The syllabus state clearly that you have to be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
One of the criteria in the syllabus is for you to:
Select artists work, methods and art movements appropriate to your previous coursework work as a suitable basis for your study.
To demonstrate your knowledge and understanding you will have to write a paragraph in your essay providing historical context about your chosen artists/ photographers and how their their work and practice is linked to a specific art movement/ ism or theory.
For this task you need to select an art movement/ ism that is relevant to your Personal Study and make a 5 min presentation in class.
Follow these instructions:
Mock Exam Lesson 2: Tue 20/ Wed 21 Nov
Choose one of these four isms/movements – you can choose to work alone in pair up with fellow student:
Pictorialism
Realism / Straight Photography
Modernism
Post-modernism
Start by looking at the PPT presentations here which will provide you with an overview.
M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study
Find two other sources, article on internet, text in book, youtube video etc and identify relevant quotes, at least two that you can incorporate into your blog post/ presentation.
Your presentation must include visual examples of artists making work within that ism/movement.
Complete and upload to blog by end of Mock Exam.
Homework task – Independent Study:
Respond to the art movement/ ism that you have researched and make an image or a set of images that represent the methods/ techniques/ processes/ approach/ styles / aesthetics used by artists working within that is ism or movement.
1.POLITICAL LANDSCAPES: A blog post with a detailed plan for 3 photo-shoots to be completed during Christmas/ New Year period.
PHOTOGRAPH: It is essential that you return to school on Tue 8 Jan 2019 with new images. The Sprint Term is only 5 weeks and we will begin to work on your photobook design and layout in the second week of January
2. ESSAY: You must publish your draft introduction including possible essay questions before last lesson Wed 19 Dec.
READ: Begin to do in-depth research and read texts from a variety of academic sources; books, online articles, Youtube etc (you must gain knowledge and understanding from at least 3 different sources), make notes and identify relevant quotes that you can use in your essay.
WRITE: Ideally you should try and complete a draft essay over Xmas holidays. This would allow you time to refine and make minor corrections on your return in January.
See here for more help and guidance on essay writing:
The aim of this unit is to critically investigate, question and challenge a particular style, area or work by artists/ photographer(s) which will inform and develop your own emerging practice as a student of photography. The unit is designed to be an extension of your practical work in your Personal Investigation module where the practical informs and develops the theoretical elements and vice versa of your ongoing project.
Your Personal Study is a written and illustrated dissertation, including a written essay (1000-3000 words) and a photographic body of work (250- 500 photos) with a number of final outcomes produced from your Personal Investigation unit.
This year you have to makea photo book, either online using Blurb or by hand using traditional book binding techniques, which you design to include both your essay and a final selection and sequence of your photographs produced as a response to your chosen theme of POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
In addition, we are also expecting that those of you who want to go above and beyond to achieve top grades will produce a mini film/ pod cast with sound and images based on the same narrative as above
All your usual research, analysis, planning, recording, experimentation and evaluation will be posted onto your BLOG
What it says in the syllabus (Edexcel)
Essential that students build on their prior knowledge and experience developed during the course.
Select artists work, methods and art movements appropriate to your previous coursework work as a suitable basis for your study.
Investigate a wide range of work and sources.
Develop your written dissertation in the light of your chosen focus from the practical part of previous coursework and projects.
Establish coherent and sustainable links between your own practical work with that of historical and contemporary reference.
Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary.
Show evidence for an ongoing critical and analytical review of your investigation – both your written essay and own practical work in response to research and analysis.
Develop a personal and critical enquiry.
Culminate in an illustrated written presentation.
How to get started: Link your essay question and chosen area of study to your previous work, knowledge and understanding based upon the theme of POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
ESSAY: We will be spending 1 lesson a week on CONTEXTUAL STUDIES where you will be learning about critical theory, photo history and contemporary practice as well as developing academic study skills to help you writing your essay.
Deadline: Essay draft MUST be handed in Mon 17 Dec 2018.
POLITICAL LANDSCAPE: The other lessons are used to continue to explore and develop yo ur project based around the theme of Political Landscape that you have already started in your Personal Investigation module.
You have 6 weeks in lessons and over 2 weeks at Christmas to complete any shoots and make new images. This include all relevant blog posts demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of RESEARCH, ANALYSIS, PLANNING, RECORDING, EXPERIMENTATION, PRESENTATION and EVALUATION.
Deadline: MUST complete 4-5 new photo-shoots this term that must be published on the blog by Tuesday 8 January 2019.
For further inspirations and starting points see blog post Past Personal Studies from previous students,, including links to photo books and essays.
Here is a link to a range of photo essays by MA Photography students featuring on the BBC Website currently…
All other resources, PPTs, Essay tools etc go to: M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study
Week 11:19 – 26 Nov
Mon 19 Nov – Introduction to Personal Study:
Lesson task: Choose one Personal Study from past students, either from blog post above or photobooks in class. Look through sequence of images carefully and read the essay. Present the study in class and comment on the book’s, concept, design and narrative. Review the essay and comment on its use of critical/ contextual/ historical references, use of direct quotes to form an argument and specialist vocabulary relating to art and photography. Make an assessment using the mark sheet and calculate a grade.
MOCK EXAM:
Tue 20 Nov (13C)
Wed 21 Nov (13 A & 13D)
Lesson 1 – Reviewing and reflecting: Objective:Criteria from the Syllabus
Essential that students build on their prior knowledge and experience developed during the course.
From your Personal Investigation write an overview of what you learned and how you intend to develop your Personal Study essay.
Describe which themes, artists, approaches, skills and photographic processes/ techniques inspired you the most and why.
Include examples of current experiments to illustrate your thinking.
Lesson 2 – Contextual Study:
Objective:Criteria from the Syllabus
Select artists work, methods and art movements appropriate to your previous coursework work as a suitable basis for your study.
Investigate a wide range of work and sources
Research artists/photographers, methods, art movements and historical context appropriate to your Personal Study essay
Lesson 3 – Academic Sources:
Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video .
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
Quotation and Referencing:
Use quotes to support or disprove your argument
Use quotes to show evidence of reading
Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvardsystem of referencing for further details on how to use it.
Lesson 4 – Essay Question:
Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure.
Essay question:
Opening quote
Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. Link to powerpoints about isms andmovements M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study
Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
Homework – Independent Study
Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus
Develop your written dissertation in the light of your chosen focus from the practical part of previous coursework and projects.
Establish coherent and sustainable links between your own practical work with that of historical and contemporary reference.
Essay Introduction:
Begin to read, make notes, identity quotes and comment to construct an argument for/against.
Explain how you intend to respond creatively to your artists references and further experimentation and development of your photographic work as part of your POLITICAL LANDSCAPE project.
Complete a draft version of your introduction 250-500 words) and upload to the blog by Mon 26 Nov.
Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Personal Investigation, or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?
Thurs 22 Nov and Fri 23 Nov:
Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus
Show evidence for an on-going critical and analytical review of your investigation – both your written essay and own practical work in response to research and analysis.
Political Landscape: Produce a detailed plan of at least 3-5 photoshoots that you intend on doing in the next 4 weeks – including Christmas holidays. Produce a photographic response to your investigation in Personal Study. For example, explore your ideas, plans, narrative and experiment with story-telling approaches, subject-matter, style, form (lighting, composition) or specific skills, techniques, methods influenced by artist-references.
