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Chrystel Lebas ‘Field Studies: Walking Through Landscapes and Archives’

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Chrystel Lebas (b.1966, France) uses photography and moving image to explore and illuminate the often complex relationships between human beings and nature. Preferring to photograph during twilight hours, she exploits the magical effects of the particular dipped light to accentuate the “sublime” and draw attention to our place within the natural world. 

In 2011 the Natural History Museum London commissioned Chrystel Lebas to make new work inspired by a collection of anonymous glass negatives depicting the British landscape, from the beginning of the 20th century which was later revealed to be the photographer Edward James Salisbury. For Field Studies, Lebas literally followed in Salisbury’s footsteps, revisiting the landscapes he had photographed in the 1920s and 1930s and searching out the plants he had isolated and documented on light sensitive paper. The project engages with environmental change, particularly in the Scottish landscape and Norfolk, creating new understandings of the artistic and scientific gaze onto the natural environment and its representation. The film documenting the research was made by Sally Weale, and was produced by the Natural History Museum.

Link to ‘Re-visiting’ part of book: http://www.chrystellebas.com/Re-visiting/re-visiting.htm

“Walking, searching, GPS in hand, I attempted to find the exact locations where Salisbury stood when he took his photographs at the beginning of the 20th century. I was not so much concerned
with a literal comparison between the landscape as it was then and as it is now, but more with defining my own role and vision as an artist alongside that of the scientist Salisbury.
‘Re-visiting’ combines photographs, texts and moving image work that highlight complex issues in relationships between humans, plants, and environment in Salisbury’s time and now. ”

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Lebas’s beautifully printed, richly hued photographs are presented alongside Salisbury’s small black and white glass plate images. On her walks, Lebas was often accompanied by a contemporary botanical expert, which, she writes, enabled her to realise that “my remit was very different from Salisbury’s. He was a scientist disguised as a photographer. Was I becoming a photographer disguised as a scientist?” She uses a panoramic camera and often shoots at dusk when the light quality in these still, quiet places can be almost otherworldly.

She  looked at how the landscape has changed over nearly ninety years. A complex quest as nothing is as simple as it first appears. She gathered evidence from Salisbury’s photographic records and his notes, local information, botanical sources and topographic evidence. Changes in the landscape can be caused by climate, humans and/or animals

Plant Portraits or Weeds & Aliens Studies:

The book also culminates with a series of photograms – a picture produced on light-sensitive paper without using a camera – that pay homage to Salisbury’s earlier photographs of isolated species. Lebas manipulated the colour filtration on her enlarger to “change the way the plant emanates from the paper’s surface”. These photographs are part of her ‘Plant Portraits or Weeds & Aliens Studies’ taking inspiration from Edward Salisbury book ‘Weeds and Aliens’.

“Drawing from Salisbury’s approach to documenting species by uprooting them and placing them directly onto paper or a sheet of fabric to photograph them, I placed each plant directly onto colour photographic paper in the darkroom under the enlarger light. Progressively changing the cyan, magenta or yellow filtration on the enlarger, each colour changes the way the plant emanates from the paper’s surface.

The scientific aim of the project was to study the impact of environmental change over the ninety-year period, as seen between the original works by Salisbury and Lebas’s contemporary study. Lebas as an artist was drawn to work on this for her own reasons including an opportunity to develop themes and interests explored in earlier work.

“So much of our perspective on nature and the landscape is mediated through art and increasingly photography, that it is easy to forget how constructed and controlled photographs are, with just as much authorship as a painted scene.” –https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sites/default/files/CHRYSTEL%20LEBAS%20DOWNLOAD.compressed.pdf

‘We can in fact only define a weed, mutatis mutandis, in terms of the well-known definition of dirt as matter out of place.  What we call a weed is in fact merely a plant growing where we do not want it.’ Edward James Salisbury (1935), The Living Garden 

Link to ‘Plant Portraits or Weeds & Aliens Studies’:

http://www.chrystellebas.com/weeds%20and%20aliens/weeds%20and%20aliens.htm

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Extra reading from books of the sublime

