Before responding to the Identity and Place stimulus I am experimenting with extra prints that I can generate with a successful Photomontage print. To do this I am scratching into and pinning the Photomontage print.
Scratching
Below shows me starting to scratch into the print. I started out by using the needle end of a compass to scratch in between the lines of the print for effect. I later moved onto using a Stanley knife to cut thinner lines in and generate different marks on the page.
Scratching into print
Experimenting with Pins
Below shows my experimenting with different arrangement of placing the pins around her head and also around her jewellery. I also generated experiments of pushing the pins in different lengths some in further and some sticking far out of the page.
For some other experiments with the idea of lines I decided to experiment with photoshop and generating lines in this way.
I used the line tool on photoshop to generate the lines and developed 3 different outcomes, one using a picture I generated in photomontage experiments with the string and threading while the other two I used images from the studio portraits I generated.
Screenshot Of Working
I also cropped the images more If I felt it could be helpful and I tried to try out 3 different ways of generating lines, for the photomontage experiment I crossed the lines over in the shapes that had been created by the lines, I redid the lines over and over one another as to generate a similar style to what the thread was producing. For the first studio portrait outcome I tried out using the lines to go around shapes in geometric styles, in this example I followed around the flower. For the second studio portrait outcome I used, I just experimented with working the lines around the faces and seeing wha sort of styles and shapes I could create in an interesting pattern
These are my outcomes and responses as well as edits to Annegret Soltau and Jakob Kolding.
Annegret Soltau
This shows the contact sheet of the photoshoot from my responses to Annegret Soltau. I started by wrapping the string around my head as well as another persons head and took pictures from various angles. Next I chose two images that I thought were best and printed them out to work into.
Contact Sheet of Photoshoot
Below shows two of my printed out responses with the string worked and sewn into them just as Annegret Soltau does.
My First Response with the String Worked intoMy Second Response with the String Worked into
Final Responses in Black and White
I have placed my final responses into black and white as this is how Annegret Soltau presents most of her work as well so I thought it would create a more accurate response to her.
Final ResponseFinal Response 2
Jakob Kolding
My Own Edit
This is a trial montage that I created with inspiration from Jakob Kolding, by drawing on and creating separate elements to create an image. This one which I have created I have done quite subtly compared to my other photo-montage in response to Annegret Soltau. For this photograph above I have taken small parts out of a woman’s magazine and stuck it in replacement of some of the things in the shop for example I changed the words on the crossword or the prices on the till, I also went back and drew on some of what he had in his shop himself on paper and placed this onto the photograph.
Annegret Soltau (Born 16 January 1946) is a German visual artist born in Luneburg, Germany. Her work marks a fundamental reference point in the art of the 1970’s and the 1980’s. Photo-montages of her own body and face sewn over or collaged with black thread are the most well known of the artist.
In ‘Selbst’ the artists ties up her face with tight threads of black silk, just like a cocoon, of which she makes a photographic record that is subsequently stitched by following a geometric pattern that resembles a sign. In her Video-Performances and Phototableaus she wanted to make an intimate processes like sexuality, pregnancy, birth, abortion, sickness and violence to become subjects of the arts. From 1977 to 1980 she dealt with her pregnancies of her two children. She asked herself the question: How can I combine creativity and motherhood without losing myself as my own person.
Performance art and photography became a liberation device for Soltau herself as well. After a series of self-portraits that show her in a cocoon made of black thread in various stages of pupation, she made her first sewn photo works in 1975. From that point onwards, her work was influenced by her understanding of human existence as a constant metamorphosis, and the threat to and expansion of the self throughout these changes. She finally became the center of her art: “I am using myself as a model because I can go the farthest with me.”