Continue to work with images Lightroom, photographic experimentation and evaluate – see notes below for more details!
Week 12 – 13 -14 -15: 26 Nov – 19 Dec
Political Landscape:Lesson time (Mon, Tue, Thurs & Fri Bring images from new photo-shoots to lessons and follow these instructions
Save shoots in folder and import into Lightroom
Organisation: Create a new Collection from each new shoot inside Collection Set: Political Landscape
Editing: select 8-12 images from each shoot.
Experimenting: Adjust images in Develop, both as Colour and B&W images appropriate to your intentions
Export images as JPGS (1000 pixels) and save in a folder: BLOG
Create a Blogpost with edited images and an evaluation; explaining what you focused on in each shoot and how you intend to develop your next photoshoot.
Make references to artists references, previous work, experiments, inspiration etc.
Further experimentation:
Export same set of images from Lightroom as TIFF (4000 pixels)
Experimentation: demonstrate further creativity using Photoshop to make composite/ montage/ typology/ grids/ diptych/triptych, text/ typology etc appropriate to your intentions
Design: Begin to explore different layout options using Indesign and make a new zine/book. Set up new document as A5 page sizes.
Make sure you annotate process and techniques used and evaluate each experiment
Contextual Study
Wed 28 Nov: Essay writing Complete writing Introduction in your essay
Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Personal Investigation, or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?
Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!
Harvard System of Referencing: When you use quotes from different texts remember to write down, page number, author, title, year and place of publication and publisher to include in your bibliography.
Wed 5 Dec: Essay writing Complete writing Paragraph 1 & 2 & 3 in your essay
Paragraph 1 Structure (500 words): Use subheading. This paragraph covers the first thing you said in your introduction that you would address.The first sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph. Other sentences develop the subject of the paragraph.
Content: you could look at the following…exemplify your hypothesis and introduce your first photographer. Select key works, ideas or concepts and analyse in-depth using specific model of analysis (describe, interpret and evaluate) – refer to your hypothesis. Contextualise…what was going on in the world at the time; artistically, politically, socially, culturally. Other influences…artists, teachers, mentors etc. Personal situations or circumstances…describe key events in the artist’s life that may have influenced the work. Include examples of your own photographs, experiments or early responses and analyse, relate and link to the above. Set the scene for next paragraph.
See link to powerpoints: Pictorialism vs Realism and Modernism vs Postmodernism here M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study
Paragraph 2 Structure (500 words): Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)
Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your second photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in Pg 1 or add…What information has been selected by the photographer and what do you find interesting in the photograph? What do we know about the photograph’s subject? Does the photograph have an emotional or physical impact? What did the photographer intend? How has the image been used? What are the links or connections to the photographer in Pg 1? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. Set the scene for next paragraph.
Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!
Paragraph 3 Structure (500 words): Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)
Content:you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your third photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in pg 1 and pg 2 or add…How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture. What are the links or connections to the photographers in pg 1 and 2? What are the similarities, differences or links and connections? How does this work compare to yours? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. If more paragraphs are required, set the scene for the next paragraph.
Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!
Harvard System of Referencing: When you use quotes from different texts remember to write down, page number, author, title, year and place of publication and publisher to include in your bibliography.
Wed 12 Dec: Essay writing Complete writing a Conclusion in your essay
Conclusion (500 words): Write a conclusion of your essay that also includes an evaluation of your final photographic responses and experiments.List the key points from your investigation and analysis of the photographer(s) work – refer to your hypothesis. Can you prove or disprove your theory – include final quote(s). Has anything been left unanswered? Do not make it a tribute! Do not introduce new material!
Summarise what you have learned. How have you been influenced? Show how you have selected your final outcomes including an evaluation and how your work changed and developed alongside your investigation.
Bibliography: List all the sources that you used and only those that you have cited in your text. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites, exhibitions, Youtube/ DVD/TV/ Cinema.
DEADLINE: Hand in draft version of your essay no later than Mon 17 Dec.
We will begin work on editing and designing a photobook in the new term in January.
If you don’t have any content i.e. text and images you can’t make a photo book!
My body image project is about capturing a physical representation of hidden emotions. My book “Inside Out” includes images of subjects posing in a certain way that represents a specific emotion such as pain or happiness. The title Inside Out, concludes what the series is about in a very simple way. The book contains images where I’ve focused on particular body parts, such as the face or the hands. I’ve captured them in a creative way where the shapes and movement that they create represent certain emotions. The book contains a certain aesthetic that flows throughout. It has a very contemporary feel because of the way of using the human body and also the use of the bright colours and abstract visions. The book contains a variation of sizes of images, ranging from half page images to full page spreads. I decided to use a portrait orientation for the book because it was the best way to display my images. Although I didn’t want to categories my images into different sections of the book, I also didn’t want a completely random structure and sequencing. I therefore displayed images together that linked in some way, to do with colour or subject.
My book Wabi Sabi is about the freedom of viewing the world in our own unique way. Its about capturing the insignificant details that we would usually ignore or not notice, and appreciating the pure and spiritual elements of the imperfect details of our lives. The Japanese term, Wabi Sabi fully explains what the series is about in a simple way. The definition of the term, “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay” concludes the project well. Throughout the book I focus closely on the tiny details of objects and scenes that we witness all the time. An example of scenes that I’ve included is the Sky at evening time, and the movement of the sea. Within these scenes Ive focused on and framed particular elements that interested me. My aim was to fragment specific details that were insignificant yet beautiful.
Read more on her BLOG to learn about her research and experimentation
The exam brief was to create photos around the words Freedom and Limitations. I made a book with the name Baptism. The reason for this is because when a person is baptized it is a symbolic representation of what God has done in their life. In this we believe God has washed away the old life and this person has started a new life with god. ‘Old’ and ‘New’ are keys words in the context of my book. By using software I was able to change the original colors and intensify them. Giving these photos New Life with New Colors.
Previously I have been studying the spiritual link between color and the soul. I read the book ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ by Wassily Kandinsky, in this he writes about how certain colors can effect human emotions differently. I wanted this to be the case with my book. Baptism is a very spiritual thing and I found calling my book that linked everything together nicely. When a person is baptized the person has the Freedom to start over to begin a new life. Before these photos were Limited by the colors that they were captured in. But I have given these photos the Freedom to change, to be something new, with new colors that effect the soul differently to when the photos were initially taken.
My plan for my photo book is to produce a detailed and insightful exploration into my family life, with me centered within the middle. This is the running theme throughout and I hope to show it through poetic, still images of landscapes or objects which may have no direct meaning at its face value but has a deeper meaning once inferred. As well, the portraits in my project are intended to be collaborative and intimate to show the relationships I hold with the people in my life but the portraits are intended to show the emotion of each being as well. I have contrasted yet shown the similarities of my mum and dad’s relationship when they were together to that of my relationship with Lucy now and the overall look I hope to achieve is that of a fun, vibrant, light-hearted but quite solemn and sombre image-based diary about how I am still developing through the events if life and the attachments I have built from the event which shaped my life – my mum and dad’s divorce. I want their to be an obvious existence of the theme of attachment but also an underlying theme of detachment. Although these themes are the main focus for my book, they are underlying themes which are subtly hinted at every now and then by a sequence which develops upon the understanding of love. Memory is fragile and I use this notion as a driving force for my project made up of diaristic photographs, which, when come together, create an album of moments in time which in-turn lend themselves to never be forgotten. I have attempted not to avoid the subject of my mum and dad’s divorce but felt it easier to express this and my feelings towards it through other subject matter, being my relationship with my girlfriend and the other people in my life, such as my individual relationships with my mum and dad and how I view them in solitary opposition to one another.
