Stezaker attended the Slade School of Art in London, artists to react against what was then the predominance of Pop art.
Solo exhibitions for Stezaker have been rare, however, in the mid-2000s, his work was rediscovered by the art market;he is now collected by several international collectors and museums.
His work is surreal in tone and is often made using collage and the appropriation of pre-existing images such as postcards, film stills, and publicity photographs. Art historian Julian Stallabrass said, “The contrast at the heart of these works [by Stezaker] is not between represented and real, but between the unknowing primitives of popular culture, and the conscious, ironic artist and viewer of post-modern images.”One work included in an exhibition at Salama-Caro Gallery, London, in 1991, depicted an image of a punch clock together with the caption “Why Spend Time on an Exhibition Like This?” Colin Gleadell wrote in The Daily Telegraph in 2007 that Stezaker “is now being hailed as a major influence on the Young British Art movement,” in reference to Young British Artists.
Until 2006, Stezaker was Senior Tutor in Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London.
photomontage
Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image.
his work:
This photograph is so interesting, i like the idea how the background is black and white while the front photo is colored. and in the back are a man in the women as if they are dreaming about the place in the front photograph and they’re living in a dark pale place while the place they’re dreaming about is so colorful.
experimenting result:
this is my photo i made by taking a photograph i took of my two class colleagues in the schools studio with ring lights and adding another layer on top of it which presents the place they live in. the background is black and white while the front layer is colored to give meaning to the photograph. also the student’s diffrent face expressions give more meaning and makes the viewer wonder whats their exact reaction to the place they’re living in.
For my second photo shoot, i am going to do an inspired Francesca Woodman photo shoot.
Image i was inspired by..
I have taken large inspiration from this image by Woodman. I really like the concept of this image, From my point of view, the model is showing to not know her self which is why she is purposely making her self blurred. She doesn’t want to be seen. The position she is in looks as if she is aiming for the floor implying that she is very relaxed.
This image shows factors of ‘loss of identity’ which is the subject i have decided to follow.
Plan
My overall plan for my shoot is to have one model, dressed in simple clothing ( black leggings and a black top) and for the model to experiment with hiding her identity while moving. Her face will act as her ‘identity’ and she will be playing with her hair/ using it to cover her face, jumping/moving, as well as covering different parts of her ‘identity’. I will allow the model to have freedom in what they are doing so that it adds a personal touch to the image and what she classes as ‘identity’. These images will be taken in a studio with a black white background to show simplicity and so that the model is the main focus of the image. After taking the images i will edit them with a black and white edit so that there is a contrast between the model and background. I will use a manual camera setting for these pictures so that i can experiment with different white balances, depth of fields and shutter speeds.
The overall purpose of this shoot is to show the personal ‘ loss of identity’ in the model.
Aspects to include..
Studio lighting ( one point lighting)
Plain white background
Dressed simply ( all in black)
Model to have hair down
No props to be used
Manual setting
Experiment with slow and fast shutter speed
Edit to black and white
Contact sheets
Possible final outcomes
Editing final images
All photos below have been edited using Adobe Photoshop. I took inspiration of Woodman for my editing, i firstly edited all the images in black and white as well as editing the contrast, brightness and the levels of the image. Images below have been chosen due to them meeting the criteria of ‘ loss of identity’.
Who: I have decided that I’m going to focus on my brother for this section of my portrait project
What: I will be taking photos of various personal items of his which I believe represent his personality and the face he shows to the world. for this particular photo-shoot I will be photographing his car in the style of Zhao Xiaomeng’s photographs of the bikes of Beijing. For the second photo-shoot I will be photographing various smaller items relating to my brothers identity in order to fill the lower row of my typology.
Where: I will use a parking lot in town which is a placed on a demolished building, this left the outline of the walls on the other surrounding buildings which I believe creates a fitting background similar to those in Zhao’s photos. The second photo-shoot will be conducted on my gravel garden area for a grey background which still has some texture.
When: I will be taking the photos in the early evening The second photo-shoot will be taken during the afternoon.
Why: I like the idea of using possessions to show someones identity as it better conveys someones personality if they are normally a rather closed off person. Using possessions also allows me to better manipulate the subject in the images. I have chosen this time as it will give a good soft lighting for the images.
Lucas Simoes is a Brazilian photographer based in Brazil. His work is based upon his architectural background and consists of geometric shapes and figures of portrait distortion.
