Viola is a photographer who’s work is taken all underwater, in order to create sublime imagery.Viola was born  in1951 and is a contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness, which are experiences deemed as sublime, rather than what i am focusing on as emotions. 

Viola has been referred to as “the Rembrandt of the video age”, his work pays homage not only to the famous Dutch master but to the tradition of creating large-scale works of art that draw the viewer into beautifully painted images and compelling narratives. There is often a spiritual component to his work, with elements of Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Christian mysticism underpinning themes considered universal: birth, death, love, sex, grief, and redemption. Viola considers the “phenomena of sense perception” as a path to self-awareness; therefore, his work is a blend of experimental video art and sound, including avant-garde music performance. He was one of the earliest artists to explore the potential of the video camera, which in its most basic form in the 1970s only vaguely resembles the sophisticated devices of today.

Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge. His works focus on universal human experiences—birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness—and have roots in both Eastern and Western art as well as spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Christian mysticism. Using the inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.His work is also so abstract, he uses water in such a way to loose and distort the way you see and can think what is real, the images being flipped and water used to show the inability to show a surface.

Stations comprises five video projections, each displaying a nude figure suspended in water, accompanied by a lulling soundtrack of underwater gurgles and murmurs. Floating heads-down, the figures drift slowly out of the image frames. Their reflections in the polished slabs of granite placed at the foot of each screen give the impression of figures swimming in pools of black liquid. The thirteenth-century Persian poet Jahal al-Din Rumi, a favorite author of the artist, proclaimed: “With every moment a world is born and dies. And know that for you, with every moment comes death and renewal.” Likewise, in Stations there is no ending or beginning—every instant is a meditation on the continual cycles of life, death, and rebirth.

The videos are individually titled Departing Angel, Birth Angel, Fire Angel, Ascending Angel and Creation Angel. Each video features a clothed male figure rising out of and plunging into a pool of water at irregular intervals, as well as hovering over it in between these movements. In all five films the action is presented in slow motion, and in each one the man and the water are shown in a single colour that changes over time in each film between a range of blue and green tones and a dark, blood red. These hues are accentuated by contrasting areas of bright white and pitch black. The five videos play simultaneously, but they are not synchronised and each is repeated on a continuous loop, so that the figures are seen repeatedly moving in and out of the water. Each projection is accompanied by an individual audio track featuring underwater noises that gradually reach a crescendo that culminates in ‘a sudden explosion of light and sound’ as the figure emerges from the waterThe work’s title suggests that the five figures are angels who have a specific relationship to the new millennium, which had just begun when this installation was being filmed and edited. As such, the work may invite reflection on the state of religious or spiritual belief at the dawn of a new era. Viola has often drawn on the history of religious art in his work, and has sought to evoke strong spiritual feelings through his installations’ imagery and sound. He has stated that Five Angels for the Millennium produces ‘an enveloping emotional experience like that of a church’ and that it is about what ‘you cannot see, the things that are not on the surface’  has to do with an acknowledgement or awareness or recognition that there is something above, beyond, below, beneath what’s in front of our eyes, what our daily life is focused on. There’s another dimension that you just know is there, that can be a source of real knowledge, and the quest for connecting with that and identifying that is the whole impetus for me to cultivate these experiences and to make my work. And, on a larger scale, it is also the driving force behind all religious endeavours. There is an unseen world out there and we are living in it.

My favourite elements to his work are the surreal way he captures water as a moving alive elements and also uses colour to enhance the life  of the image itself. I think Viola will definitely be the key one my inspiration for the following of my shoots, his methods and finished works are so creative and highly curated and not only forms successful compositions but also surreal elements combines within the themes of the sublime in order to create a physical story and reinactment of life values, concentrating on pleasure and pain.

