease; during a time where the unwelcomed separation of his parents came after 33 years of marriage and, as well, at the inconvenient time at which Eich, their son, had began to create his own family and they were ready to move to a new city to begin their lives elsewhere with his own wife, and three children. The fact that one of the children, whom we don’t know, is tucked away under the blanket, with a deliberate hidden identity may signify that they may feel quite isolated from family life at the moment with the relatives she once knew to be happy and cohesive, now broken and full of upset. Eich reiterates this feeling of unease and makes it clear that it was personal unease but this internal feeling, although tempting to keep in and hide from others, often has to be expressed. This may, in-turn affect the whole family.

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 with their new-found family. The children likely wouldn’t have got s say in this and the move may have been sprung on them at the last minute. Because of this, it likely that the children may begin to feel a sense of lost identity that the home they once lived in and begin their live sin 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 st 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.

As a child, you look for a certain spots in your home to act as a den-type area – where you can go to be yourself – to be a kid, sit and do nothing – like I used to – I used to make dens out sofa cushions and find nooks in the house that I could fit into and sit for the fun of it because I was young and my mind had the ability to imagine and wonder off. The image above could represent  this same concept – under the sheets on this bed – she may find comfort or enjoyment out of hiding underneath it and it could be her own way of isolating herself from the family to allow herself mental room to imagine, as a kid should.

Evaluating – JUDGEMENT – How good is it?

In my personal opinion, knowing the type of photography I enjoy, I would say that this image is very good and is the exact type of image that attracts me to look at the rest if the series is I was to spot this in an exhibition etc.

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 would have been taken with a fixed lens in order to get a close to to the subject and the fact that it is black and white adds ot the quality, in my opinion – because it is not heavily reliant on contrasts between heavy blacks and luminant whites and instead focuses on the neutral to provide body to the photograph. Furthermore, there are several leading lines within the photograph; from the feet hanging out the end of the sheet, these lead the audiences eyes along the top of the body, over the legs and to the head which is also under the covers and on centered on a hotspot, if I was to apply the rule of thirds.

As well, I often say this with Eich’s images, each and every one, within this particular project, I believe could work on its own, in solitary from the other images because every one is so powerful and poetic in its expression. This may be why Eich puts only one image to two pages throughout his book because he feels like they would be best appreciated one at a time – as opposed to other photographers who may use two or even three to a page. The size of the images in the small portrait book also reiterate the fact that they are delicate images which hold meaning in more than one way.

Theorizing – CONTEXT – Is it art? How does it relate to the history and theory of photography, art and culture?

Eich’s image capturing this particular moment in time of his daughter’s life at home is an image which works perfectly in his series looking at the fragility of family contrasting its ability to unite a collective of people within the familial circle.

The simplicity that lies within his photography is what makes it so beautiful and captivating because it is the thought behind each and every photo as well as the tones achieved from black and white film – all aspects come together to create meaningful and natural, very organic looking documentary images – and because of this, Eich’s work lends itself to the particular art movement of realism and straight photography because it captures life it most arwwst from – the camera is used as a witness to create memories of intimate moments int time in between the hustle an bustle of daily life – a style of work I enjoy experimenting with in my own projects – the reasons being, for personal reasons and it is the same for any documentary imagery, is that it creates a very truthful and realistic sense of emotion and makes it very easy to tell a story because you are capturing people in their natural forms. Catching people off guard with your lens makes for great results to show a series or a sequence. Eich’s imagery encapsulates the whole meaning of documentary work because it focuses less on post-production and alterations to improve an image an more on the subject and content matte to create a “good” image.

Eich borrows from personal experiences to stimulate his photographic work and his artistic eye – making for a very personal insight into what we, as the audience often tend not to see because it is regarded as personal business to be kept to oneself. The state of acting as a fly-on-the-wall looking in on family life of others, in both Eich and Frazier’s projects is what intrigues the audience, myself included.

 

Analysis, Artists References, Instruction, Personal Study, Research and analysis, Written Task

Critical Image Analysis (LaToya Ruby Frazier)

Leave a comment

To help generate a full-bodied and quality response to my personal study question regarding the photography of both Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier, I will need to develop a detailed analysis of one of each of their images from their recent projects looking at family. Below, I will begin to develop a critical analysis of the image taken from Frazier’s project ‘The Notion Of Family’. I will use topics such as form, meaning, judgement and context as discussion points.

Image result for latoya ruby frazier the notion of family

Describing – FORM – What is here? What am I looking at?

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” (taken from statement on website).