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A philiosophical enquiry – by burke – oxford

Burke had the through that the beautiful us that which is well-formed and aesthetically pleasing. And differently how the sublime is something which has power to compel and then destroy us. He stated the difference was that of the transition from neoclassical to the romantic era. Burkes thinking was based off the understanding he had from the casual structures, this consisting of Aristotelians belief that ‘physics and metaphysics, causation can be divided into formal, material, efficient and final causes’  he believed the formal cause of beauty if the passion of love, the material cause concerns would be the materials of the object itself, smallness, smoothness, delicacy. These  intern cause the calming of our nerves . The final cause is God and his providence.  Beauty before burkes view was based on the three defining factors of fitness perfection and proportion. however the sublime also had a casuals structure before Burkes theory and this consisted of, the passion of fear(death),  The material was the infinity, vastness and magnificence of the object. The efficient cause is the tension of our nerves, and gos role in the final cause is having created and battled satan.The themes within this book contain 4 main propositions throughout the novel itself, these consist of:

childishness: these are shown through the study of aesthetic requires to move beyond an implicit appreciation of the attractive elements of the world around them. burka himself acknowledges this fact through the establishment of childishness as a theme of his work. the childlike elements is substantial to the way he wrote without insulting great thinkers but his concern with he topic to be presented without inflicting or proving others to be wrong. The next is;

Classification: this is when Burke proceeds throughout his work using classifications. In particular, the theme of classification is permeated by the question of independence or dependence in the sensations about which he writes, as well as new connections and differences between objects and parts of life.

Humanism: burkes work focuses primarily of the beautiful and the sublime. although he soon redirects the attention to the paradigm of the self with the  theme of humanism. he speaks about the placing of emotions within the personal realism. When studying terror burke evoked the sensation about which he writes, allowing the reader to maintain a childlike sense of observation and reminds ourselves that is the reason for the book itself if comprehension and appreciation. To my mind this has clear connotations of the way in which he has an emotional sensitivity when dealing with others and even talking about the harsh emotions considered with that of beauty and the sublime.

Aesthetics: enquiry is said to lead a reader to notice emotions. Burke is said to concern himself with the theme of aesthetics. The theory itself is a wide-ranging and many have attempted to define why we take pleasure of of certain scenarios of what we notice in the natural and sensory world. He develops on many of these themes with calmness and rarely becoming carried away. He talks about aesthetics throughout the novel, stating things such and .  Burke argues in Reflections on the French Revolution, such rights are ‘by the laws of nature, refracted from their straight line’, enduring ‘such a variety of refractions and reflections, that it becomes absurd to talk of them as if they continued in the simplicity of their original direction’. What is natural about such rights is their deviance or aberrancy; their self-disseminatory power is part of their very essence. When Burke adds that ‘the nature of man is intricate; the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity’, he speaks, in the original sense of the term, as an aesthetician. And this is equivalent, in this political context, to saying that he speaks also as a reactionary. Some quotes from reading the first beginning of the book that have really stuck with me are the following:people are not liable to be mistaken in their feelings, but they are very frequently wrong in the names they give them, and in their reasoning about them. pleasure does form the ceasing or diminution of some pain. pain and pleasure are each from a positive mature.

The sublime -contemporary arts – simon morleyth and this book is more of an in depth analysis to what the sublime is, means and how it was formed. For Longinus, the sublime is an adjective that describes great, elevated, or lofty thought or language, particularly in the context of rhetoric. As such, the sublime inspires awe and veneration, with greater persuasive powers.

 

 

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Artist Study – Sophie Calle

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 Sophie Calle

Biography/Overview:

Born October 9th 1953, Sophie Calle is a french, writer, conceptual artist and photographer. She mixes image and text to provoke very intense responses typically stimulated by picture film or literature. Her most astounding works suggest human susceptibility, and examines intimacy and individuality as well as brushing on various types of stalking and surveillance.