I decided the title of my book ‘ A State of Contentment’ when i was actually in Burkina Faso completely submerged in the situation that i was in. The idea came to me when we were on the building site discussing the local community and thinking of all the things we are grateful for that we were getting to go home to. It was evident to us that we would only be in Africa living a minimalist life for a few weeks whereas the reality for the local community was that they would be experiencing this hardship for the most of their lives. Although this seems like a harsh thought we had all noticed that even though the community had so little they were utterly content with what they had and i said during this discussion that it seemed as though they were in a state of contentment, because the community truly were in a state of peaceful happiness. I put the title and my name on the cover so that the writing did not take away from the cover image.
Jasmin Ross: Handle With Care
I have made a book which is called Handle With Care, it is about the history of St Saviours hospital from when it first opened in 1869 to when it closed. The layout of the book starts from the outside, goes inside then, then you meet 3 patients, it stays inside then it goes outside again to finish the book. My book is 108 pages and it has a combination of text, double page spreads and single image pages. My book is split into two parts of Archival material which was the basis of my work which i went a collected and photographed then next part is of my own images which i made of the outside of the abandoned building.
Rosanna Armstrong: His Master’s Voice
Overall I have found my personal study project very interesting. Assisting with the wider project in collaboration with the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive and National Trust has meant that I have been involved with research and discoveries as well as having access to exciting photographic opportunities. I was originally introduced to the collection of Francis Foot’s photographs in October last year while interring at the SJ Photographic Archive and since then have been involved in a lot of work developing a project around it in connection to the building restorations. I started by researching the family and history of the buildings and familiarising myself with the collection by updating the database. One of the most interesting areas of my project was actually visiting the buildings while they were in the process of being restored. This allowed me to connect the knowledge of the past to the present and explore the idea of preserving built heritage in connection to the historical photographic aspect. This relates to my interest in local history and the development of photography as an art form. Having knowledge of the past inhabitants reflects the human side of buildings and memories and traces associated with them. Some of the small details such as the image found behind the mirror and writing on the walls were particularly striking examples of this. It has also been interesting to explore family portraiture throughout time and conduct various shoots with my own family including one specifically connected to the Foot Shops.
Nina Powell:Jersey Folklore Beliefs and superstitions revolving around mythical characters in Jersey, Channel Island are common. The ancient lanes overhung with vegetation look almost like dark tunnels leading into the unknown. Unexplained ruins dotted around the coast add to the air of mystery and Island people with a long and proud history have many stories to tell which have been passed down from generation to generation. In this photo book I have explored three of Jerseys most famous and well-known legends, portraying each one with a series of environmental portraits, studio shots and landscape photographs. The first legend tells the story of the poor Bride of Waterworks Valley, the second shows the demonic presence down at Devil’s Hole and the third looks into the many tales of Witchcraft in Jersey. This project is my response to the provided themes of ‘truth, fantasy and fiction’, as well as the beautiful depictions of myths created by other photographers. My aim for this photo book was to recreate some of our islands most interesting history using beautiful and insightful visuals. By doing this I hope to bring these legends back to life in this colourful yet ominous series.
Cerian Mason:Untitled
I produce a large amount of documentary style images revolving around the more shadowed teenage social life. This involves being in a lot of places we shouldn’t be, drinking too much and probably a little more nudity that this blog is ready for. Below is a selection of my project work over the last few weeks presenting a range of locations – from abandoned hotels to out of hours nightclubs – featuring my friends being strange and causing trouble. There are some clear trends in the image I create such as the selective palettes and tight range of colours and the positioning of characters – these images were not directed at all though the figures were of course aware I was photographing them. This photobook was made using bookwright software and will be printed as a portrait A4 project. Many of the design ideas for this projects are inspired from artists and graphic designers I have studied over the last two years such as Lotta Nieminen. Studying the graphic designer’s personal projects. I took particular notice of the image layouts and use of overlapping text. There is a carefully controlled colour palette and minimalistic design which aids the presentation of images in such a publication. Benjamin Koh’s project work again has a strong graphic theme which uses a muted colour palette to emphasize the continued sense of photographic narrative. His pages tend to be uncluttered and minimal which draws attention to the graphic images in each of the carefully constructed double-page spreads. These elements were crucial to my own work, ensuring that images would be easily visible and clearly presented.
Max Hillman: The Getaway
There is a consistency of monochrome tones and grainy, heavy contrasted images. Throughout my project I have looked at documentary photographers such as Larry Clark and Jacob Sobol, and upon reviewing their work i have grown a love for their styles. The layout and the order of the images is important as the book needs to flow, almost the same way a story does. I need to find similar groups of images and order them carefully one by one so the book feels as if it has a narrative. I started with a small, shadow filled image of my face as the book is about my teenage life with friends. I followed this by a double sided silhouette of a friend in the school car park leaning up against a car. I wanted to start the book of with images based around friends and our utilisation of cars. These next pages were organised to follow the theme around cars, starting with another image of friends in the school car park between lessons, leading to images in cars at night time.
Gio Rios: Home Sweet Home?
In terms of my title, I called my book ‘home sweet home?’. This is of course a common household saying, that I have added a question mark to. Due to the fact that my home life is fairly broken and has been on and off my entire life, which makes it far from ‘sweet’. On the first page within my book I write the quote ‘family means no one gets left behind or forgotten’. This is controversial from the start, as my farther had done exactly this from my birth, which is ultimately what stems my thoughts and feelings towards a lot of my family life and the reasons for the decisions made within this book.
Here I feature a stand alone image of an ultrasound of me. This is used to imply that I am the center of this book and that this is my own representation. The inclusion of juxtaposing images, put alongside one another, help to emphasise my emotions towards certain characters within my book.
My granddad is someone who has consistently been in and out of my life, throughout my upbringing. Therefore I feature him alongside a set of spiraling stairs to imply that he has spiraled out of my life.
Rochelle Merhet: Ryan
The first step I took to my project inspired by the work of the artists I have studied and discussed was look at my own archived family photographs. I have a huge selection taken by my parents featuring me and my brother, many appeared very informal depicting me and my brother playing and laughing at each other, which gave the ability to see the relationship between me and my brother and how it has developed. Much like any family album, these photographs share a very personal importance to me. I wanted to use photographs that depicted who I was as well as my brother in my book as a way of a candid reflection of what my childhood was like and how I felt about it. Similar to the work of Carolle Benitah I wanted to make physical alterations to the photographs to further explore the notion of nostalgia, memories and the relationships between family members, in particular between me and my brother. I wanted use their project as a way to further understand myself through the use of memories and photographs to build and develop and understanding of who me and my brother are today and in particular our differences which are created from the notion of ‘nature and nurture’.
Matthew Knapman: Is that My Blue Butterfly?