I am inspired by his work due to his unique approach to warping and distorting images such as the ones below
In each image, the identity of the subject is distorted to the point that no recognizable features of the person can be acknowledged. The facial features are either blurred, rippled or crystallized in these works, Hiding the true identity of the Person beneath. in my opinion, His images almost give off the idea of a distorted glass window, Allowing the outline of the subject to be seen, yet obscuring facial features in the process beyond the point of recognition.
The idea of my project will be about distorting facial features and any other features of the face and body that could be utilized to identify the subject, like hair style, clothing etc. This will be done through the process of using tools within
Michal Maku
Michal Maku is a Czechoslovakian photographer whom utilities his own artistic style known as “gellage”. this process involves the altering of the physical properties of a printed photography using gelatin and elements of collage.
Here are a few images in his style of gellage. Note the contortion of human features through the method of gellage.
I aim to imitate this style through utilising both digital and physical means of editing. I like the idea of printing off a physical image and using physical processes such as taping, burning and tearing to imitate Macku’s Process.
To respond to Francesca Woodman’s work, I have replicated some of her photographs to create images that show loss of identity. To replicate her photographs, I had my subject half hidden by slow exposures to blur her figure into a ghostly presence. Since she usually photographed herself in empty interiors, I captured my images in the studio room. In the studio room I turned on the spotlight and changed my camera setting to a slower shutter speed to manipulate the light and movement to create the same photographic effects Woodman has in her images. Woodman explored problems that affect young people such as isolation, questions of self and confusion about identity. I wanted to explore the same themes in my own work to create a series of photographs about lack of identity.
CONTACT SHEET
L: The lighting is overexposed/underexposed
F: The image is out of focus
Red X: I will not use this image
Green square: I will use this image
Francesca Woodman, Space 2, 1975-1978
She stands in the centre of the image wearing a dress and black knee high boots. She occupies an empty space in the corner of a room, standing near the back wall. Woodman stands with her feet planted apart and is bent slightly forward towards the camera with her arms and hands out in front of her. Her face, which looks down towards the floor, is obscured by her hair. Woodman is blurred as though she is shaking her head.
I replicated her first image by having my subject wear all black. I told her to stand with her feet apart and have her arms and hands out in front of her. To create the same blurred effect, I told my subject to look down towards the floor and shake her head. Her face is obscured by her hair which is blurred through movement. The slow shutter speed captures the movement and creates a ghostly presence. Since there are no windows with light streaming through I used the spotlight in the studio room to create shadows on the floor as well as highlights. On Photoshop I changed the image adjustment to black and white and increased the contrast to create an eerie effect.
Francesca Woodman, Space 2, 1975-1978
Woodman, wearing a dark dress and knee length boots, occupies an empty interior space with bare white walls. A window can be seen on the far right of the image where light enters the room. With feet firmly planted, Woodman appears to lunge forward. Her body is orientated away from the camera, her knees are bent, back hunched and arms stretched out. Her body from the ankles up is blurred as if in motion, obscuring her face.
I replicated the second image by having my subject lunge forward towards the spotlight. Because of the fast motion, most of her body is blurred. This is my favourite image that I replicated from Woodman because the rapid movement creates a sense of loss of identity. She appears lost and confused through the motion blur.
I created more loss of identity images by coming up with my own ideas to represent this topic. Although these images are not a replicate of Francesca Woodman’s photography work, they are inspired by her. I photographed my subject in front of a mirror admiring herself. I then stayed in the same position and told my subject to move out the frame. On photoshop I opened up the two images and used the opacity tool to help me position the mirror without her reflection onto of the first image. Doing this removed her reflection from the original image which connotes the idea of lack of identity since she cannot see herself through the mirror. I also applied the black and white filter to resemble Francesca Woodman’s images.
To create this image on Photoshop I told my subject to do two things. I captured one image of her looking directly at the camera, and in the same position I had my her covering her face with her hands. I placed the image with her face showing on top of the other. Using the opacity tool I placed and resized her facial features onto her hands and erased the rest of the image. This edit shows loss of identity since she is hiding her face away from the public. However, she can still be seen faintly through her hands suggesting that she can’t hide away. The subject blending into the black background creates an eerie and dark effect that Francesca Woodman portrays through her images.