The next shoots I want to focus on are further experimenting within emotions in  surrealism, Because of this my shoots need to have abstract and unique qualities to them. Because my shoots can become complicated and difficult to achieve I decided it would be effective if i did a structural plan of inspiration for my next three shoots, and artists inspiration so I know what I want conceptually my photos to connote. I have a list of ideas for shoots, but I want to further narrow down to five shoots that would successfully link into my book, and a clear collective plan and date for the next three. All these shoots might seem like too many, However as my book is not a linear story narrative but a concept of emotions and surrealist effects, the more different and abstract my images are, create a more interesting effect and I Believe will make the book itself more effective overall

• One of the sea landscape, next to the reservoir.
• Night traces of light tomorrow – town on  location
• Mirrors multiplied and with a fire -outside on location
• Water shoot in the sea – beach on location
• Body texture – studio
• Covered in paint and leggings, body form. -studio, house
• Collages and dysmorphia of faces, and landscapes
• A nigh shoot of buildings an the woods, to show a eerie effect Emotional speech things I have which show emotion
• Landscape beach shoot, in order to show a direct emotion, love or anger.
• exploding flowers and beautiful things

After further discussion about my work having to fit into a more exclusive narrative, I decided to focus on the four following shoots which have a closer connection. I belive water has the power to control our lives. We are dependent upon it to live, however it still has the ability to kill us within minutes. It is beautiful and fluid in shape. To my mind this is a perfect example of an essence of nature showing beauty and pain all at once. Water also has the ability to show a removal of personal identity and to be used as a mask of emotions, this being shown through being under water, or however, a water landscape has the power to evoke memories based off emotions and connect that human body and person to the environment which they are surrounded.  Because of this the following shoots I will be doing are, under water in the sea, being covered in paint and water thrown onto them, a landscape shoot with slow shutter speed to capture the movement of water, and lastly a reservoir  shoot. I have more ideas which I could develop such as a bath shoot, and showing ht human texture miming the movement of water. because of this change the discarded ideas of fire, will still be exclaimed here although this will not be happening anymore:I belive this shoot will definitely be the hardest in order to achieve, it will be difficult to make the appearance of a dangerous fire without the fire itself being out of hand, additionally, I do want to capture images that involve people and in some type of way how to make the fire look as if it is surrounding themselves and part of them, possibly a surrealism reflection of their perusal identity in order to form a sublime emotion. in-between terry and awesome

I am know going to expand on the concept idea for each shoot and where and how I will take the following images. Not too many artists specialise in photoshoot that connote the effect of the sublime, so sometimes it is hard to find direct observations fo what I would want to show within my work.

the concept for this shoot: When researching about the sublime, many concepts that from the emotion are based on the surrounding that the person is confined to. I belive combining the eeriness of the woodlands, with the effect of  water being a huge combining factor of the pain and stress for the sublime. my overall aim for this shoot is to use it to combine .My previous underwater shoot to more of a natural element and combine landscape photography with it.

landscape, beach shoot

I really want to capture a softness to the water yet the rocks being hard, creating that conflicting of pain and beauty into a literally interpretation of the image itself. I think this narrative stature is successful reflected in these images and would create a normality to the surreal images that will be surrounded by in my book. I will need  long exposure , tripod and the time I have taken this. I could further expand this shoot to more woodlands and suburban wood’s and damp scapes of land. I think this would too add more more mystery to the project and throughout the narrative to the book allow the more portraiture elements to be split up.

netting and covered in fabrics, extended tights.

This image Is mostly inspired by the lighting,  but my intention with the shoot itself will be the focus on the way I could direct any change that the persons beauty and emotions by hiding their identity usually texture sheets, and tights. However I do not know how much this shoot could possible have a direct link to that of water. Because of this I feel like I need to find elements that would link more characterisation of this shoot. To do so I could do this shoot on a beach or in the fore front of a water scape.

covered in paint and water thrown at them shoot;I think for the shoot cover in paint it would also be interesting to experiment with throwing the paint on so you can see both the experience and emotion of the paint going on, and then once the person is covered this is a motor for an emotional barrier, and shows the emotion of beautiful and pain with the surprising aspect of the paint itself. I belive instead of paint I will use water, and I will experiment with how weather can be thrown over the top of someone or dropped from someones hand, I will use an array of different techniques in order to describe what the best method of pain and pleasure is conveyed. I think with this shoot i can use water as an object presented in many different circumstances. This shoot will also be very inspired by the artist viola.

• Body texture – studio texture in order to mimic the movement of water. Also this could be done in such a manner to use a hand holding water and it falling off or covering elements of the human body.