The research of both these artists informed and influenced my personal project, which focused on the life of my mother who is currently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. She was originally diagnosed with breast cancer in Easter 2014, but when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, it is called metastatic cancer. The liver, lungs, lymph nodes, and bones are common areas of spread of metastasis. Using art and physical materials, I wanted to draw into and edit the photographs I take in order to illustrate my emotions and what my mother is going through. The physical art would be a visual guide to the audience, telling a story regarding the illness. This is something that I was excited to do, given my passion and abilities in art and design. I can draw, scratch or edit the photograph using chemicals and other kinds of destructive methods. This can demonstrate some kind of investigation into the relationship between traditional art and Photography as mediums. This is something that I touched upon for my AS project.
Christianna Knight: Women of Yesterday
During my personal study I enjoyed having freedom to explore my own ideas and take inspiration from artists and photographers that I am interested in. I was very inspired by Cindy Sherman’s work, I wanted to explore themes such as masquerade, costumes and stereotypes which are very present in Sherman’s studio portraits. When first collecting ideas as to what I should base my project on I decided I wanted to explore female stereotypes through costume and studio portraits. However, with so many stereotypes existing within my gender I decided to create a series of portraits depicting stereotypes from each decade of the 20th Century. As I was born in 1998, I was looking at these stereotypes with a retrospective. I also kept feminist theory in mind, relating my stereotypes to important movements in feminist history including the three main waves as well as smaller social victories for women. I felt that this project was very successful and that each decade was well planned and executed and that the nine image work well as a series.
Max Le Feuvre: Untitled My photo-book is based around my Grandfather. He died 30 years ago and so I never got the chance to meet him. I wanted therefore to find out more about him and develop an understanding of what he may have been like if I had got to know him. This project was therefore very much about exploring and investigating the theme of absence, a story based around someone who is no directly part of it. I photographed off and on for 9 months to create this project, re-tracing my Grandfather’s steps and using photography to express my findings. Archival resources in particular have played a huge part in my project, especially through the access I have had from the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archives, and the resources I have found play as much a part in this story as does my own responses. I wanted to make my images and narrative feel as simplistic and personal as possible and so I constructed my photo-book by hand, I style I believe gives my work a quirky, old-fashioned feel.
Shannon O’Donnell: Shrinking Violet
Shrinking Violet stemmed from a short film that I created as part of my project of my mother. I made a film based around an interview that I did with my mum and made it up of archival images as well as documenting her everyday life. Part of the interview sparked my interest when she said ‘I’m not one of those shrinking violets in the work place’. This caught my attention as I see her role as simply doing what is expected of her, something that I want to challenge through my photographic work. This brought on the idea for creating a parody shoot where I dress as a persona, similar to my mum, and pose around the house mimicking the role I see my mum portray. I wanted this photo book to embody the traditional role of women our society perceives and for spectators to view the images I have created to recognise themselves, their mothers, their sisters and their wives. Gender defines everyone and, at times, can be limiting. It makes us feel that we need to belong and conform to the expectations placed on us at birth solely on whether we were born male or female.
Watch her film below about feminism, her mother and her role in the family. This film was the starting point for her photographs above by re-staging herself as a domisticated female
“Good friends make you face the truth about yourself and you do the same for them, as painful, or as pleasurable, as the truth may be.” – Corinne Day
An autobiography is an account of the life of a person written by that person. In other words, it is the story that a person wrote about themselves. My inspiration for this study came from memories that are forgotten, and the ‘things’ that re-jog our brains to remember them. These could be objects from a childhood collection box or a set of images from a blurry holiday. For this piece of work I attempted to join two ways of memory revival into a book as well as a layout presenting some of my final images.
Hayli Ducker: My Bones Hurt
I took huge inspiration from photographers such as Thilde Jensen, Jo Spence and Francesca Woodman, these three photographers all explored their illnesses through photography which I thought would help me come to accept my diagnosis. As Jo Spence explained, photography can be used as therapy, “literally using photography to heal ourselves.” Through taking these photographs to document my illness like a diary I came to terms with it and learnt to adapt and slowly started to be able to have a normal life again just at a slower pace than before. For me this was a difficult subject matter to explore as I try and keep it rather private, friends know about it but I try to keep it private from classmates and the general public. I don’t want people to look at me differently and I found I felt rather vulnerable exposing the one thing I do my best to hide.
Jessica Freire: Domestic
My personal study is about my mother who immigrated to Jersey in 1987, from a disadvantaged background in the hopes of having a better life. My mother is the eldest child of six, who grow up in a village called Machico on the south east side of the Island of Madeira. After leaving school at the age of 9 to work on the land to provide for her family, she developed a hard working discipline. Currently, she is the breadwinner within my family working in five different jobs all within the domestic area. In my personal study I am exploring how my mum’s role as a breadwinner abdicates from her culture and stereotypical role within a household.
Sian Cumming: The Butler As a photographer, it is important for me to express details about my life to almost create a biography through photographs. I chose to use my dad for my project as his job has impacted my life since day 1. My dad is the Butler for the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and has enabled me to have an insight into the life of royalty. My dad’s responsibilities are; ensuring the house events run smoothly, he also manages the house staff and liaises with his Excellency and Lady Mc Cole for all their requirements. I have lived in the grounds of Government House all my life and have truly honoured living here. Our tight community has really impacted my life and the way I am, as I also work as a waitress for Government House functions, I have been taught the type of service required for the Governor and his guests by my Dad himself. It was an honour to follow the footsteps of my dad and what he does at work and for the Governor to allow me take photographs of him off duty was a privilege in itself. To me, family is the most important aspect in life, it’s the root to our personality. Family is the single most important influence in a child’s life. From your first moments of life, you depend on parents and family to protect and provide for your needs. They form your first relationships with other people and are your role models throughout life. Researching into the way different photographs express the notion of home was truly inspiring and made me want to produce something that shows how my life has been
Link to her blog https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo16a2/author/scumming05/ Viviana Maia: Destruction is Creation
I created this photographic book called “Creation Is Destruction” as an outlet to show how not everything we see is the truth. As part of our exam project, I decided to focus on the theme of truth to be able to have a chance of telling my own version of events that have occurred throughout my life. The main theme of my photo book is the sense that when you destroy something, you forget that you are always creating something new. I used that notion to therefore allow myself to create a whole new truth about who I am, where I came from and what it all means to me. I decided to use archival images from when I was a child as well as images taken from family photo albums which I then digitalised and this is when I began my destruction process. I ripped up, stitched together, erased people and added people to my photographs to create a new truth and a new sense of reality that, at that time I still had no idea what it was going to be until I left everything I grew up with behind and started a whole new life in a completely different place.