The photograph frames both Frazier as a teenager and what looks like her dad or possible step-dad. The project was completed over a period of 13 years in which, during this time, Frazier and her family grew yet declined due to the economic state of the town the were living in. We see Fraizer sat on the edge of her bed in her bedroom on the right side of the image as she is cropped to by the frame of the image and, on the left side, her dad lies, relaxed on his bed in the parents room, with his back ti the camera, she he was probably oblivious to the camera’s presence.

I would imagine that this is taken in the Frazier house and both Frazier and her dad are captured within the frame. Frazier is wearing a strappy white top with pyjama shorts and is lying on the edge of her bed. The door is wide open and hanging from the handle is a white towel drying. Underneath her bed, we see a baby doll with a dummy in its mouth, arms up, as though it is crying for help as it pokes its head from underneath the bed frame. Frazier sits there with a blank expression on her face looking away from her dad in the opposite room.

There is a physical divide between the two subjects, but, what also looks like an emotional divide. In the room on the left, her dad, styling a vest reading ‘THE SMOOTH EDGE’ on the back lies, in a relaxed manner on the end of the bed with his back to the camera. This door also wide open and the joining of the two doors is what provides the separation between the two people, giving structure to the image.

Interpreting – MEANING – What is it about?

As I mentioned just above, 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 for Braddock faces due to the ever-expanding bombardment of racism on locals. They both have their back to each other and this could  represent their perhaps dislike for each other.

We can’t actually see the father’s face and instead, get a view of his back in which, in his vest, it reads ‘THE SMOOTH EDGE’ and this could be an accurate or perhaps ironical representation of him – he may in fact be the smooth edge or instead, may be a figure that causes a division between the whole family – a person who Frazier may not like and from this, the statement can be seen as ironic as he could be instead branded as ‘THE SHARP EDGE’ portraying the idea that he could in fact be a figure who provides unease to the family house. Maybe, as us as the audience cant see his face, this is how he is seen to Frazier a as teenager – as though he doesn’t show his face in the most crucial of times, like when she has been growing up – he may not have been there and instead dislocated from family life.

Looking at the setting of the image and the other objects within the photograph a,so gives an indication to how the family may live and the condition of their lives. Looking at the bedding, it looks very old fashioned and quite out of date ion its old, floral-like pattern. It doesn’t look like the beds have been made and the fact that Frazier’s towel is hanging to dry on the handle of her door indicates that perhaps they can’t afford a heated towel rail. Looking at the wall, there is nothing hanging on them, such as art or paintings or any shelves and we can see just a mirror in the parents bedroom. Also, the doors themselves look quite worn and battered, as if they are in need of a paint job but this is not a priority of the Frazier family.

In conclusion, this image could represent the breakdown of family life, shown in one image due to the crisis that Braddock face 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 house because they are too scared to speak up. As a result, they become isolated and hurt to a point that they don’t know how to show it – detachment from social norms and 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.

Evaluating – JUDGEMENT – How good is it?

In terms of the quality of the photograph, I would confidently say that it is a very good image – to be very basic and straight-the-point about it. And I am also sure that if you asked anyone else whether they personally liked the image or if it was a “good” image, the would say yes because of how highly regarded Frazier is as both a photographer and a motivational talker which she undertakes alongside her photography and video work to coincided with the images she produces. She is a very well-known artist and is regarded highly and this status is shown throughout her work due to the pure thought that goes behind little details such as composition and framing.

The image above is one of my favourites from the project ‘The Notion Of Family’ because of how well thought out and composed it is. She has probably used a fixed 35mm lens mounted on a tripod tp capture this self-portrait of herself and her dad. Frazier would have used a timer to allow her to get to her bed in tome for the shutter release and the framing is probably the best aspect of the image. Although the two doors take up the whole centre of the image from head to toe, it frames the split perfectly and we get sense that it si almost like a split screen with Frazier on one side looking very dull and the back of her father on the left. It gives a sense that Frazier has to live in this very enclosed space where everyone within the house is in close proximity of one another but it is against her will and she finds it difficult to grow into a young adult when she lives in a small bungalow in a town which defines and shapes her state of living.

In terms of tones and shadows, the image is black and white and the balance of tones is perfect. The whites highlight and provide a border to the subjects for the to stand out against, as the Frazier and her father are both black and the neutral tones of greys are balanced equally in the image. Overall creating a very balanced image. All elements within the photograph are in focus and therefore a deep depth of field has been used at a high aperture.