Artists to reference and how they discuss emotions and the sublime:

Tim walker:

Tim walker is a photographer who specialises in out-there and almost wordy tablo shots for magazines and lots of fashion looks and developments. Similarly Peter Lindbergh has a similar fashion style. Walker is evidently the most vibrant artist I have chosen, and he will be subject to interpretation as a comparative to my other two photographers. His work is something of a fantasy and brings the word sublime into a chaotic visuality. I would love to develop and experiment more in his style, however for me to create these scenes of such a strong tablo photography would be difficult due of the large set pieces used, However I could use a combination of both a set and photoshop in order to  show a negotiated  medium of his style into my work itself. I have recently read the following articles from Tim walker which addresses his work in order to connote a whole story, although he clearly states ‘When you work as a photographer you’re working more with a mood and with a suggestion of something that enables the viewer to be able to put themselves in to the picture and imagine themselves in that situation’ his work is done in order to be generous to the reader. The production of the image is essentially allowing someone to be part of a fantasy. It is inviting them to enter his work and his element of ‘escapism’.  To my mind he does this as when developing a portraiture of someone you’re playing with their identity, this is not a fantasy, this is a very vulnerable. When collaborating with  a person you are in a direct expression of what that person is feeling to the camera. This is why I think Tim Walker is such a necessity when thinking about how emotions and surrealism work hand in hand to connote abstract themes of the sublime . His images have so much meaning and fluidity to them, the vibrancy does not take away from the emotions given by the persons themselves.  A photograph should enable yourself ‘to learn something’ there should be an ability to tell a story of the person themselves. 

Claude chaun:

Claude chaun I have previously spoken about in depth and the way she uses gender in order to form and effect her emotions. Interestingly I have responded to a set of her works already, with a model being submerged within the landscape. I believe there was a delicacy within that work. Claude Cahun was born October 24th 1894 in France. She was a surrealist and performance artists who was well known for self portraits that portray her as  ambiguous gendered. Cahun outwardly rejected identity and wanted a new political reform of more freedom. Her portraits presented herself occasionally as man sometimes as a woman, sometimes thoroughly androgynous. By refusing several gender stereotypes into a single character, she obstructed her identity In some of her work cahun departs radically from a linear or chronological telling of her life and she talks the reader through her attempts to discover who she is. I belive much of her work is about self discovery reflected in a political refusal to be normal. Her work is such a vulnerable exploitation fo her inner most emotions and has allowed herself. Her work soon become increasingly radical with political views and constructs she soon cofounded a philosophy book discussing the radical cultural groups at the time, Perhaps I could further use this as a explorations to how her philosophy could compare to someone such as Burke or Barthes.

Peter Lindbergh;Through his lents fashion meets art and photos see under the surface Fashion photography can not be confined to a mere communication and advertising expedient, especially if you look at one of the names that have made it a form of art, excluding it from historic, cultural and geographical landmarks.he sues fashion and his table works in order to access a true inner beauty of women and capture a personality through their emotions which makes up his main inspiration, intangible to be captured through the lens, the desire to go beyond the other fashion photographers.

Francesca Woodman:

Is an electronic artist. Woodman started taking photographs when she was 13 years old. She moved to New York in 1979 with the dream of pursuing a career in fashion photography. She took inspiration from surrealism and fashion, blurring her images in order to create movement and express conceptual themes into the narrative of her work. ‘Ordinary objects and materials, such as mirrors and pegs, to transform her body parts into distorted and surreal versions. She experimented with glass panels, pressing them against her body to squeeze, reshape and flatten her flesh to make her physical features appear grotesque and exaggerated. When questioned about why she was the subject of her own photographs, Woodman replied ‘It’s a matter of convenience, I’m always available’. Many of her images have a Secretive quality and a powerful sense of backstory. Not that I should get the wrong idea. “This wasn’t a performance. She was concentrating on the picture. That was why she didn’t want people around. She didn’t want any distractions.” Her work somewhere managed to combine an array of emotions succeeding of funny, artful, neurotic, and occasionally painfully honest. She was whole heartedly letting herself and all her emotions be so painfully shown to everyone and exploited. It shows how emotions can not only be so powerful, scary and beautiful but also a discussion of surrealism. However she soon become suicidal and killed herself as just 22, however this raised extraordinary attention as her primary subject was herself.