In the process of secretly investigating, reconstructing or documenting strangers’ lives, Calle manipulates situations and individuals, and often takes disguise while doing so. Thus, in the act of pursuing a stranger to Venice, or taking the position of a hotel chamber maid to observe the guests, Calle conditions and recasts her own identity for that period of time. The documents or “evidence” that result from these conceptual projects are presented as photographs, photo-text installations and zines.

Career:

After completing her secondary education, Calle set off on a seven year expedition around the world, during which time she developed a strong sense of political justice, identifying herself as a Maoist, feminist and member of the proletarian Left. Upon her return to Paris, she found herself in an alien city, without a clear direction, without friends, without employment. As a result, she took to the streets, following strangers on the road like

a detective, recovering her hometown through the paths of others. The project eventually led her to follow one such stranger to Venice while surreptitiously taking photographs of his journey.

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  In 1979, Calle invited strangers and friends to spend a few hours each on a single bed so that it was occupied continuously for eight days straight. She took photographs and conducted short interviews with each individual, one of whom was the actor Fabrice Luchini, and noted the important details of these brief meetings in a notebook: the topics they discussed, the positions of the sleepers, their movements in bed, a description of their breakfasts. “The Sleepers” caught the attention
of art critic Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, husband of one of the
subjects, who invited Calle to exhibit at the Paris Biennale in 1980.
Her work seeks to create a bridge between art and life through installations, photographs, text and video and borrows the style of reportage and inventory.

‘Suite Venitienne’

Venetian Suite consists of black and white photographs, texts and maps that document a journey the artist made to Venice in order to follow a man, referred to only as Henri B. She had previously briefly met him in Paris. Suite Venitienne records Calle’s attempts to track her subject over the course of his thirteen-day stay in Venice. She investigates and stalks him, enlisting the help of friends and acquaintances she makes in the city. Eventually Henri B. recognises Calle, and they share a silent walk. Even after this encounter Calle continues her project, shadowing Henri B. from a distance until his arrival back in Paris.

The photographs that accompany the text are candid snapshots that document Henri B.’s movements and record the places he visits in the city. Henri B. was a keen amateur photographer himself, and while shadowing her subject, Calle also attempted to replicate the photographs he took. The installation also includes photographs Calle took using a ‘Squintar’ mirrored lens attachment, which allowed her to photograph subjects without aiming her camera directly at them.
Despite these artistic precursors, Calle has described how her project was originally conceived as a personal exercise. She has said: ‘When I made it, I did not consider myself to be an artist. I was just trying to play, to avoid boredom.’ The political aspects of her work include surveillance; are we being constantly monitored? and to what extent is it acceptable? Furthermore, her project exploring the morality behind photographing a subject that is unwitting. It also touches on the socially accepted norms to do with modern photography – whats acceptable and what isn’t. Her work has caused a lot of controversy; many people applaud her concepts and bravery while others believe what she’s doing may be obsessive, wrong and breaching human rights.
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Essay on lewis bush, claude cahun and clare rae.

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Photography comparison essay

Lewis bush,claude cahun and clare rae.

I have recently attended the exhibitions of three highly influential artist whose works are all based from a political side of jersey landscape. However each artist presented such abstract and diverse conceptual thoughts and ideas different from each other and I want to analysis ,why, what and they have all successful connoted their political ideas throughout their work. Lewis bush is a curator and educator of British photography. His attention forms invisible power that influences and helps to operate the world, he is said to be ‘arbitrary and transparent’ his belief that power if problematic is clearly highlighted through account of his ‘politics in jersey’ exhibition. To my mind this exhibition was not to demonstrate one political ideal and being right and the other wrong ,nor was it to shine a negative amount of attention upon the reality of jersey being so absorbed within its finance sector. But it was an ability of self expression for the viewer to demonstrate their own personal views upon the project. This challenging the misconception held by many that every in jersey holds the same idea about the finance sector. And yet this project highlights the enormous variety of attitudes and opinions. Lewis’ intentions within his work was to document and portray a sense of reality or even perhaps ‘documentary photography’ approach to how the finance sector is truly like within Jersey. However Within his work it is clear he has manipulated many of the images, this separates the dependancy and the reality to which his work can be taken. I think it would be a hard assumption to belive all his work is a direct reflection of the sector due to the amount of people consumed within the industry, and how can one photographer tell a true reality of so many. 

