A political landscape actually refers to the current state of things, as well as how they are looking in the future. While these metaphors are never actually used, you could say that a recession is hard work, climbing up a hill, and then a boom is the exhilaration of riding down the other side in a go cart.
Photography that traces an event has recently come to be described as aftermath photography. It is considered a new phenomenon and, though having political subject matter at its heart reveals that the camera has long recorded the frightening after-effects of conflict and disaster.
Documentary and Narrative
Documentary photography usually refers to a form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.
Narrative photography is the idea that photographs can be used to tell a story. Allen Feldman stated that "the event is not what happens. The event is that which can be narrated". In this case, the medium is photography.
By the end of Week 4 you will all have visited and Trading Zones (Lewis Bush) and Entre Nous (Clare Rae x Claude Cahun).
Lewis Bush Generic Finance Workers
Lewis Bush MapClare Rae, La Pinacle No. 2
Week 6-7 : 10 – 17Oct > Inspirations Lewis Bush vs Clare Rae
AO1 DEVELOP IDEAS: RESEARCH > ANALYSIS
Mini essay: Write 1000 words with illustrations and references
Essay question: In what way can the work of Lewis Bush and Clare Rae both be considered political?
In order for you to write a critical essay you must adopt this methodology:
Visit both exhibition and make notes on initial thoughts, what do you like/ dislike, consider how their work are exploring Political Landscapes in different ways.
Document installation with your phone and select specific images that interest you for further research and analysis.
Use these images to illustrate your essay.
Make sure you caption images, artist name, title, year, medium, size etc
Look up influences for their own work, historical / political / artistic context
Consider how their work is made within genres of documentary and tableaux approaches ie. observed vs staged.
Find at least 3 different sources and read the the texts below for a broader context.
Incorporate quotes and comments from artist themselves or others (art critics, art historians, curators, writers, journalists etc) using a variety of sources (at least 3) such as Youtube, online articles, reviews, texts, books
Make sure you reference sources and embed links to the above sources in your blog post using Harvard System of Referencing
PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT 3: Make a response to either Lewis Bush or Clare Rae and evaluate.
EXTENSION: Make a response to both photographers and evaluate.
DEADLINE: Mon 5 Nov -this is a homework task that must be completed outside of lesson time. Upload essay with illustration on the blog
Helpful sources and guidelines
Here is a recent interview with Lewis Bush in online photography magazine ASX where talks about his creative process, method of working including general thoughts on the nature of photography
If you get blocked when you click on the hyperlink above, read article here as a pdf Lewis_Bush_article_ASX_v2
Links to his website and blog Dispothic – about visual culture with a particular emphasis on photography in all its many forms, from the mass vision of smartphones to the algorithmic vision of internet search engine.
Here are images of Lewis’ text from his exhibition Trading Zones in Jersey
Link to her website and exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) in Melbourne, Australia and a link to her book Never Standing on Two Feet accompagnying her work
Consider how Claude Cahun’s work has influenced Clare Rae.
Consider how the following two statements may have had an impact on the work of Claude Cahun / Clare Rae
Women, who had previously been barred from participating in elections, changed the political landscape by becoming voters.
Click on this blogpost: PHOTOGRAPHY, PERFORMANCE AND THE BODY for more in depth investigation of Clare Rae’s work in relation to Claude Cahun and artists exploring issues of gender representation in photography and feminist theory around self-portraiture and male vs female gaze,
DOCUMENTARY vs TABLEAUX
Two texts by David Bate from his book Art Photography (2015), Tate Publishing on documentary practice and tableaux photography. Read these to get an historical and contemporary overview of both genres
Make an essay plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph. Here is a link to an essay structure.
Essay question:
Opening quote
Introduction (125 words): What is your essay question? Which artists will you be analysing and why? What are you trying to prove/ disprove?
Pg 1 (250 words): Analyse Lewis Bush in relation to your essay question. Provide any historical or theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to the artists work. Select a key image and use as an example to illustrate your point of view.