Theorizing – CONTEXT – Is it art? How does it relate to the history and theory of photography, art and culture?

The image of Frazier’s in question represents a very truthful illustration of family life. Although to some extent, it has been staged in Frazier’s positioning within the image as she lies on the bed indirect opposition to the other subject on the left, the image possesses more features of documentary than tableaux. Frazier’s intent was likely to represent her feelings towards her family, as well as the house she is confined to and the town she has to grow up in as it is ruled by racism. The image represents the project as a whole as it represent the breakdown of not only the Braddock town as a whole but it shows how it affects the families within it as they were defined by the racism that circulates North America at the time. It was time of uncertainty and fear and the image does a very good job of showing this.

The image, in its documentary form, posses features of realism photography – an art movement introduced in the early 1900s which pioneered not only art but photography as it gradually muscled its way to the forefront of visual arts throughout the 1900’s and is still in use by many photographers in the current day as we, regularly, as consumers and producers of media, create real and raw representations of life as it is in. We expose people, places etc in our photography and the truth of them is revealed through the visual we create. Straight photography is the opposite to pictorialism where the manipulation of imagery was seen as a way to improve it. With realist art, the photographer uses the camera as a witness to life itself without alerting reality to romanticise or fragment the truth. The image produced by Frazier shows exactly this but in a more poetic, and indeed staged way but to emphasis the reality of what was occurring at the time – the racist and economic decline of America. The image speaks in one sense about family life but in a whole other sense about how this detachment from the other parts of the world due to the discrimination faced about local families origins.

However, even though the image does possess features of realism, it can also lean more towards the art movement of post-modernism. This movement is defined to borrow from references of historical, cultural, social and psychological issues – which it does exactly that – as expressed above – that it is more than just an image about family life – it is an image which presents the life of family within the struggle of racism. Frazier uses references of racism and economic decline throughout the book with added reference to Bill Cosby – a household name in the American society in the mid-late 1900’s but then further 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.

Essay writing, Personal Study, Written Task

Paragraph 1 – Draft 1 (Personal Study)

Leave a comment

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?

For my first paragraph, I will be splitting it into 3 different paragraphs separate form one another but I will treat this as my first paragraph because it all works together but of I were to include all content in one paragraph, it would become to much to intake as a reader and so I have decided to split it up. The first  part talks about my interpretation of what attachment is. The second part then discuses physiological and scientific theory relating to attachment and detachment and how this relates to my relationship with both my mum and dad. The final part will then move onto to talk about the concept of memory and using a camera to capture memory. Within this I will also comment on my focus on Anders Petersen and JH Engstrom’s work to develop my ability to visually tell a story in a poetic and diaristic manner.

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 (worlds or homes?), 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 (identities) 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.

Essay writing, Personal Study, Written Task

Introduction – Draft 1 (Personal Study)

1 Comment

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.” (Sontag 1977:9)

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 generation of my series which centers 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 professional and suited book, paying close attention to design, font 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” (HARVARD SYSTEM OF REFERENCING) 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.

Below is the same introduction paragraph as above but with some minor tweaks to improve the overall quality of how it read. After going through the paragraph with my teacher, I realised there were a few alterations I could make to improve the vocabulary and grammar. Below is the same paragraphs with those alterations, highlighted in bold.

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.”

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 centers 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.” (Eich 2017: http://fence.photoville.com/artist/love-im-leaving/)  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…

Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Deconstructing the Book

Leave a comment
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 

Deconstruction of the physical and narrative features of the book:

Book in hand
The book in hand feels very light and small – it can be handled easily and doesn’t feel too heavy.
The cover has a very smooth texture yet a little rough and feels almost like plastic.
Book is a small portrait format.

Paper and ink
The paper is the same throughout – matte paper with solely black and white images printed throughout.
There is no text / captions in the book
There is a coloured image of photographers grandfather at the beginning and the end as it is dedicated to him.

Format, size and orientation
There are 64 pages and 46 photographs.
The edition is softcover with an exposed spine.
The dimensions are 22 x 17 cm.
It is portrait and features images of all sizes.