Personally I believe his most influential work was the incorporation of crafted individuals and who their identities and similarly constructed and orchestrated to broadcast the same characteristic of someone who works in finance. I believe this allowed people to question their own identity and if they are who they are due to their passions or because they surround themselves within an industry which demands a certain presentation of character and being.  This self reflection of people is then contrasted within the different part of the community demonstrating what they believe finance is saying things such as ‘awful’ ‘freud’ ‘bullshit’. lewis said he had ‘ a great interest when distributing the cards’. This to me demonstrates bushs’ curiosity rather than and ambition to create a project on politics to inflict his own personal views as being the only right and correct view.

Consequently the matter of opinion is a personal biases of who has been exposed to the exhibition which is the younger generation. The majority of negativity shows how money is viewed as a sense of governmental oppression to many, and not a necessity to keep jersey going as this is the main source of income,I think this is fascinating. The rest of his photography is a clear demonstration of natural landscape of some a simplicity of final infrastructure. His work to me connotes a clear message of accumulations of infrastructure designed to further power final go. This set of images is vibrant within its colour and has a considerable influence from an architectural point of view. These aspects of modernisation show the current necessity and pressure put upon jersey to keep finance its main factor of income. The images themselves denote aspects of abstraction , their form is structured but very segregated to only focus on a small areas. This cropping shows small scenes of jerseys necessities. He then focused on ‘the direction point of looking into another finance sector or where lot of money is said to be held’ these series of locations is to present a different approach and address people not in jersey and how they appeal and recognise finance form where they are. Lewis said this will form a connection of international finance.  To me this is a clear demonstration of the structure  that is the primary support for the finance sector, it deals with a clear denotation of physicality of the buildings that hold most fo the money movement within jersey, this being within the airport and such. 

In comparison to lewis bush’s more conceptual and modern view of political landscapes, claude cahun and clare rae demonstrate a currently innovative way at the time to expose gender normative and through body composition express the way a person’s emotional stability is. Cahun was a pivotal point of photography in 1954. She successfully presented a conversation between two performative practices some 70 years apart. Her avant garde style and surrealistic body movements  formed a subversive self portrait photographs, that dealt with the representation of the female body when considering the demonstration of gender. Claude was a subservient and surreal artist who was at the very core of the surliest movement. Cahun was not the typical jersey citizen and still would still be classed within this frame, She was gay, living with her half sister, jewish and a activist who spoke out against the german revolution. Her politically engaged and charged strength allowed herself the capability to make this iconic pieces of work challenging gender stereotypes, which would of been hugely monumental at the time. I belive personally her influence on photography is massive and has enabled many to take up photography such as Claire Rae. 

What I believe is highly influential and successful about her work is her physical engagement with the physical and cultural landscapes. She showed repercussions of love and her work to this day still has not aged from the relevancy and beauty it holds. I believe her strongest piece lies within the influence of this piece:It demonstrates the way in which a woman’s body is cognitively hung in order to express a position of vulnerability. Her stature compressed into the small gap reduces herself to being small and weak. Her stance is stiff in the way that is she were to move she would fall and crumble. Perhaps this is similar to my themes of emotion being mimicked and found within nature. This work is hugely partial to how gender within women is seen as the weaker of the sexes. Although in time this was not a deliberate manner I do believe that the black and white tonal shades highlight and timelessness to the images and a beauty,It highlights the fact that the women too is as beautiful as the nature and too as free spirited. The way to which he work was displayed constitutes to a clear divide of work (Chaun on one side and Rae on the opposite), this indicative composition to my mind forms a political bias and serge between the times to which the photos were taken, The political influence being emphasised as both artists are highlighting the fragility of the female identity however one with and one without rights.   I personally belive Rae’s use of the past archival images to from as inspiration resonates with the threads and ideas stuck within the concept of surreal art being the revolving of art means nothing is ever permanent. Raes work was developed on film, this made he work become more accurate due to the extra expensive the film cost herself, this methodology leading to the instillations is powerful as it demonstrates another influence dependent of time and the incorporation of methods ignored by many photographers today.

