For my first three layouts I aimed to showcase images from my phonebook within a sequence. I plan to use all the six prints to work together, keeping the underlying narrative. For this I have decided to use a mixture of the three shoots, x3 costume images, x1 archival image and x2 still-life images. I have chosen these series of images as I found they worked well together and created the intended underlying narrative. I will be using two A5 images, two A4 images as well as two A3, the images will be displayed on separate white foam boards which will add to the simplistic aesthetic. I will be pairing images of the same subject together on one from board with a 4cm gap in-between the two images as I feel as if this adds to the narrative and also compliments the photographs. This action will be repeated for all the other image sizes to create a simplistic feel and create an aesthetic. I have produced examples of the designs I will be producing below which I created with Adobe Photoshop.
A5 Images
A4 Medium
Overviewing
After looking at how the images can out printed and analysing how they’ve been sectioned together. I have decided to use mounting as a way of displaying my images as I feel as if this will complimented the photographs more. I also decided to cut out the archival image as due to it not being good quality when it was first taken, it didn’t print well, I also took out the front facing blue costume image as I felt as if it was unnesseasy and the backless image had a lot more meaning behind it. I will display the four remaining images all on one mount as I feel as if it will add contrast to the images.
Howdoes Jeff Walls tableaux approach depict a seemingly photo journalistic approach?
“Walls images have all the drama and spontaneity of street photography but the exacting precision of a film set” (Shelley Jones, July 2019)
Jeff Walls approach to photography may seem at first to some, as simple street photography, the subjects caught in the act of going about their everyday lives. However, this is not the case, as Wall is a world renowned tableaux photographer, who focuses on creating the perfect picture and adopting a meticulous and tedious process to obtain the perfect depiction of his ideas. Some shoots typically taking hours or even days just to process one image. Wall has been known to hire out masses of industry professionals such as prop makers, lighting technicians and stylists to really bring his images to life and portray his ideas as clear as he sees them in his own head. “Wall, 68, refers to his approach as cinematography or near documentary”(E. Lipsy Karaz, Wall Street Journal 2015). With Wall referring to his own approach as cinematography, it raises the question of How? How does wall achieve the approach of cinematography and produce a well-orchestrated and descriptive image?
The answer lies within the image itself. At first glance, Many of Wall’s images simply seem to be images of chance occurrences within the environment Wall is shooting in, However that is far from the case, as Wall conducts his shoots and arranges subjects on set based upon his own personal experience of situations he finds of interest. For example, in one of Wall’s most renowned pieces of work, Mimic 1982, we are presented with an image of a well-dressed, clean looking male subject of Asian heritage walking through a suburban area of Vancouver, Canada. Alongside him is a more unkempt male subject grasping the hand of his seemingly disgusted female partner. The male subject has his finger dragged to the corner of his eye, making an obscene/ racist gesture aimed towards the Asian subject. This image may seem at first a chance occurrence that Wall happened to be in the right place and the right time for. However, if we are to look behind the scenes, we would soon come to the realization that in fact, we are unable to view the immense production team responsible for the creation of this image. The idea from the image comes from a personal experience of Wall’s, where he was walking along a suburban sidewalk in Vancouver and witnessed this exact event unfolding in front of his eyes. Wall was disgusted by this racist act, but at the same time intrigued, as the event he witnessed really depicted the social unease at the time between Asian immigrants and local Canadians due to the recent events of the Vietnam war creating a surge in Vietnamese refugees seeking asylum within the United States and Canada. In 1923, The Canadian Government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, which restricted Chinese nationals from immigrating to Canada, and this act later expanded to cover all Asian nationals. The Act was later repealed in 1947, however the majority of Asian Immigrants came to the US and Canada in the wake of the Korean and Vietnam Wars respectively. The vast Majority of Asian Immigrant families reside in Downtown Vancouver, where this particular image was shot, and Wall wished to use this image to highlight the silent war of abuse and unrest towards Asian members of the public. Wall’s ability to reconstruct this image aided the creation of a conversation on immigrant rights and protection from discrimination, and in 1982, The Canadian Parliament passed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, stating all Canadian citizens be treated equally under the eyes of the law. This Charter was no doubt influenced by the cultural impact of Mimic 1982. The fact that Wall was able to reconstruct this exact image from memory is remarkable, and this must also be considered in the fine attention to detail in all of Walls works, with some shoots consisting of multiple of seemingly the same image, yet only one was deemed perfect due to something as small as a crease in a shirt, or the positioning of a cloud. This has assisted Wall in standing out in the world of photography, as a man of process and above all, meticulous selection, further proving he is one of the many greats of tableaux photography
