Michelle Sank originates from South Africa, but left in 1978 and permanently moved to the United Kingdom ins 1987. Her passion within photography lies within portraits, as she “documents the diversity of young people” (Michelle Sank: http://www.michellesank.com/portfolios/my-self). This illuminates her passion of exploring social groups and the idea that everyone is unique and different. Sank’s recent photographic series ‘My.Self’ captures teenager’s in their “bedroom so that the objects and decoration within became metaphors for their individuality and their cultural contexts.” (Michelle Sank: http://www.michellesank.com/portfolios/my-self) which allows us to compare the way in which other’s live their lives and understand social norms in different cultures. It also suggests that a person’s living space symbolises who they are, from posters to bed covers all help to define the type of person we are and the personality/stereotypes we may hold as an individual.
Mood Board Showcasing Sank’s Photographic Series ‘My.Self’
Above are a selection of Sank’s photographs from the ‘My.Self’ series. No two images are the same, which follows the ideology that no two people are the same, allowing the point of her photographic series, of youth identity and diversity, to clearly be presented. The methodology behind Sank’s work is simplistic, she wanted to cover different cultures and social groups, so she went up to people on the street and asked to photograph them in their bedroom (natural environment) as well as explaining the reasoning behind her photographic series. This series lead her to travelling around the UK in order to capture all cultures, as well as capturing youths from Jersey Channel Islands, allowing links with my classical artist to be made. Her series was then transformed into a photo-book where she then added direct quotes from the subjects of the image, as they explain their views on where they live.
The above image showcases one of personal favourites from Sank’s photographic series ‘My.Self’. I was initially drawn to this image due to the different items within the young girls room, allowing me to gain an understanding of her life. Visually, we are presented with a girl who seems to be posing on her bed. Her make up and hair style makes her seem glamorous and seem well made up. Her outfit also matches her face and hair and can be considered elaborate, which represents her socio-economic status as being high. The positioning of the subject seems to be well thought out as she is propped up with straight posture, almost as if she was a professional model. Her bedcovers are subtle, which contradicts the extravagant pillows which surround the girl. The background is simplistic, with grey walls (which is modern day can be considered fashionable and popular amongst teenage girls). The image itself is taken at a straight on angle, allowing the teenage girl to be the main focus point. Braking down the composition has allowed me to understand the girl’s environment, which Sank considered to be a metaphor for the girls individuality and personality. This leads onto the conceptual and contextual factors of Sank’s work, as mentioned before she wanted to capture cross-cultural differences in teenagers and their natural environment and how it represents them as an individual. As a whole it allows us to celebrate the ameliorative ideology that everyone is unique and different. Technically, the camera settings used to capture the image above, and other images within the series, seems to be kept simplistic and minimalistic. The shutter speed seems to be quick, due to no intended movement blur, as well as the ISO being low due to no noise produced by the natural/artificial lighting, sunlight alongside lamps located in the rooms, helping to light up the model. The whole frame seems to be in focus suggesting a wide depth of field as well as the aperture being high as the photograph is sharp. The white balance seems to be appropriate for the lighting used, a daylight setting, which allows a sense of warmth to be presented to the photograph. A lot of formal elements are being presented such as form, shape and space, which are mainly presented through the girl and the background of the frame.