The photographs Rae produced in Jersey are intimate. there is a clear exploration within the idea of self and the immediate environment and were she produced many collaboration with her partner. Her performative gestures and repercussions of a women body was so hugely  ahead of her time. She questioned the fluidity of genre and asked why this concept was such a defining factor of who we are. Cahun’s and Rae’s work speaks to me a-lot more than lewis, I think this is due to the way she has incorporated emotion and a relationship within the landscape and an understanding of jersey, where bush shows an observations of various opinions scattered together. Cahun has said ‘ I enact a visual dialogue between the body and these environments, and test how their photographic histories impact upon contemporary engagements. Cahun used self-portraiture to subvert the dominance of the male gaze in photographic depictions of the female body in the landscape’ This is clearly seen within the venerability of the positioning of the female models to almost rein-act what it was deemed to be a female back in the early 19th century.

Both exhibitions contrast on many strong levels and social impacts. they both use their divisive sources to produce such unique and unrelated work.In conclusion to my mind Clare Rae had a clear narrative and artistic influence from Claud Chaun, Because of this I think her work is so much more successful as she new exactly whats she was trying to connote through her work. The political landscape is shown through a loving atmosphere to highlight femininity and injustice  further emphasised  through the positing of the models. How as Lewis bush has such a wide range of a topic much of his work did not have cohesion and not as many literally studies of jersey itself. Although I do believe Lewis did connote jersey finance as being a pivotal part of the history and future of this island which is true and highly relevant to the population today

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Final political landscpaes theme: The sublime, reality and surrealism to evoke emotion.

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The sublime, reality and surrealism to evoke emotion.

After reconsidering what would be most effective for my shoot I decided it  would be effective if I were to decided a more clear narrative and narrow all my ideas into one plausible theme which would successfully be made into the  final  presentation of a book. So after much deliberation I have recognised that the sublime will be my main point of interest. The sublime and how it links to deep emotions of fear and pleasure and how this in turn creates a conceptual narrative. This means When taking my photos I will do so with the intentions of creating conceptual art that does not have a linear narrative to the end, but purposes the same constant idea expressed throughout abstract and surrealism shoots in order to capture and represent the sublime. These conceptual images from a narrative of emotion, because of this i have decided It would be effective for me to do more bodily photoshoot of hands and forms capturing peoples emotions and even doing so capturing the emotions of the sea and such through the power they contain, I do not want to make this project about the emotions that i have as i do not feel this would be worthy of me doing so as I do not have any deep passions of pain. However I do think will still be able to capture a personal emotion through the people choose to take photos of.  The sublime also has a clear connection to that of politics and the overruling theme of political landscapes throughout the deep past and structure of it being formed on the basis of romanticism. romanticism is based of a power and love within a landscape and how people idealised the movement and love that they hold for a section of land.

My first shoots of experimenting with the sublime, will be spoken about more in my next piece but originally will focus on the water and the notion of being trapped and essence of beauty within the water but the threat of death due to the hanging of being submerged in water and not being able to breath.I believe the most important value to these images will be the incorporation of emotional value within them.  Due to my images not having the strongest lineal narrative motion there needs to be a strong contextual factor to each and every image chosen, due of this the emotional side is of great importance. I will capture this my the bodily form, colour and the concentration of what is their surrounding and how this also effects the image to being more sublime. I believe the distorted narrative of the conceptual of emotion allow myself to Pieces together the project and from the reflection of what i wish the audience to feel. As the emotion is not a personal reflection fo what I am feeling I can create  and piece together an expansion of a story throughout all of my work. I really think it is of great importance to start going deeper and taking more challenging and complex imagery and this will really incorporate the sublime itself. I believe a new large interest will be how emotion can and should be evoked through colour and how I can further contextualise my images through this.To do so in a more interesting manner i will take photos within and outside a studio. To further this ideal I believe the sublime does not always need a person within it in order to cause an effective, so more of my images from now on will be without the presence of a model, or just not in the picture itself. Artists I will further look into consist of mack and Torbjorn, hopefully their influence will allow myself to be more creative when coming to my following shoots.