The tactile drawing with needle and thread, which has been her hallmark ever since, can be found in its probably most aesthetic version in the series of self portraits entitled Verspannungen from the Deutsche Bank Collection. “I liked the simplicity of those photo booth pictures, where you simply sit in the booth. It was important to me that the threads connect the various states like telephone wires.” The threads sewn across the photos follow the outlines of her face like cobwebs. Eyes, nose, and mouth become fixed points in an ornamental work of strapping and sewing that seems like an especially subtle for of self-mutilation. –Article Link
Annegret Soltau
Her imagery, which is both provocative and disturbing, often explores themes related to the self, metamorphosis and the female body. Alongside other artists such as Cindy Sherman and Suzy Lake, Soltau’s work is regarded as a key reference point for feminist art in the 70s and 80s.
In an interview about her work, Soltau says, “Above all I am interested in the image of women. What happens to women these days, how do they present themselves? Which compulsions (and liberties) exist for women today?”
Below is another photo-montage by Annegret Soltau. It is still a self portrait like in the above examples however this was produced a couple of years on and can be seen to have a different style. She has still sewn back into the photograph however this time it is to stitch other pictures onto the original, they have been ripped and placed to create an abstract looking portrait it has a different and almost more powerful effect for her to be stitching the parts together rather than having it seamless by gluing it. It also makes the picture more recognisable to her as it has become one of her signifying techniques.
Self Portrait | Annegret Soltau
Other Artist to look at during experimentation:
Jakob Kolding
‘In terms of subject, the work has gone from a relatively specific interest in modernist utopias and suburban space.’
The idea of landscape plays a big part in Berlin-Based Jakob Kolding’s gritty pieces. He likes the fact that every element used references something outside of the work, making for a multilayered and complex experience. He is acutely aware that context always matters and enjoys playing around with this in ‘simple yet meaningful ways’. Collage is always at the heart of his creative process and he admits that ‘even when the work doesn’t look like a collage, that is basically still how I think about it. I like how in the process you can build up your own vocabulary, something very personal by made only out of found images. Nothing comes from nothing.’ – Cuts & Paste (Caroline Roberts and Richard G. Brereton)
Jakob Kolding | Memories of the FututreJakod Kolding | Round up
For my photo-montage I decided to link thematically to John Heartfield. While he had strong anti-Nazi messages in his works, I chose to link to my polish heritage and explore the communist era of Poland. I decided I wanted to show the negative impact that socialism had on Poland, it’s economy and it’s people. For the style of editing I used, I decided to make a piece similar to those by Martha Rosler. I used a multiply layer of a piece of crinkled paper as well as various filter in order to age the background and give it the appearance of a communist propaganda poster.
This is my mood board for the topic of Tableaux Vivants, as you can see Tableaux has been around for a while, and can be re created in order to remake or refresh a memory from a past time/long time ago.
I like these images because I feel that the atmosphere within is strong but also the colors and contrasts between light and dark really allow you to get a feeling from the photo but makes it seem high quality and draws you in more to have a closer and more in depth look at the photo.
Some words that I associate with Tableaux Vivants are:
Representation, still life, re-create, illustrate.
Some recreations of Tableaux can be a certain lyric to a song, an album cover, a poem, mythology or even a dream.
Photo-montage is the process of creating a photo through the process of cutting and sticking different images together, in order to present a single final image.
This technique was first introduced by “Dadaists” in 1915 in order to aid their protest against the First World War, and was later adopted by surrealists, resulting in the creation of work that broke the rules of conventional art, and expressed opinions (political, social e.t.c) through bold, noisy and nonsensical artwork.
Dadaism: A movement in European art and literature where artists disregarded the conventional aesthetics of art produced at the time, and instead created bold, nonsensical and ridiculous artwork in order to either voice opinions in an over the top fashion, or to ridicule the meaningless of certain aspects of the modern world.
Photo-montage can be used to create abstract and surreal artwork, and the introduction of Photoshop and photo editing software has made the creation of photo-montage images much easier for many. Below are a collection of images where artists have created photo-montages:
Photo-montage has developed through the years, and was wildly popular during the 20th century among the more forward thinking, rebellious artists and photographers who wanted to break the rules of conventional artwork. Hannah Hoch is an example of an artist who used photo-montage to express her critiques of society, politics and the way art was viewed during her time. Below is a mood-board including some examples of her photo-montage work:
Hoch didn’t shy away from expressing her opinions, and often portrayed female equality and feminism in her work, which was a new subject that went against the more conservative beliefs of the public at the time (and so was welcomed by Dadaists).
