How have artists such as Toroptsov shown memory and remembrance through their use of photography.

“I have no personal memories of him.” (Toroptsov Y. Deleted scene;). Links to my work as I have no personal memories of The Nazi Occupation of Jersey 1939 – 1945. Within my work I am going to try and begin through the use of landscape photography. Though I am mainly focusing on the bunkers and fortifications, I am also going to try and commemorate those that died during war and those that had interesting stories that occurred due to war around the island. Many artists such as Paul Virilio have explored this concept before, and generally have gotten to the conclusion that we build structures as some kind of tomb or mausoleum for those who lived at a time. We often look at these buildings, re-use them, admire them and often, allow them to become a permanent part of our landscape. Which can ultimately shape peoples lives and history.

Lots of interesting stories happened within the occupation and liberation phases of the war in Jersey. I am going to try and find out about lots of these things and try to reflect that and tell a story using photography to show things people have gone through within Jersey during the period of war.
With this work my main goal is to show remembrance and to commemorate those soldiers and people in Jersey who were affected by the effects the occupation and liberation would have had on them.

The main photographer I am going to analyse is Yury Toroptsov and his deleted scene project which shows Toroptsov challenging himself by trying to commemorate and show his family memories of his father who passed away when Toroptsov was young. This will also help me as it gives me a way to receive inspiration for different things I am able to do to show memory of war, even though I did not live through it. Photographing something that has already happened throws up many challenges, but is something that I am interested in doing.

I am also going to analyse work by Chris Dorley-Brown. I am mainly going to focus on his work within his project The Longest Way Round. This project focuses on his parents within the war (unlike Toropstovs project.) Though it is still used to commemorate and remember what happened to his parents within the war, and how they ended up together at the end of the war. This will help me get inspiration for the kind of work I need to do to display memory of war and occupation, likely more so than from Toroptsovs work due to the fact this project links directly to war rather than just to memory.

The quote “it is not just photography that is complicated, but the concepts of realism and reality too.” (Bright. S. and Van Erp. H. is it real?; 18), relates well to the work I am going to create, this is because this quote is not just saying that photography is difficult but is saying that everything you catch on photograph can be altered or changed, though may be unable to capture the full picture of what has happened in an area. This quote allows me to question my work and helped me realise, no matter what imagery I take, It will be near impossible to show the full story of any story I decide to try and show, from a time period such as The Occupation.

Historical/Theoretical Context:

Modernism was a broad term used that encompassed all the avant-garde movements, such as; dadaism, constructivism, expressionism and straight photography. Modernism was named and used mainly within the first half of the twentieth century. There were lots of different well-known artists that took a modernist approach, and though most of them such as Salvador Dali were still painting, there were a few like Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand that moved to modernist photography not only because it was different and new, but also because photography was accepted a lot more within this movement and not just thought of as a tool for science. Modernism has influenced my work and so I have tried to take a modernist approach, this is because this has allowed me to experiment with lots of different ways I can approach my photography and edit the work. It lets me decide from lots of different art movements to see how images will look in loads of different styles. Unlike approaches before modernism, such as pictorialism, which normally uses photographs with filters over them to make them seem as though they are paintings, modernism is based a lot more with the idea of photography in mind and normally rejects the ideas of religion within its imagery, which is why my images generally don’t have obvious religious aspects within them, unless they link directly to the idea of remembrance I am trying to portray. Modernism normally experiments with different forms to create an unusual look. My initial work has mirrored this idea by using images taken from unusual angles to create an idea of different shapes and lines going into unusual places.

The bunkers and other fortifications created by the Germans, tended to have a modernist edge to them. This was influenced by The Bauhaus Movement (Germany). Though, the quote, “Housing schemes, factories and office blocks designed by modernist architects were clear-headed and geometric, suggesting clean and unembellished lives for the people inside them.” (Ballard, JG. (2006) A handful of dust;). Gives us context to why the Bauhaus was shut down, this is through the fact that Hitler would have been weary of clear-headed people and wanted people to blindly follow him. So when the Nazis came into power they quickly closed the Bauhaus and turned it into an SS training school.

Artist:

The artist I have chosen to analyse is Yury Toroptsov. Toroptsov is a well known photographer, whose most well known project would likely be his project named Deleted Scene. Toroptsov began this project in order to relive memories of his father and commemorate him through his work. This links well with the work I have done because, I have also tried to commemorate and create a feeling of remembrance, but for those who were involved within the war and the occupation of Jersey. Below is an image from Yury Toroptsovs, Deleted Scene.