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PAOLA PAREDES

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PAOLA PAREDES MELANCHOLIA OF VIRGINS

This image is from Paola Paredes body of work ‘Melancholia of Virgins’, a selection of experimental pieces raising awareness of the humiliation of misdiagnosed women in Salpêtrière Hospital Paris for ‘Hysteria’ during the 19th century – a time when medicine subjected women to abhorrent treatment. The term ‘Hysteria’ is now recognized as a diagnosis stemming from pseudo-science, intrinsically linked to misogyny and man’s dominance. These ‘Hysteric’ women were put on display for audiences consisting of medical contemporaries, students and members of the public. One front-runner in Hysteria science was Jean-Martin Charcot he was charged with Hysteria treatment at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, where he would use his camera as a tool for recording patient’s attack symptoms for later analysis.  These pictures were then published and used as ‘evidence’. Paola Paredes then took these images and redeveloped them with the use of modern technology, stitching and handmade collages to produce animations and to magnify the humility and penalization that the institution forced on these women.

Conventionally speaking, the quality of the picture is poor due to the age of the photograph, with no depth in contrast, or wide spectrum of shades and

Image from Paola Paredes’ body of work ‘Melancholia of Virgins’

the noise that the camera has picked up in the darker tones of the image. However if you look at the image conceptually the poor quality of the image carries connotations of poor quality of life, respect and empathy for these women, which gives more depth to the context of the image. The rework of the image  encourages viewers to  to look at the image in a different way and interpret feelings and emotions throughout the whole of the frame, as the subjects face is completely covered making it impossible to read her emotions, so therefore applying an interpreted context to the image. The rework and manipulation of the image grasps the viewers attention on the feeling of being watched and recorded, being subjected to humiliation and being stripped of dignity.

This image is one of her still images which contrasts the effect of one of Paredes’ moving images where there is a sense of input of intensified emotion. However each of her still images convey the feeling of a forced or submissive silence. The use of the string covering the face and hiding the identity of this woman reinforces the idea of that these women were dehumanized, silenced and belittled. This simple technique unveils more about the context of this picture than if it was left untouched or the subject’s face was left on show. However, my interpretation of the reason why Paredes decided to cover her face is the possible referencing of the automatic invalidation of their opinions and dismissal of their freedom of choice and speech because of a ‘higher’ or ‘stronger’ force – in this pictures case the flash of the camera is the force acting against these imprisoned women, which could be interpreted as the misogynistic men that took advantage of them.

Photo Shoot – I want to experiment with Paola  Paredes experimental approach to redevelop old images and give them new meanings and context to provide a thought provoking piece that encourages an audience to interpret an image with my political message. I want to take the idea from Paola Paredes of reworking, experimenting and manipulating existing images, carrying on the theme of my political landscape topic; the agriculture industry and its effect on climate change, being responisble for destruction of land and the mass usage of limited resources that don’t have enough value to raise concern like water and again, land.