Holly Benning: Three Chapters I have explored how the invisible can be captured and portrayed through the medium of photography. And why memories hold such a powerful influence over our past, present and future. I have looked at what makes a photograph meaningful, what gives a photograph reality and how through photography the memory of a person can live on. My project focused on exploring the invisible through three female generation’s memories; this included my grandmother, my mother and myself. These distinctive viewpoints enabled my project to become more personal and really seek the depths of my grandfather’s life. I think memory is more than simply remembering a once present thought, but it is about connecting with the past in order for it to live on. We are made up of fragmented memories and forgotten dreams. Our entirety rests in the fate of old letters, burnt photographs and meaningless possessions. We never question the invisible, it is as though we are on a relentless pursuit to try and capture what we cannot see. We abide by the rules and limitations that are enforced by the concept of death. But what happens to those who become untouchable, those who are no longer part of the flux. Their existence becomes empty and lost; they are no longer perceptible to the eye. We yearn to cherish the ‘good’ memories and except the restrictions we are faced with, regarding mortality. In doing so, the feeling of life is created; the tangibility of pleasure and pain enters our worlds and consumes us. But, photographs hold heritage and meaning, they have a depth of knowledge and feeling to them.
Bryony Sanderson: Gie us a wee word wi’ yer Mum:
The title of this work is phrase I would hear both my Scottish Grandparents say almost every time I answered the phone. During this project, I focused on my Scottish Heritage and the difficultly living in Jersey has bought to our relationship with my Grandparents.
Bryony’s exam project:Artificial
Being surrounded and fascinated in the prosthetic world through my parents’ occupation, I felt that this to be an appropriate area to explore under the theme flaws and imperfections. From the moment the idea sprung to mind, I knew this was going to be a challenge, being well aware it would push my abilities as an amateur photographer. However, I was firm in my decision to pursue this, making it my goal to depict the power, strength and determination of amputees, and how in-fact, their ‘imperfection’ or ‘flaw’ as some would call it, is certainly not a flaw at all. Stuart Penn, the focus of my photographs, was such a pleasure to work and a huge inspiration, giving us the powerful message that anything really is possible. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity of taking his photographs and gaining insight into his incredible lifestyle.
Eve Ozouf A Lekker Christmas For this project I captured the highlights of my family holiday to Durban, South Africa for Christmas 2014. The images were captured in a documentary style, which is my preferred approach as I enjoy capturing family life as well as landscapes where human activity has occurred. The word ‘Lekker’ which I used to describe my Christmas means ‘good’ in the native language of Afrikaans. My photographs show a variety of environments that South Africa has to offer with its vast land including urban built up areas to the deserted African plains. Some images show the ‘Durbanite’ way of life, including where my 14-year-old cousin demonstrates how to use my grandfather’s rifle to shoot the annoyingly noisy ‘Hadeda’ birds. South Africa is full of vibrant colours and textures which I particularly focused on when producing this body of work as a photograph isn’t just about how it looks, it’s how you imagine it feeling. A lot of experimentation was used to bring out different styles of photography including slow shutter speeds to dramatise events such as the bonfire sprites floating towards the sky. For me, these images capture the quality of life South Africa has to offer and should make the viewers want to visit this beautiful country for themselves.
Oliver Sharman You’s Company, Me’s a Crowd is a photo book in an autobiographical form, whereby I am re-enacting events that occurred in my recent life, venturing from visiting my brother at university and the hungover pain this brough, to partying and hanging out with friends in all manner of ways and the aftermath of this. So, here is an insight into me, often eventful life of a teen in the island of Jersey.
Matt Palmer: I Need A Shovel is the story of my Granddad, the house he has lived in since the 1960s and the clearing out of the house as it is now need to be sold. The name of this project came from my Dad. Him and a couple of others when ahead to my Granddad’s house whilst I went with my Aunt to pick my Granddad up. My Dad had the job of removing the upstairs toilet, which, when it stopped working, my Granddad kept on using it until it overflowed. When my Aunt and I arrived the first thing my Dad said to his sister was ‘I Need A Shovel.’ We all found that line funny when we heard it and then that line just stuck with me.
Lots of people can see little bits of themselves when they see my granddad’s hoarding, be it from collecting newspapers, or postcards, or whatever they’ve collected, it can all be related to what my Granddad has done over the past 50 years.
It is a growing problem. The family need to sell the house as the people next door want to buy the house, however, my Granddad doesn’t want anything to go or be moved. I feel that this could be happening to lots of people across not just the UK but the world. This project will speak to lots of families who are facing the same problem.
Matt Palmer: A Little Bit Longer: Not all disabilities are visible. You could know some your whole life and never know that they have a severe, life-long condition. On Tuesday 14th July 2009, I was diagnosed with an invisible illness; Diabetes Mellitus Type 1, a condition when the pancreas in the body loses the ability to produce insulin independently. Day to day, my life hasn’t changed; however, I have to inject myself four times a day, and manually balance my sugar levels for the rest of my life.
As diabetes is something you cannot see, it was very hard to photograph it. I took inspiration from Elinor Carucci, an Israeli-American photographer who photographed herself with her children from when she was pregnant, through the birth to her children growing up. Her work involves very revealing, close-up self-portraits to capture her emotions. I found this style to be inspiring in capturing one’s self, and adopted this style into my own.
This is the first time I have ever turned the camera on myself. You would think it would be hard, however, it was just like I was being a model for someone else, and since I’m very open, talking about my diabetes, I found it easy to show my emotions. Photographing events from having low blood sugar level in the middle of the night, to a regular check-up at the diabetes Centre, to an eye-screening at the hospital, and the different physiological outcomes I had to injure, all within one week.
Tom Rolls: Angel; The Perfect being? With this work, I am exploring Angels in relation to the project brief “Perfection/Imperfection” which I chose as part of my A2 final Photography exam. Throughout the project, my aim was to rekindle an idea of the Angelic being in relation to different people’s perceptions; for faith, protection, happiness, balance etc. I spoke with a number of different people about their definition of an Angel and what it meant to them.
I interviewed my local church vicar who gave me a very brought insight into angels in both a religious and personal sense. I came away bewildered at the fact that Angels are a very important part of people’s lives, and realised that there is a whole other dimension to the subject. Having researched and gained enough primary knowledge, I began transforming these different perceptions into my own interpretations and pieced together a visual binding of all the ways in which an Angel spoke to me through others. I made a film which documents my journey in the sense of exploring what angels actually symbolise today, and how its image and meaning has changed over time. I hope you will also find this a journey for yourself and come away reflecting on this inner dimension from your own personal viewpoint. Are angels in fact the perfect being, or is it in fact their imperfections which make them so sacred?
Joe Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945
A photograph is a certain delivery of facts?
Jeff Wall, Mimic, 1982
Claims of truth that most people take for granted?
Tom Hunter, Woman Reading a Possession Order, 1997, after Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) A Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window, 1647-49after
You often hear a photographer saying: ‘the camera was there and recorded what I saw’.
A common phrase is to ‘shed light on a situation’ meaning to find out the truth.
‘A picture tells a 1000 words‘, is another aphorism that imply images are more reliable.
Picasso famously said: ‘We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realise truth.’
Magritte’s painting La Trahison des Images in which he painted a picture of a pipe with the words ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ (This is not a pipe) goes some way towards an explanation.
Documentary photography’s central aesthetic, political and moral associations are:
depicting truth
recording life as it is
camera as a witness.
TASKS: Produce a number of blog posts that show evidence of the following
DEADLINE: Mon 19 Nov
1. ANALYSIS: Choose one image from case studies listed below that questions the notion of truth regarding the photographic image and its relationship with reality and explain why.