Photomontage has continued to be a popular form of expressionism even through modern times, with artists often expressing their opinions on current political events through the use of photomontage. Modern photographers and artists who express themselves through the use of photomontage include Scott Treleaven and Peter Kennard.
Examples of Peter Kennard’s work can be seen below, in which some of the images are clearly critical of the current political situation in the UK and USA:
Where’s UKIP Now?SubTrumpSoldier With GlobeQuick Polish
Photomontage has evolved along with the political and social struggles that artists use it to convey. Modern technology has enabled photomontages to be created only using a computer, without the need for physically cutting or sticking. This has allowed for many artists to more smoothly layer art together, to create montages of different photographs that seem like they fit together more easily. The increase in the publics political knowledge through the years has also allowed for artists to place more subtle critics of social and political events in their work, allowing for the meaning behind their images to become layered, and thus adding more to the image for the viewer to think about.
Photo montages are images created by manipulating pictures in a way where images may be overlapping or rearranged. If done by hand it will probably involve cutting and sticking, however photo montages can also be done through certain computer soft wares,like Photoshop.
History of photo montages
Historically, photo montages were used as a way to express people’s views on politics. Photo montages were used in 1915 in protests against World War 1, then it became a popular technique for surrealist artists who are artists who make art that shows the thoughts of the unconscious mind. Their work is usually very imaginative and creative. For this reason, photo montages became popular within them as it allows them to create pieces that are based on their imagination.
Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer known for his work on photo-montage, and it has been said that his work inspired many elements of Adobe’s ‘Photoshop’ image editing software. Uelsmann focused on surrealist images created by layering film on top of one another in a dark room. Uelsmann was born and raised in Detroit in 1934 and became interested in photography as a hobby in high school when he was 14 and used it as a way to escape from his school life, where he was getting poor grades. He managed to land a few modeling and wedding shoots and began working as a part time photo assistant for a commercial studio and wedding photographer, then eventually went on to earn a BA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and M.S. and M.F.A. degrees from Indiana University. Uelsmann was a driving force of surrealist photography and was a pioneer of collage and multiple imaging in photography.
These photos are still fairly difficult to create in today’s times, and you have to know your way around Photoshop to even begin a process like this, yet Uelsmann was creating these pictures well before the invention of Photoshop, using a range of unconventional techniques, he managed to create flawlessly realized and executed images working with multiple enlargers, negatives and an array of highly-refined masking, diffusion, burning and dodging techniques. it was after graduating from Indiana University in 1960 and embarking upon a teaching career at the University of Florida that this experimentation really took off. Uelsmann had his first solo show at MOMA in 1967, and is currently the subject of two major retrospective shows. “The Mind’s Eye,” featuring approximately 90 images (including early documentary images dating from the mid-’50s), opens at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts in February 2012 after having debuted this summer at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where Uelsmann taught photography for close to 40 years.
Annegret Soltau is a German visual artist. Her work marks a fundamental reference point in the art of the 1970s and 1980s. Photomontages of her own body and face sewn over or collaged with black thread are the most well-known works done by her.
As if a spider web, I sewn my own self-portrait. The grey silk thread is a kind of mask, the face overlaid with a delicate tension. I take contours and lines on my face and I support them, some put the new strings caesura. – Annegret Soltau
Some of her work consists of lines in which she has sewn into the picture herself to create interesting abstract lines, and others she has taken multiple pictures, cutting or ripping out certain parts and then sewing them together.
Annegret Soltau Untitled
In this image, it is obvious that Soltau has used multiple people to create this unique piece. She has taken two pictures of people, cut the pictures up into sections and sewn them together so the image was mismatched. The thread keeping the image together creates a unique effect , something which simply gluing or taping it on could never achieve. I like the way she also ripped the original picture, and then went and sewed it back together, and the way she used two different people, one significantly older than the other, creating a comparison between the two. She also keeps the background plain, so we concentrate on the sewn together model.