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Analysis of Surrealism artwork

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This piece of work was done by the artist ‘Salvador Dali’ his work meant to question that beyond logic and reason.  He has always been fascinated by the camera and used photography in order to create aesthetics. he concluded through his work that nothing will prove surrealism right as much as photography.  surrealism is such a game changing art movement in photography. you are able to see the motivation and imagination behind this image, his inspiration fro many of his works and possible influence for this image was the first works war and so many of his works had an anti war slant. Many of the inspirations for surrealism came from the dada, as this is where cubism and expressionism are formed.  This part of the piece has a formation of intuitive art that works within the mixed media often trying to create  a joining of his renowned psychological connotations to my mind this image clearly is a discovery of the subconscious in order to present an idealism for superior reality. When discussing the manifesto of surrealism it allowed Dali to reality flash’s out his work and incorporate new concepts of movement.  This work prevued the classical art anthesis and creates the principles of imitation and realness within actual objects. This can be seen within the image through many often objects being in the air and capturing the stunned movement of the water flying throughout.  The pure physic automatism purposes the manner of the real functioning objects throughout, and this subsides to form an absence of all control exercise by reason. This image to my mind forms a superior reality of certain forms previously neglected in the omnipotence of a dream. I believe their is an effort within this image to from creative powers of the unconscious and path the territory of dreams ,chance and chaos. Many fo these themes come under the influence  of my project on reality and also wanting to show an emotion within the reaction and movement of ht objects itself. Conceptually this image is very planned out in a  Tablo manner. It looks although there is a literal orchestrator forming the composition fo the piece itself. The rawest and unhindered mind is found within boundless sensations of this image, the personality of the cats moving, the energy to which the image holds and the scattered composition to look as though to is still in full swing and moving, the more you look within this image the more you are able to see. This image is a clear representation of the trend of floating subjects, defiance of science and repetition. it sis said that  “A very common Surrealist technique is the juxtaposition of objects that would typically not be together in a certain situation or together at all. This has been described as “beautiful as the encounter of an umbrella and a sewing-machine on a dissecting table”  this juxtaposition conveys a metaphor to the image and the conceptual allow each viewer to analysis the image in what they think means to themselves.

This image above was composed by Thomas Barbey. Barbey was not only a photographer but would reference to himself as being a photo collage artist. This image clearly has an unlimited imagination and combines widely disparate imagery into a seamlessly beautiful piece. The combination of three different locations  to put together this composition is beyond me. Surprisingly all of his works are made through classic photographic techniques and using no computer.  I believe this collage is highly fascinating he has said that “The montages are created by carefully choosing printing procedures, such as combination printing; sandwiching negatives together, thereby printing them simultaneously; pre-planned double exposure in the camera; the re-photographing of collaged photographs; or a combination of the above.” this image itself is called ‘self exposed’ it shows a women that is lifting her face like a curtain and revealing an image of a city. This concept of how people only real certain parts of themselves in certain situations is fascinating and the image says this all perfectly. The consideration of keeping parts of oneself is a mystery is not necessarily a bad thing and allowing once self to discover one slowly makes a relationship more interesting.  surrealism is a gift and an ability to create a flawless scene out of different images is breath taking. Barbéy’s surrealistic manipulations are not only works of retouching and airbrushing – he also sticks the negatives together, photographs them, uses other techniques to reach the concept vision he had in his mind first – but few are able to resist the gripping illusion. Overall for my project I think I can successful link in people tearing away a part of themselves and showing an emotion for the environment in which they grew up. I think this also accompanies by alternate reality aspect of my work and i think this will really help me to produce images accessing surrealism themes.

Surrealism it still one of the remaining strong influences of photography and within the contemporary arts scene. It Is said that “The influence of Surrealism as a style of art can be found in a wide variety of modern and contemporary schools – notably, early Abstract Expressionism, Pop-Art and Conceptualism – and permeated nearly all contemporary art forms, including Assemblage, Installation and Performance.” I believe I can relate this to my own manifesto by encouraging the same beliefs of what these two artists achieved throughout their own work. Additionally I think there is a clear contextual link to these image and the of political landscapes. The sense fo emotion throughout the use of positioning and objects used in order to create a feeling is evident and purposes the question what is reality when faced with pain and abstract emotions.

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My Plan of My Response to My Manifesto

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In my shoot responding to my manifesto I will be focusing on rules number 3,4 and 7.