Follow this method of analysis:
TECHNICAL > VISUAL > CONTEXTUAL > CONCEPTUAL. Read more here on PhotoPedagogy
2. PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT: Based on your chosen theme of Political Landscape make two images, one that you consider truthful and one that is not.
The rationale behind this task is for you to consider the nature of the photograph to be a true representation of reality. In order to complete the tasks successfully, you must read and look through supporting material and consider the bullit points too that may prompt you in your answers . It is important that you do thourough research and use direct quotes and reference from sources included below
For a contemporary perspective on documentary practice read photographer, Max Pincher’s Interview: On Speculative Documentary To read this interview you must access it online from home as it is blocked the internet filter in school.
Documentary photography is based on assumptions that the photograph represents a one-to-one correspondence with reality, which is nearly accurate and adequate, and that the photographic image is capable of conveying information objectively.
Consider these points when you analyse your image
Traditional documentary believes the viewer to be a receptive subject taking in the objective information of the world through the photograph
Can we rely on its ability to capture a moment in time accurately as historical evidence or as a witness to the world?
Postmodernism points out that all forms of representation is subjective? How? Why?
Digital photography has made manipulation much easier?
READING: Background and context of the historical, conceptual and aesthetic approaches and differences between documentary practice and tableaux photography.
David Bate (2016), Art Photography. Tate Publishing
CASE STUDY 1:. In the terrorist attacks in Brussels in 2016 Fox News was reporting from the Place de la Borse. Video footage shows a young photographer posing a woman in front of a makeshift memorial: is it bad journalism ethics, or just the way it’s done?
Read the Guardian newspaper article here and make a blog post that expresses your own thoughts and views.
Following the second explosion, Kardava (the woman who took the image on her phone) fought her urge to run to a safe place. “I also wanted to take pictures. As a journalist, it was my duty to take these photos and show the world what was going on. I knew I was the only one at this spot.”
In this photo provided by Georgian Public Broadcaster and photographed by Ketevan Kardava two women wounded in Brussels Airport in Brussels, Belgium, after explosions were heard Tuesday, March 22, 2016. A developing situation left at least one person and possibly more dead in explosions that ripped through the departure hall at Brussels airport Tuesday, police said. All flights were canceled, arriving planes were being diverted and Belgium’s terror alert level was raised to maximum, officials said. (Ketevan Kardava/ Georgian Public Broadcaster via AP)
Is there a moral dilemma in photographing people injured or dying? As photojournalist should you take the image?
What is your view? How has this image become iconic of the terrorist attacks in Brussels airport?
CASE STUDY 3: Using another news images as an example, such as the drowned Syrian boy (read articlehere), consider if photographs can change the world or change people’s perception?
Here is a link to another article about the photographer who took the photos of the dead Syrian boy where she speaks about why she took them.
For a different point of view read this blog post by photographer and lecturer, Lewis Bush where he discuss the above in light of recent images of dead Syrian refugees in Europe. Incorporate his views and include quotes, for or against your own analysis and point of view.
CASE STUDY 4: Jeff Wall, Canadian artists known for his large scale tableaux image presented in light-boxes
Today, most of his images resemble reportage and, as such, are likely to incense his detractors, who claim he’s not a “true” photographer. His most contentious new work, called Approach, shows a homeless woman standing by a makeshift cardboard shelter in which we spy the foot of what could be a sleeping vagrant. Wall tells me it was shot under an actual freeway where the homeless congregate and that “it took a month to make, working hands-on” – but he won’t divulge just how staged it is. Is this an actual homeless woman, or an actor? Is the shelter real, or was it built by Wall’s team of assistants to resemble one?
Re-creating images from memory is crucial to Wall’s practice – perhaps because it flies in the face of the tradition of photography as an act of instant witnessing.
“Something lingers in me until I have to remake it from memory to capture why it fascinates me,” he says. “Not photographing gives me imaginative freedom that is crucial to the making of art. That, in fact, is what art is about – the freedom to do what we want.”
In terms of truth or communicating an idea that make references to a real social problem such as homelessness, does it matter if the image is staged or not? Where does authenticity come into the picture?
CASE STUDY 5. The images of renowned photographer Steve McCurry, who made the famous and iconic image of an Afghan girl for a front cover of National Geography has recently been criticized for making ‘too perfect pictures’ which not only are boring but reinforces a particular idea or stereotype of the exotic other.
Read this article by Teju Cole in the New York Times Magazine which compares McCurry’s representation of India with a native photographer, Raghubir Singh who worked from the late ’60s until his untimely death in 1999, traveling all over India to create a series of powerful books about his homeland.
Taj Mahal and train in Agra, 1983. Credit Steve McCurrySubhas Chandra Bose statue, Kolkata, 1987. Raghubir Singh
Reference to Coldplay’s new video also highlight the idea of cultural appropriation that harks back to Britain’s colonial rule and exploitation of the Orient.
Read this artcicle on Petapixel in In defense of Steve McCurry’s images
What is your view? Back it up with references to article read and include quotes for or against.
CASE STUDY 6:
Kevin Carter and The Bang Bang Club
Starving Child and Vulture
Kevin Carter knew the stench of death. As a member of the Bang-Bang Club, a quartet of brave photographers who chronicled apartheid-era South Africa, he had seen more than his share of heartbreak. In 1993 he flew to Sudan to photograph the famine racking that land. Exhausted after a day of taking pictures in the village of Ayod, he headed out into the open bush. There he heard whimpering and came across an emaciated toddler who had collapsed on the way to a feeding center. As he took the child’s picture, a plump vulture landed nearby. Carter had reportedly been advised not to touch the victims because of disease, so instead of helping, he spent 20 minutes waiting in the hope that the stalking bird would open its wings. It did not. Carter scared the creature away and watched as the child continued toward the center. He then lit a cigarette, talked to God and wept. The New York Times ran the photo, and readers were eager to find out what happened to the child—and to criticize Carter for not coming to his subject’s aid. His image quickly became a wrenching case study in the debate over when photographers should intervene. Subsequent research seemed to reveal that the child did survive yet died 14 years later from malarial fever. Carter won a Pulitzer for his image, but the darkness of that bright day never lifted from him. In July 1994 he took his own life, writing, “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain.”Read more here:http://100photos.time.com/photos/kevin-carter-starving-child-vulture
Download and save the new Planning and Tracking sheet below in your own folder and complete an audit of what work you have completed, what work needs improving, and what work you haven’t done yet by the end of each week every Friday.
Use colour codes and write comments
Green = complete
Yellow = needs improving + write a comment on how
Red = missing work/ not done
Save each slide as a JPEG and publish it on the blog Also fill in this weekly planner up until H-term and write in each column what you work you will be focusing on in each week.
Make note of each deadline for a photo-shoot. The aim is to complete a photo-shoot at least every two week so that you develop a body of work that you can experiment with and edit a selection of images for your project.
You must have completed at least 4 photo-shoots this term before Christmas break.
Week 9 & 10: 5 – 19 Nov
Personal Investigation & Contextual Studies
Complete the following blog posts
Personal Investigation:Lesson time (Mon, Tue, Thurs & Fri) Bring images from POLITICAL LANDSCAPE photoshoots done over H-term to lessons and follow these instructions
Save shoots in folder and import into Lightroom
Organisation: Create a new Collection Set: Political Landscape and create a Collection from each shoot underneath the set.