Pg 2 (250 words): Analyse Clare Rae in relation to your essay question. Provide any historical or theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to the artists work. Select a key image and use as an example to illustrate your point of view.
Conclusion (125 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between both artists. Bring a conclusion to essay question.
Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
QUOTE > REFERENCING > ACADEMIC SOURCES
Research and identify 3 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, video (Youtube).
Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography
Eloy is an independent photographer since 2003, his projects at the beginning of his career focused upon the boarders along Europe and Central Asia.He now focuses more on connections and immersion into natural landscape and usually concentrates many of his works to be around the channel island. His experimentation within various photographic formats and Digital printing is very interesting to me as it allows many different outcomes to an image. His exhibitions have been seen all around France and Europe and he has been a member of tendance floue collective since 2016. He analysis his images through the use of what he is trying to capture. He tries to capture aspects within the wild that are exciting and concept that exaggerate the images themselves. Such as ; using the comparative for looking through bird’s nests as looking into a nest of ghosts. He has said his main purpose is to repeatedly form a relationship within the land ,he wants to know every aspect of where he is, how the wind blows and how the light is drawn at night. He wants to create a familiarity within his pieces to exhaust the landscape.
I am inserted within the clear relationship and bond he has with what he captures using the camera. The way in which water is used to convey a relationship and movement and light to from layers of dynamic cutting ridges. Occasionally he has a photo of himself submerged within the water, I have previously experimented with this but I think would be effective if I attempted this again.
This piece I believe has a softness to the image, it shows the water not as a different object but as a flowing concept within the rock. He used a slow Sutter speed to not completely liquify the movement but to show a lightness to the image. This is further complimented through the deep contrast of tones showing the highlights and dark tones to enhance each other.
Show critical awareness of the purpose and outcome of the work, and how it has developed over time.
Illustrate clearly how the subject matter has been represented
Critique the presentation of the work
Ensure your blog posts are visually informative and include…
hyperlinks to appropriate sites and articles
embedded videos that support / illustrate you research
definition(s) of “Political Landscape”
a range of pre-exisiting, alternative approaches to the concept of political landscape
This should help YOU to formulate a plan for the practical element…
overall evaluation;
CHLOE DEWE MATHEWS
Mathews is a photographic artist whose work has been widely exhibited and published in many museums and can be seen wihtin the Tate modern and the Irish museum of modern art. Additionally she has won many awards such as ‘ the British journal of photography’ and many others.
Many of her works are inspired by classic novels and authors such as Mary Shelley. the current project is search of Frankenstein juxtaposition snow covered mountains. She has explored miles of underground corridors and vast melting glaciers that seemed to offer parallels between the book that presents a socio environmental concerns and the anxieties of our time. Her work presents a conte,prazry sublime which can afford this monumental piece of literature and fresh resonance.
I am fascinated wihtin the reflection and mirroring technique here it divides the image into sections creating a successfully divide image.There is a clear conniption of isolation being reflected wihtin this image and the way in which the cold tones reflect the outermost coldness running throughout the harsh winter scapes. Overall I think this artist approach is very circulated about getting the perfect image in the way of composition and the beauty,there are equal positions throughout and this type of photography would be considered as the ‘perfect’ or ‘right’ way to accomplish such an image. The tones also have a clear reflection of atmosphere,she will not use black and white as other the colour is a reflection fo scenario.
Compare and contrast their approaches and outcomes and ask yourself…
what: I would want to use many of the same attitudes that both of these artists show within their art. I want to experiment both of these concepts of capturing nature in order to have a large range of aspects and ideas within my work. I think ,y main attitude will be portraying emotion within nature and humans, this could perhaps be as a contrast or to purpel nature as to have a stronger importance that what is politically deemed.
how? I will do this by visiting many interesting locations and trying to expand on landscapes perhaps unseen around where i live and not expected, or even showing these places in different circumstances to normal.
both of these artist re similar in the aspect that they are trying to capture the naturalistic beauty within nature, however they both present there beauty through constructed and unconstructed compositions such as Eloy is a lot more abstract within his framing and he capture the life and movement of nature and not isolating it to a single from.However gregoire eloy is a-lot more focused on capturing the wildness of nature within a landscape and allowing his won self influence of love to be included within his works. Both of these artists take images around areas that they love and feel comfortable because this allows them to create a relationship with themselves and get to know the area that they love. both of these artists take images all year round in order to capture different emotions and aspects given out by the landscape.