This image shows a small room containing lots of different books. This image is important as it can directly link to the quote “his camera. When I was nine I found it in the wardrobe where mother kept it safely for years. I dismantled it to the last screw as if looking for something hidden inside. By my own unaware hand I destroyed the last personal item connected to my father.” (Toroptsov, Y. Deleted scene). This image likely depicts where he found it or somewhere similar to show something from his past and his fathers past, when he was still alive. This can be used to link them together and show that they are and have been connected even though Toroptsov states that he has no personal memories of his father.

The image is taken at an angle and has been taken as a portrait image. This means we are able to see the whole door and entrance to the room within the image properly. The door looks very old and has cracks in it. This could also link back to memory of his father as it looks as though it has aged and been untouched for years between his death, the camera incident and now.

Lastly, the image is taken in very dim lighting using only the lights within the room and what looks to be natural lighting. This kind of lighting creates a focus on the room and may make people wonder what has happened inside, while also creating a sense of remorse in those reading for Toroptsov and his loss.

Artist 2:

Chris Dorley-Brown and his book The Longest Way Round. He shows the story of his fathers capture and eventual release from Stalag VIII B. Which is a German prison camp his father was captured and sent in 1941 while fighting in Crete. During his time in the war camp he befriended his jailer. Whose name was Conrad Barnack.

The book is also a love story between Chris’ father Peter and his mother Brenda, which is shown alongside Peters time in the war camp.It gives us a glimpse into Brenda’s lead-up to marrying Peter. Firstly, by showing us that her first husband had been killed in war and that the second had returned to America after the war. Leaving her with Peter after the war.

This is an image that Chris Dorley-Brown has taken as a part of his project the longest way round. This image depicts a part of the story of the book. He has taken this image to further the story of the project, without using more archival material. Even though he often used archival material. He still used a lot of his own images. These images he has taken are very important to the project as it creates a much clearer and very personal connection between Chris and his parents past.

This image shows an area of land full of trees and bushes surrounding lots of rocks extruding from the ground. rocky parts are likely apart of some kind of World War 2, German fortifications. This can link back to remembrance for Chris because it shows that he has been able to experience where family members have been. Nature has reclaimed this land, possibly a metaphor for time and inevitability.

This is another one of the images within Chris Dorley-Browns book. It is one of the archival images within the book. It like the other image creates a very personal connection for Chris, but this time towards his mother, Brenda, as the image shows her smiling in a car. The image is also in black and white, which would have been standard at the time the image was taken during the second world war. The image due to being in black and white, creates a lot of contrast between Brenda and the vehicle and her surroundings. This means a lot of the detail is taken out of her face and clothing, but highlights her out a lot more and makes her into the focus point of the image. Glamorous and light-hearted, this image betrays war time tragedy and circumstance.

Conclusion:

I have taken inspiration from two main artists for my work within this photobook. Yury Toroptsov and Chris Dorley-Brown, which in each project, both are looking to remember and show memories of two different things, but do so in quite similar ways. Often using close up images of places and areas that represent or link to the people who they are being used to remember. I have tried to do similar to this within my work by using close up images of different bunkers and parts of bunkers that have been destroyed or eroded over the years since the occupation. Getting a lot closer rather than at a distance allowed me to capture a lot of the intricate detail in the bunkers and walls built and maintained by the forced workers during the war, and it also lets me see how they have held up since without very much maintenance since The Occupation. With the images from my photoshoots I have taken for this project, I have selected twenty eight images from these photoshoots to be in my photobook, along with a few maps and a few images of models of the inside of some bunker tunnels. With every single one of my images I have elected to go for a black and white approach with high contrast. I have done this to create a uniformed look throughout the whole photobook, and to draw peoples attention onto more detail within the darker areas than they may have noticed without. Most of the selected images are from two different areas in Jersey, Batterie Lothringen and Batterie Moltke. So I have also added information about the defenses in these areas of the island within the photobook. Overall, I believe I have followed both Chris Dorley-Brown and Yury Toroptsovs styles within my work and have created a photobook to show what the bunkers around Jersey look like now. Though, I have slightly moved away from my original idea of showing off the landscapes with the bunkers throughout, and have moved to more architectural and close-up view through using inspiration from these chosen artists and experimenting with how different images worked.