Editing: select 8-12 images from each shoot.
Experimenting: Adjust images in Develop, both as Colour and B&W images appropriate to your intentions
Export images as JPGS (1000 pixels) and save in a folder: BLOG
Create a Blogpost with edited images and an evaluation; explaining what you focused on in each shoot and how you intend to develop your next photoshoot.
Make references to artists references, previous work, experiments, inspiration etc.
Further experimentation:
Export same set of images from Lightroom as TIFF (4000 pixels)
Experimentation: demonstrate further creativity using Photoshop to make composite/ montage/ typology/ grids/ diptych/triptych, text/ typology etcappropriate to your intentions
Design: Begin to explore different layout options using Indesignand make a new zine/book. Set up new document as A5 page sizes.
Make sure you annotate process and techniques used and evaluate each experiment
Week 10: 12 – 19 Nov
Contextual Study:Lesson every Wed and Homework Photography and Truth
ANALYSIS: Choose one image from case studies listed below that questions the notion of truth regarding the photographic image and its relationship with reality and explain why.
PHOTO-ASSIGNMENT :Based on your chosen theme of Political Landscape make two images, one that you consider truthful and one that is not.
Week 11: 19 – 26 Nov
Mon 19 Nov – Introduction to Personal Study:
Objective:Criteria from the Syllabus
Essential that students build on their prior knowledge and experience developed during the course.
Lesson task: Choose one Personal Study from past students, either from blog post above or photobooks in class. Look through sequence of images carefully and read the essay. Present the study in class and comment on the book’s, concept, design and narrative. Review the essay and comment on its use of critical/ contextual/ historical references, use of direct quotes to form an argument and specialist vocabulary relating to art and photography. Make an assessment using the mark sheet and calculate a grade.
MOCK EXAM:
Tue 20 Nov (13C)
Wed 21 Nov (13 A & 13D)
Lesson 1 – Reviewing and reflecting:
From your Personal Investigation write an overview of what you learned and how you intend to develop your Personal Study essay.
Describe which themes, artists, approaches, skills and photographic processes/ techniques inspired you the most and why.
Include examples of current experiments to illustrate your thinking.
Lesson 2 – Contextual Study:
Research artists/photographers, methods, art movements and historical context appropriate to your Personal Study essay
Lesson 3 – Academic Sources:
Find 3-5 different texts to support your academic study from a variety of sources (books, articles, journals, magazines, websites, Youtube/films etc.)
Lesson 4 – Essay Question:
Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
Lesson 5 – Essay Plan:
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph.
Homework – Independent Study: Essay Introduction
Begin to read, make notes, identity quotes and comment to construct an argument for/against.
Explain how you intend to respond creatively to your artists references and further experimentation and development of your photographic work as part of your Political Landscape project.
Complete a draft version of your introduction and upload to the blog by Mon 26 Nov.
In the course of daily life, individuals and organizations create and keep information about their personal and business activities. Archivists identify and preserve these documents of lasting value.
These records — and the places they are kept — are called “archives.” Archival records take many forms, including correspondence, diaries, financial and legal documents, photographs, and moving image and sound recordings. All state governments as well as many local governments, schools, businesses, libraries, and historical societies, maintain archives.
Using the Photographic Archive as a Resource for Research and Ideas
For your Personal Investigation you have to engage with a notion of an archive. Archives can be a rich source for finding starting points on your creative journey. This will strengthen your research and lead towards discoveries about the past that will inform the way you interpret the present and anticipate the future.
Public archives in Jersey
Jersey Archives: Since 1993 Jersey Archive has collected over 300,000 archival records and it is the island’s national repository holding archival material from public institutions as well as private businesses and individuals. To visit click here
Jersey Archive can offer guidance, information and documents that relate to all aspects of the Island’s History. It also holds the collections of the Channel Islands Family History Society.
Societe Jersiaise: Photographic archive of 80,000 images dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. 35,000 historical images in the Photographic Archive are searchableonline here.
Societe Jersiaise also have an extensive library with access to may publications and records relating to the island’s history, identity and geography. Click here
Archisle:The Jersey Contemporary Photography Programme, hosted by the Société Jersiaise aims to promote contemporary photography through an ongoing programme of exhibitions, education and commissions.
The Archisle project connects photographic archives, contemporary practice and experiences of island cultures and geographies through the development of a space for creative discourse between Jersey and international practitioners.
Private archives:Family photo-albums, objects, letters, birth-certificates, legal documents etc.
Digital images stored on mobile phones, uploaded on social media etc.
TASK
Write a 1000 word essay and answer this question: Whose Archive is it Anyway?
To answer this question you need to reflect on Photo-Archive’ talk by Gareth Syvret on Tue 12 June at the Société Jersiaise when we began the Future of St Helier project. Here is a link to Intro to the Photo Archive
Research at least two photographers from the list below in the photo-archive and choose one photograph from each that illustrates the themes of POLITICAL LANDSCAPES and include it in your essay
Read also the text by theorist David Bate: archives-networks-and-narratives_low-res, make notes and reference it by incorporating quotes into your essay to widen different perspectives. Comment on quotes used to construct an argument that either support or disapprove your own point of view.
Watch the Youtube clips below and consider the following sub-questions:
How do archives function? What are their purpose? How do archives act as repositories of cultural memories of the past? In what way does photography perform a double role within archives? Reference some of the artists and photographers mentioned in the David Bate’s text and use as examples. Imagine how you will look in your archive of adulthood and what type/style of pictures you want them to be? How will looking at archival material enrich your personal study? In what way has looking at archives been a resourceful exercise?
What have you learned?
DEADLINE: Publish blog posts by Mon 5 NOV (Monday after H-TERM)
INDEPENDENT STUDY > HOMEWORK Choose at least one option
Explore public archives and find links to your research and project based around Political Landscapes. Make a blog post
1. Explore your own family/ personal archives over and make a blog post with some of the material and describe how it will inform and develop your Personal Investigation. Ask parents, grand-parents and other family members to look through photo-albums, letters, boxes etc.
2. Plan at least one photo-shoot and make a set of images that respond to your research above and/ or Personal Investigation.
Extra research/ reading
Dr Gil Pasternak, Senior Research Fellow in the Photographic History Research Centre (De Montfort University, Leicester), will be part of a BBC documentary film exploring what family photographs say about Britain’s post-war social history.
Watch this Youtube clip where Dr Kelly Wilder, Director of Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester delivers an academic paper, ‘The View from Everywhere: Objectivity and the Photographic Archive’ at a symposium on Photographic Archives at the Getty Centre in Los Angeleswhere she talks about the notion of objectivity when it comes to the use of photographic images. Here is a Review of symposium on Photo_Archives and Objectivity
Here is an essay examplefrom previous A2 student, Rosanna Armstrong
Work by photographers in the collection at the Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive. Use for further research
Following on from your first task of Rule Breaking your next task is write your own manifesto with a set of rules that you follow creatively in making a new set of photographic images, experimental film-making or video art.
A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, government or an artistic movement.
In etymology (the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history), the word manifesto is derived from the Italian word manifesto, itself derived from the Latin manifestum, meaning clear or conspicuous.
Political manifestos from Britains three main parties, Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the last election in 2017.