  • Rule #3 – I will take inspiration from Henrik Malmstrom’s ‘A Minor Wrongdoing’ by taking photographs that do not fit within the conventions of photography.
  • Rule #4 – I will question whether the technicalities and conventions of society, photography and day-to-day life are necessary.
  • Rule #7 – I will take inspiration from Lewis Bush’s work on ‘Metropole’ in the sense of use of double exposure.

I am focusing on these rules as they allow me to further explore the work I have done on Lewis Bush and Henrik Malmstrom through the use of techniques and styles of photography that both photographers have used in their shoots.  I plan on taking inspiration from Henrik Malmstrom by further developing on my shoot in which I took high-ISO grainy photographs which questioned the technicality rule of photography.  I plan on merging this inspiration with inspiration from Lewis Bush by editing the photographs to create the effect of double exposure that Bush used in his project ‘Metropole’. The combination of these two inspirations will allow be to follow rule four and question whether the technicalities and conventions of society and photography are necessary as well as incorporating political landscape further.  As seen in this post, I will be creating double exposure photographs using grainy photographs of individuals minding their own business in order to show and convey the idea that the Islanders are feeling disorientated and lost –  both because of the fast development in their island and because they are getting lost in their own business to the point where they do not realise people are observing and watching them

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The Meadow- Barbara Bosworth and Margot Anne Kelley

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In their most recent collection of work, The Meadow, photographers Barbara Bosworth and Margot Anne Kelley explore the connections and relationships formed between humans and the natural world. Over the course of a decade, the two have taken numerous photographs of an area of land in Carlisle, Massachusetts. Combined with Kelley’s writing, the collaborative project resulted in this uniquely-crafted work. The land they have chosen serves as an ideal subject, composed of paths and abandoned farmland reclaimed by the vibrant foliage.

In addition to their own investigations, they have invited botanists, entomologists, naturalists and historians to consider the meadow with them. Also included are historic maps of the property dating to the 1800s, and a transcription of notes from a former owner whose family has continuously documented plant and bird life in the meadow from 1931 until the 1960s.

Part photo-essay, part journal and part scientific study, this book is a meditation on the shifting perspective that occurs when one repeatedly sees the same place through new eyes

Embodying a diaristic style, the final product has the feeling of a handcrafted scrapbook recollected from someone’s bookshelf. Tucked as if by accident between the pages are small booklets bearing the photographers’ experiences, and the occasional fold-out triptych which embellishes the arts-and-crafts vibe. A detailed appendix documents the numerous foliage, fungi, and pebbles found during the exploration of the meadow.

I particularly like this book as they photographs objects they found in the meadow they were documenting (i.e. rocks) and displayed them on a white background. This gives the book a different way of looking at the area and creates breaks up the images of the meadow itself.

The book concludes with a passage by a friend of Barbara, D’Anne Bodman. She is inspired to write about finality by reflecting on the pets that both she and Barbara have recently lost. In her last paragraph, she writes, “Our remaining dog, Téa, and I walk Santo’s path daily so that it doesn’t disappear.” Through this passage, we are reminded of the importance in retreading paths to mark the changes, which is just what Barbara and Margot have aspired to do with this work.

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My Manifesto

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  1. I will photograph representations of society within Jersey through individual subjects.
  2. I will show the population of St. Helier and Jersey in the light that they portray themselves in when it appears that nobody is looking.
  3. I will take inspiration from Henrik Malmstrom’s ‘A Minor Wrongdoing’ by taking photographs that do not fit within the conventions of photography.
  4. I will question whether the technicalities and conventions of society, photography and day-to-day life are necessary.
  5. I will demonstrate how residents of Jersey react to changing developments within the island.
  6. I will show how there is always someone watching from afar.
  7. I will take inspiration from Lewis Bush’s work on ‘Metropole’ in the sense of use of double exposure.
  8. I will demonstrate political landscape through showing the vast differences between the individuals in Jersey.
  9. I will bring forward the feelings within the subject I photograph – through disorientation and reactions to everyday factors on the streets.