Design and layout:
Within the book, there are no captions or texts alongside the images. However, there is a poem at the end next to the image where we the wife on the floor in what seems like a breakdown as she looks very uneased by something with her hands on head. I am not certain on what the poem means or who it was written by but it describes driving away from the one you love on a 10th wedding anniversary and feeling a sense of remorse.
Neither are there any fold-outs or inserts.
Landscape Images: 18
Portrait Images: 14
Full Bleed Images: 11
Tipped In Images: 2
Blank Pages: 5

Rhythm and sequencing:
The book starts and ends with very similar images; the first image of the project is of Eich’s daughter sat at a park bench with the light reflecting on her body and she has her eyes closed as she leans on the table. This image image is again shown as the last image to conclude the book but this time with her eyes open and the shadows reduced.
The second image introduces Eich and his wife in a self-portrait where we see Eich, sat down, learning his head against his wife’s bare abdominal as she stands. This is a very powerful image to introduce the wife and husband.
From this point, it seems as though every juxtaposes one another in the sequence they have been printed. There doesn’t seem to be an order yet that all work in conjunction with one another.
It is as though we physically take a journey through the busyness of family life as the husband and wife spend time with their children and as we are introduced to new characters throughout.

Structure and architecture:
The book, unlike other photo books simply consist of solely images which often don’t seem to have nay relation to one another and so it may, at first be difficult to derive nay meaning from the imagery and decipher the story which is wanting to be represented which is what I experienced at first . However, there seems to be a running theme of finding a balance between emotions, events and feelings. It starts at an equilibrium which seems to gradually crumble and become an imbalance of emotions within all family members and this is presented in the photographs as we people confiding in one another, and more serious facial expressions, if we see any at all because often, faces are covered with hands to hide the sadness. People seem to be less involved in their familial circle and daughters, the wife and Eich’s parents seem to become isolated from what once was an equilibrium.

Narrative:
The story is told from the perspective of Eich himself as a father, son and husband and focuses on all 3 of these elements of family life to tell a narrative of love, connections and detachments. Eich, although at the centre of it all, does not make this clear and instead focuses on the presence of his family members and how this provides a base for he life they all lead. Eich himself states that the book follows his documentation of what he experiences within his own familial circle as he, on regular basis makes connections with his daughters through his love for his wife and this welcomes an interaction between himself and his parents. The narrative can also tell a story of generations and how this is, even though very broad from elderly to youth, can actually connect a family through the relationships that build over this concept of ‘knowing our place in this fragile world’ as Eich states. This is shown in the image which includes the book where we one of Eich’s daughters sat by the coffin of Eich’s grandfather and even though this man is not present in the book’s content through, it reiterates the importance of remaining close because without that knowing of belonging, people can become so easily isolated which I explore in my own project through the main body looking at belonging; it provides an underlying guilt of not being present and instead being contained within yourself, something I have recently become a victim of and I am attempting to include this emotion in my project as I have become much more aware of my own feelings since starting this book. I see my own project as an experiment of truth and showing everything as it is – by not covering anything for the lens or presenting anything false for the camera. My aim and intent is for this to make my project more raw and real by not altering things to make them more “acceptable” because then photography does not become interesting and it removes that ability to connect with imagery once the rawness of what you are capturing has been discarded.

In Eich’s project, he does not attempt to tell a story of sorrow or upset and instead looks to simply present his family and the rawness of their respect and love for each other – this what I get and feel form looking and flicking through his book.

Title:
The title is literal but it is also poetic. The title ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’ I imagine was carefully chosen by Eich but once chosen would have been easily imagined because of it’s compete literal meaning. The story follows the split of his mother and father after over 30 years of marriage and how this break-away coincides with the departure if Eich and his newly formed family to a new city. It looks forming a new identify from what Eich used to be – from his mother and father’s careful nurturing to raise Eich to the man he is now has benefitted his ability to build his own relationships, however, occurring at the time of what once was a happy family’s physical and emotional detachment as he moves away, leaving his mother and father suffering on their own, also away from one another. The title, knowing this synopsis of the project, seems very suited and it does work very well. It also connotes the popular phrase of what people say to one another if they are about to leave an event or situation etc. but don’t rally want to and it is not out of their own will – people often say ‘I’ll love you and leave you’ as they say goodbye and this essentially what Eich is doing. It does very intrigue the audience because it opens the door to what is to come. 

Images and text: 

Image result for matt eich i love you i'm leaving

There is one piece of text throughout the hole book, excluding the two texts at the beginning and end which dedicates the book to Eich’s grandfather and this is the pome towards the latter of the book (shown above). It is a poem on a blank page next to a full bleed image of Eich’s wife lying on the floor. There are no captions or anything else apart from this four verse poem. I am not actually fully sure of the meaning of the pome and or what it’s intent on the audience is or who’s perspective it is actually from. However, I am imagining it is either rom Eich’s perspective to his wife or I thin that the most likely option is that it is written by Eich about his father’s divorce from his mother as it follows a story of leaving the said and feeling some sense of remorse but still a sense of love. I also believe the title of the poem is ‘X’ – most likely connoting a kiss in text talk.