Political Manifestos – in Jersey
Political parties makes a manifesto that sets out their political values and views on issues such as education, health, jobs, housing, environment, the economy etc and pledge a set of policies on what they would do if they got elected.
As you are all eligible to vote it makes sense to explore what manifestos exist in local politics. Unlike the UK, Jersey doesn’t have a political system with large parties, such as Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and so on.
The parliamentary body responsible for adopting legislation and scrutinising the Council of Ministers is the Assembly of the States of Jersey. Forty-Nine elected members, 8 island-wide Senators, 29 Deputies and 12 Constables representing each parish sit in the assembly. There are also five non-elected, non-voting members appointed by the Crown (the Bailiff, the Lieutenant Governor, the Dean of Jersey, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General). Decisions in the States are taken by majority vote of the elected members present and voting.
Find out more here on the official Government website: gov.je
In Jersey there is only one small political party Reform Jersey (3 members). Some politicians, such as Senator Philip Ozouf,Senator Lyndon Farnham publish a manifesto in advance of an election so that the public can learn about their political views. During an election in Jersey hustings in each Parish are arranged in the month leading up to the election day, giving the public an opportunity to ask prospective candidates questions and listen to their policies.
Here a few examples of manifestos made by Jersey politicians
Futurism Manifesto written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was published in the French newspaper Le Figaro in 20 February 1909. In the manifesto Marinetti expresses an artistic philosophy, Futurism, that was a rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, youth and industry.
MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM
We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.
Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.
Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep. We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.
We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.
The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.
Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man.
We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!… Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.
We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman.
We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.
We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd.
In 1924 French Poet, Andre Breton published a Surrealist Manifesto which sets out specific terms on which to be creative and make art as a reaction against another art movement, Dadaism.
POEM
A burst of laughter
of sapphire in the island of Ceylon
The most beautiful straws
HAVE A FADED COLOR
UNDER THE LOCKS
on an isolated farm
FROM DAY TO DAY
the pleasant
grows worse
coffee
preaches for its saint
THE DAILY ARTISAN OF YOUR BEAUTY
MADAM,
a pair
of silk stockings
is not
A leap into space
A STAG
Love above all
Everything could be worked out so well
PARIS IS A BIG VILLAGE
Watch out for
the fire that covers
THE PRAYER
of fair weather
Know that
The ultraviolet rays
have finished their task
short and sweet
THE FIRST WHITE PAPER
OF CHANCE
Red will be
The wandering singer
WHERE IS HE?
in memory
in his house
AT THE SUITORS’ BALL
I do
as I dance
What people did, what they’re going to do
An example of a poem published as part of Breton’s Surrealist manifesto.
Tasks
Week 7: 15 – 22 Oct Write a Manifesto Complete the following blog posts
RESEARCH > PLANNING > RECORDING
Research and read at least one political manifesto and one manifesto from an artistic group or movement. Describe differences and similarities used in their use of language, metaphor and vision – 1 blog posts.
Analysis: from your chosen artistic manifesto, choose at least two key art works for further analysis that have been made as response to the rules/ aims/ objectives of the manifesto. Describe techniques used, interpret meaning/metaphor, evaluate aesthetic quality – 1 posts.
Planning: Write a manifesto with a set of rules (5-10) that provide a framework for your new shoots and overall project. Describe in detail how you are planning on developing your work and ideas in the next two weeks. Think about what you want to achieve, what you want to communicate, how your ideas relate to the theme of Political Landscapes – 1 blog post.
Record: Choose one rule and produce at least one shoot by Mon 22 Oct.
Experiment: Edit a selection of 5 images with annotation – 1 blog post.
Evaluate: Choose your best image and evaluate with reference to your manifesto and contextual references – 1 blog post.
Present:Print best image and prepare a 1 min presentation Wed 24 Oct
Photo Assignment 4:Make a photographic response to your Manifesto
Extension: Make a photographic response to What to photograph?
See link to manifesto in Wikipedia which has a hyperlinks to many manifestos, both political and artistic.
How to write a manifesto? Read more here
A manifesto is a statement where you can share your…
– Intentions (what you intend to do)
– Opinions (what you believe, your stance on a particular topic)
– Vision (the type of world that you dream about and wish to create.
Here are a list of artists/ photographers that may inspire you associated with the above art movements and isms:
Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Yves Klein, Bas Jan Ader, Erwin Wurm, Chris Arnatt, Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Francis Alÿs, , Sophie Calle , Nikki S Lee, Claude Cahun, Dennis Oppenheim, Bruce Nauman, Allan Kaprow, Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing, Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade, Andy Warhol’s film work, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Marina Abramovic, PipilottiRist, Luis Bunuel/ Salvatore Dali: , Le ChienAndalou, Dziga Vertov: The Man with a Movie Camera
It is really important that you get off to a creative and productive start in your new project. You should aim to do something practical and photographic each week, either make new images with your camera or work digitally with images in post-production (Lightroom/ Photoshop/ Premiere.)
Those students who are disciplined and work with a real focus on a sustained investigation ie: go on shoots, experiment with images, explore ideas in-depth will achieve the highest marks and also enjoy the creative challenge of exploring the theme of Political Landscapes.
Watch this video about John Baldessari narrated by Tom Waits as an inspiration first.
For this assignment we want you to complete a photographic shoot where you break one of the rules of photography.
#1 The Rules of Objectivity – W. Eugene Smith, John Grierson, Mathieu Asselin #2 The Rule of Audience– Lewis Hine, Daile Kaplan, Mark Neville #3 The Rule of Manipulation – Steve McCurry, Errol Morris, Alice Wielinga #4 The Rule of Reality – John Grierson, Peter Watkins, Joshua Oppenheimer, Cristina de Middle, Paula Paredes #5 The Rule of Technicality – Laura El-Tantawy, Henrik Malmström #6 The Rule of Ownership – Thomas Sauvin, Mishka Henner #7 The Rule of the Camera – Donald Weber, Liz Orton #8 The Rule of Rule Breaking – Olivia Arthur, Carolyn Drake
Alice Wielange
Mathieu Asselin
Carolyn Drake
Cristina de Middel
Donald Webber – War Sand
Laura El-Tantawy
Lewis Hine
Mark Neville
Mishka Henner
Thomas Sauvin
W. Eugene Smith
Donald Webber War Sand
Complete the following blog posts
Read: article Rule Breakers by Lewis Bush (Archisle Photographer-in-Residence 2018.)
Plan: Choose one rule of photography and develop an idea for a shoot – 1 blog post.
Research: At least two artists references in relation to your chosen rule that provide analysis and context – 1-2 blog posts.
Record: Produce at least one shoot.
Experiment: Edit a selection of 5 images with annotation – 1 blog post.
Evaluate: Choose your best image and evaluate with reference to Bush’ text and artists references – 1 blog post.
Present: Print best image and prepare a 1 min presentation Wed 10 Feb in class around the table.
Photo Assignment 2: Choose one rule and make a photographic response
Extension: Choose a second rule to break and repeat the above process.
DEADLINE: Mon 15 Oct – all posts uploaded!
In essence if you follow the above 7 step in your process you will fulfil all assessment criteria and work towards a set of final and successful photographic outcomes.
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
Also fill in this weekly planner up until H-term and write in each column what you work you will be focusing on in each week.