Roland Barthes :

Roland Barthes had a great fascination in what photography is and what it really means to be in a photo and if this photo should be considered reality or even a reflection fo time. He link his personal past memories within photos and question why photography creates an emotional effect occasionally. Camera Lucida is a book written by Barthes to determine a new mode of observation, and a new consciousness by the way of photography. He attempts to account for the fundamental roles of emotion and subjectivity in the experience of and accounting for photography. He stated that the irreducible singularity of the photographic images as an index indicating, ‘that has been’. photography is distinguishably from all other forms of representation, this is a symptom of a disorder which renders it ‘unclassifiable’ photography is mechanically a repetition of that which could never be repeated existentially. ‘When we look at a photograph, it is not the actual photo that we see, for the photograph itself is rendered invisible; thus the photograph is unclassifiable, for it resists language, as it is without signs or marks—it simply is’ I find this fascinating as it questions how the sublime comes to be an actually occurrence. A photo is just a a chemical reaction not repeated existentially, how does a piece of paper allow such a strong emotions to be relevant within work. How does something which does not exist, and only did exist for a moment show such a prevail of passion and pain for so many. Are people so vulnerable and materialistic they do not have to see something in the moment but can feel such strong emotions over something which possibly never even happened. However Barthes soon goes into focus on the factor of ‘duality that was characteristic of certain photographs: a ‘co-presence of two discontinuous elements’—what he terms, the stadium and the punctum. The studium refers to the range of meanings available and obvious to everyone’  the studium speaks of the interest which we show in a photograph, this inspires to want to know and think more about the own subjectivity. Puntum is a word to describe trauma, it is as private meaning to escape language, it is an experience which is irrefutable intertextuality of the photograph. it attracts the view and pick a wound. This could be were we see emotion, we use our own emotions and memory and amount them onto a photo, this is the way in which we would be able to see and fell the sublime. The ambiguity of the book lends itself to address the photographic meaning to have grander implications for the human consciousness in the pursuit of truth. His formulation fo a new science called  ‘absolute subjectivity’ this is an escape of ho a photo can bring the conscious and also the unconscious into a meaning.

Edmund burke:

Burke was probably if not THEY most influential philosopher when it comes to scissions upon the sublime and what it means and it able to achieve. Most of his ideas are those which are capable of making a powerful impression of the mind, wether this is pain of pleasure. this could even be seen through the preservation and society. This piece of work by burke is divided into many different sections talking about, sublime, sex, society, beauty  and solitude. All of which are combined and made successfully to fit into the sublime, however I will focus on the main themes of the sublime itself. whatever operates in a manner analogous to terror is a source to the sublime. It is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. Burke is said saying ‘ When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are delightful, as we every day experience. The cause of this I shall endeavour to investigate here after.’ He speaks about the differences to which sexes belong in society, this could be further divided into man and animal. this answers the purposes of propagation of the individual. when men talk about f pain and danger they do not dwell on heath and comfort for security, but the actually pain and horrors itself which they endured, however if you listen to these complaints of a lover he is is insistently on the pleasure he enjoyed from it. Men differently to women did not fear the lack fo comfort of security  but the effect of love which lead to madness and loss. Love is capable of producing extraordinary  effects, not that its extraordinary emotions have any connection with positive pain.  I believe it would be fascinating to not only look into the effects of emotions on people such as love and pain, but perhaps and depending on your sex the different reactions people have to the event and what they feel and can see of the situation. ‘ Beauty is the passion which belongs to generation’ passions are more unmixed and which pursue their purposes more direct.  The relationships of sexes chance when talking about the emotions of friendships, we derive these off of kindness, whereas love is one based off beauty. To my mind this is Burkes way to which he is able to explain humanity and our action are all consequences of emotions linked o that of the sublime.

Overall I think these five texts all intertwine and will create a successful text. I believe forming and expanding on this information that I already know I will successfully be able to communicate my themes visually throughout my work, and analytically explore the conceptual’s behind my work and why I am intending to do something in a piece.