Essay question: How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

Opening quote

"If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what that does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality?" (Bright and Van Erp 2019:17) 

Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analyzing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?

My area of study will be focused on my family's history; more specifically the story of both my parents and important events in their life which lead to me being where I am today. I have chosen to analyze Diana Markosian because her project "Inventing My Father" contrasts directly with Rita Puig-serra Costa's study "Where Mimosa Bloom" which I will also be referring to throughout this essay. I like the way Diana explores the absence of her father in her life in such a personal and raw way, as I think it makes people able to empathize with her. In her project she explores the absence of her father, which eventually leads to a reunion which she captures in images. The images along with the context she provides into her life, makes this project very interesting. Equally, I think the way Costa explores her family through the use of archival images and objects was very effective as it really conveyed a sense of love and importance of family.I specifically loved how her entire project was an homage to her mother as it further shows how fond she is of her family when paired with carefully photographed objects, a thoughtfully taken portraits. I decided to really focus on these two photographers throughout my personal study because I could personally relate to the different ways both artists portrayed their family, as I think on one hand I have a close bond with certain members of my family, and due to my Portuguese heritage, family has always been of great value to me. However on the other hand, due to my parents separating there is also an element of a lack of a parental figure in the narrative I intend to tell. In this essay I will be discussing the notion of family and relationships, loss and hope in the works of both these artists.

Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian.

Realism is the concept of capturing things in their natural element. This genre of photography is most useful when trying to capture something such as family history, as documentary photography allows us to be able to see someone's real life situation through a photograph. Photographers such as Dorothea Lange and Paul Strand focused on documenting the effects of urbanization and industrialization on working class Americans. This was something very prominent at the time of this movement, as the great depression in 1929 left a lot of people struggling. We now see this type of photography as realism. I feel as if this movement fits in well with my personal study as it recognizes the importance of capturing raw, documentary style images which I think is important when exploring something as personal as a family’s history, especially when it involves immigration and the struggle surrounding that journey. Images of this sort are characterized by having a wide depth of field and having sharp focus which contradicts the pictorialist style. The movement away from creating a painterly aesthetic ultimately opened the door to a more forensic approach…but one that is open to distortion, manipulation and the notion of narrative. This will ultimately depend on the agenda of the artist, their integrity and skill in delivering a message, story or sequence of events.

Good flow of language showing a good understanding of documentary photography. However, what are some of the issues of photography’s relationship with reality? Photography is only a representation of reality and what;s in front of the camera can be altered, re-framed, re-contextualised to suit a particular point of view. You mention Dorothea Lange, who famous image ‘Migrant Worker’ from 1936 embodies photograpy’ ambigious relationship with realism. Use this image as a case-study to write about this problematic. See me tomorrow for something to read!

Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.

In my opinion, Diana Markosian uses an non-traditional method when exploring the family concept in her projects. Instead of focusing on positiveness, and happiness, she focuses on the negative aspect, which is the fact that she grew up without her father figure ;whereas normally happier moments and aspects are explored in relation to family and the concept of a family photograph. I think this makes her work stand out among other photographers who explore the concept of family relationships, as it's more truthful and goes against the dominating stereotype that every family is perfect, making it more contemporary and relatable to modern day people. This view is put across to the audience through her work as she uses a lot of black and white images which present a sense of emptiness or despair and make her images feel cold and slightly unemotional. She also uses archival images, which would otherwise portray a sense of happiness, alongside the black and white images which instead give the audience an indication that there's a slight sense of resentment, especially the archival image that her father is cut out of. I believe Diana Markosian represents a modern wave of photography where the beauty of imperfectness can be appreciated.

In my opinion the image above is one of Markosian's best as it is technically appealing a rich in context. After a 15 year separation from her father, her father told her he'd also been looking for her and showed her this suitcase of undelivered letters, a shirt he was saving for her brother's weddings, newspaper clippings and images. This image is in black and white making it more emotionally detached yet since the objects are sentimental it creates an interesting juxtaposition, as it shows the photographer is conflicted over her feelings over the objects.

Choose a specific example now and analyse

Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses

Rita Puig-Serra Puig takes the completely opposite approach when compared to Diana Markosian. Throughout Rita's body of work, "where mimosa bloom" it is clear that the project, which is an homage to her mother, is very thoughtful, and shows a clear overpowering sense of love for her family. This can be seen through many aspects of her work, including the light color scheme throughout her images as she effectively conveys a sense of delicacy through a pastel colours and also the metaphorical link to mimosa, a brightly colored type of plant which is very graceful and lively. I think that Rita's work is a more traditional way of portraying family as she utilises portraiture and archival objects in a positive way.I think Rita Puig-Serra's work represents positive sentiments towards relationships giving a romantic representation of a typical family unit.

This book exudes closeness and sentimentality, a kind of poetic bond between women

Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced

To conclude, both Markosian and Costa have created very emotional pieces of work based on their own personal family stories and journeys. Although we do get a sense of love from Markosian's work, I believe this sentiment is often fighting against a feeling of hatred and resentment towards her father, whereas we purely get the feeling of love and closeness from Costa's photo book. Costa's photo book contains a very unique color palette containing light, delicate, pastel colors which is expected as her images are delicately framed and excrete fondness towards her family. On the other hand, Markosian's body of work contains a lot of black and white images which shows that there is a lot of distance between her and the subject, yet all the things she photographs are of rich sentimental meaning to her. Both photographers also make use of archival images and objects, Costa utilises this to show a deep connection to her mother whereas due to the nature of Markosian's work, her archival objects are used to show her father as being someone she is detached from.