For my approach to political landscape I will be focusing on how land changes and develops over time through the intervention of humans. I will be looking at how my house and the land it is on has been destroyed and rebuilt upon by taking pictures of the current state and comparing these photographs with old personal archival photographs including some dating back to 1870.
I plan on taking photographs of the house and its surroundings in its near-completed state and then trying to recreate some of the archival images to create a contrast. I will also be looking at photo manipulation in order to combine two different photographs (one old and one new) to create a visual contrast between the current style of houses and the old fashioned style of houses. This will help me to show how land changes and how it is treated over time through simply the presentation of my photographs.
The photographs in this post are examples of the different archival photographs I have on the redevelopment of the house – the archive of photographs contains images showing the state of the house before work started on it, images during the tearing down of the old fashion and images of rebuilding.
adjective: relating to the government or public affairs of a country.
“a period of political and economic stability”
Politics
noun: the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.
Politics is the way that people living in groups make decisions. It is about making agreements between people so that they can live together in groups such as tribes, cities, or countries. In large groups, such as countries, some people may spend a lot of their time making such agreements.
Landscape
noun
1. all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.
2. denoting a format of printed matter which is wider than it is high.
Environment
The environment is a concept i could look further into in this project as there is a lot of differing opinions regarding new constructions and infrastructure being built. I could explore the new buildings and the ones being redeveloped around jersey and how it affects the residents living around that area e.g the new hospital being redeveloped in Jersey and the repercussions of it. Looking at the environment could also link to conservation looking at natural disasters, global warming or landfills.
Family
Another concept i could look at is family and the relationships and differing of opinions between family members. I could look at more serious topics like death and illness and how that affects others. Exploring personal stories and different peoples perspectives behind the images i would produce about coping with illness. The images could give exposure to many peoples reality.
When researching i came across a series by Cheney Orr called ‘A Father, a Son, a Disease, and a Camera’ documenting over time the effects of his fathers struggle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2011 showing some very emotional images.
Social issues like age, race/ethnicity, gender and disability could also be a theme i could look at. Doing this would give exposure on how these social issues are effecting individuals everyday lives that may not even cross other peoples minds.
I found the artist Joe Webb where he creates collages from images in newspapers and reimagines the found imagery using simple edits to make politically charged artworks.
The definition of political is relating to the government or public affairs of a country. Politics is about the contempory issues within a country and how these issues impact the country and community. The word comes from the same Greek word from which the title of Aristole’s book Politics also derives; polis means “affairs of the cities”. The book title was rendered in Early Modern English in the mid-15th century as “Polettiques”; it became “politics” in Modern English. The singular politic first attested in English 1430 and comes from Middle French politique, in turn from Latin politicus, which is the Latinisation of the Greek politikos, meaning amongst others “of, for, or relating to citizens”, “civil”, “civic”, “belonging to the state”, in turn from polites, “citizen” and that from polis, “city”
Landscape is defined as all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. Landscape includes all of the visible features of an area of land as well as the parts that are not seen or the parts that happen behind closed doors, such as the businesses or families that occupy land. The word ‘landscape’ comes from the late 16th century from the Middle Dutch word ‘lantscap’, which comes from the equivalent of ‘land’ and ‘ship’.
There is no definite definition of a political landscape and many influential photographers have tackled this theme in a variety of ways. To me political landscape is exploring the contemporary issues which are most impacting our society. This is to raise an awareness of issues which people are unaware of yet are so obvious.
Overall I think this artist approach is very circulated about getting the perfect image in the way of composition and the beauty,there are equal positions throughout and this type of photography would be considered as the ‘perfect’ or ‘right’ way to accomplish such an image. The tones also have a clear reflection of atmosphere,she will not use black and white as other the colour is a reflection fo scenario.