 

Analysis, Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Research of Photo Book

Leave a comment
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 
Research of the photo book:

I will be researching, for this task, the photo book produced by Matt Eich highlighting his project entitled ‘I Love you I’m Leaving’. This project outlines his parents split after several years pf marriage as he and his newly formed family transfer themselves form their hometown to a new city to start a new life as his parents are in a phase of vulnerability, grief and need. He feels as if he leaving in the most fragile of times and he documents this through photographing his family’s habits in in their new lease of life.

“I Love You, I’m Leaving is my meditation on familial bonds, longing, and memory. The series borrows from personal experience and the visual language of the everyday in order to create a fictional account that mirrors my reality. Made during a time of personal domestic unease, I photographed as my parents separated, and my family moved to a new city.” (ceibaeditions.com)

Image result for matt eich i love you im leaving

Throughout the book, Matt Eich sticks strictly with black and white images and focuses harshly on using shadows and light to depict a particular mood – this being quite eerie – there is a certain glow to Eich’s images and his subjects posses a certain importance highlighted through the use of light to illuminate their presence. You see the subjects consisting of his wife, two daughters and older generations through the family wearing mainly white and flaunting their hereditary blonde hair as the light Eich focuses on strictly catches and provides glow to the light colours each subject possesses.

Eich also pays close attention to providing a balanced tone spectrum in each image as you notice the whites being visibly brighter than that of the solid blacks and in between this, greys of all different tones fill the negative space to create a very tonally balanced image.

The genre Eich takes on is that of a documentary approach where he captures the still moments that take their course in between the more hectic, busier moments of life which are also captured on a more subtle level. However, the overall tone the images depict is very atmospheric as if each image is their to tell a story and work as a collective but each individual image also has the ability to stand solitary as a documentation of the fragility of their familial circle. No one image is isolated and they come together, intentionally to create a solid visual narrative of what Eich experiences as a photographer, father, husband and son.

With Eich’s imagery, he pays no attention to attempting  to romanticise life itself and as a documentary photography project, it shows life itself and the rawness and actuality of what, on an everyday basis, his family are familiarised with but as a viewer, we are getting an insight in this and become hooked on what we are shown and begin to attempt to deconstruct this when, really, Eich’s job is to show is what is front of him as he discovers his family just as much as we are when delving through the project. Each photograph has a meaning and makes no effort to depict a false reality and instead focuses on what is there – the tangible – but we are shown a sense of intangibility through the project as we attempt to sympathise and relate with something we only know fragments of. Furthermore, Eich creates this sense of belonging as he brings each and every family member together as a collective and us as the audience feel involved in this poetic representation of what family is and it’s ability, in partnership with attachment and love, to unite yet destruct the once solid family tribe.

Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Who is Matt Eich?

Leave a comment
For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 
Who is the photographer?

Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a portrait photographer and photographic essayist working on long-form projects about the American condition. He is currently a Professional Lecturer of Photography at The George Washington University and continues to accept commissions. Matt resides in Virginia with his family.

Matt holds a BS in Photojournalism from Ohio University and an MFA in Photography from Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency Program.

His second book, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ was published in September 2017 by Ceiba Editions and is sold out. He has three forthcoming monographs scheduled between 2018 and 2020.

‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ is Eich’s latest photo book. The book was a finalist at the Lucie Photo Book Prize in the Limited Edition category and received a special mention at FoLa Book Awards.

Until I came across Matt Eich, I did not really enjoy looking at black and white imagery because I thought it was traditional and classic and has been too over-used and as a result of this, I felt like I couldn’t be original when using black and white images in projects etc. I also felt like I couldn’t portray the mood and tone I would wish for in black and white because there is no colour and I used to enjoy relying on heavy colours to bring my photos to life but now I feel the complete opposite to this since discovering many modern day photographers who use black and white imagery for full projects. I now find pleasure out of relying on shadows, light and contrast to create dramatic or elegant and poetic black and white photographs.

Although this book would be aimed at a more elder target audience due to its subject matter and use of nudity within, I believe it could be aimed and read with enjoyment and pleasure by a keen photographer of any age because although the subject matter it relatively mature, it is very relatable to people of my age. It looks at the fragility of your place in the world and how this is secured through family life. I have found great enjoyment out of looking at this book because of its pure ability to speak to the reader throughout it’s poetic story-telling style.