‘Mimic, 1982’- Jeff Wall
‘Milk’- Jeff Wall 1984
In this image titled simply “Milk”, Wall has depicted a male holding a milk drink and squeezing it, causing the milk to erupt in the subjects hands. The subject is in full focus and the background seems to be that of the exterior of a well kept and clean building, Whereas the subject appears dirty and scruffy, With greasy hair and dirty clothes. This creates a contrasting image, With a sense of cleanliness making up the background with the focus being on the messiness of the main subject of the image. The explosion of the milk carton makes us question why this is happening. Is the man angry? is he undergoing stress? or is he potentially in a crazed mental state?. This image essentially allows for the critic to create their own context to the image and create their own story due to the multiple scenarios that may be at play here in a contextual mannerism. Wall quotes from his interview with David Campany ” I think the pictorial problems emerge from the accidental encounter that reveals the subject”. I find that his quote means in a sense that the use of the medium of photography has opened up a conversation regarding the issues the subject themselves could potentially be dealing with, and that photography can be used to portray an individuals expression of their inner selves. The composition of the image in terms of contrast plays a role in telling the story as well, As the background is bright, contrasted by the small shadow of the wall of the windowed building. The usage of tinted blue for the glass and the green of the plant give the background an uplifting feel due to the bright colours. However this is contrasted by the ragged appearance of the male subject in the foreground, Depicted by his dark coloured clothing and dark hair. The white of the milk drink exploding instantly draws us to the image due to the absence of white in the background as well as the shape and texture of the liquid itself captured in the time frame it was captured in. The explosion of the milk carton creates a dramatic contrast when observed in comparison to the solid, tranquil background of the image. The eruption of the milk itself creates a talking point. Why is the milk exploding in this manner? What is the subject currently feeling in terms of emotion? Was there an event that caused this reaction?
Historical and Theoretical Context
“Many street photographers also tend to interact with their subjects as a form of gaining context to a persons background and the situation being photographed. Street photography has been used throughout the years as a platform to address issues to the public, such as homelessness, poverty and racism“
I have taken this quote from a previous blog post of mine, exploring photographic movements. The particular movement this extract is taken from concerns street photography, a movement Jeff Wall is no stranger to. Street Photography is a movement that is widely associated with photojournalism and photojournalism is a relation of documentary photography. The idea of reality concerning photojournalism constantly resounds, The idea that we may not be seeing the bigger picture, and the information fed to us is altered to suit the eye of the photographer and tell the story they wish to rather than them conveying us the truth at times. Then the question of propaganda arises. Is the sole purpose of some forms and elements of photojournalism simply to influence our attitudes and bend our minds to conform to the beliefs of those in control of the media? or is what we see through the mediums of photojournalism the real deal and an accurate representation of the topic covered? In a society where forms of media are readily available in the palm of our hands in the form of digital news outlets and social media platforms, The subject of reality is one that many of us question on a daily basis. Fake news stories are being slapped in front of us as a society on a regular occurrence and those in control of the media have become masters of creating a reality from a myth through the means available to them. Tableaux photography when done correctly, can influence a viewer to believe the events they are presented with before them are real events that have actually occurred. To the untrained eye, Tableaux works can be highly convincing, Thus creating a culture of dictation and false information, further tweaking the minds of society and conforming it to the views of those in positions of power. Even news and media outlets that are deemed legitimate and credible may even be giving us only half of the actual story, or the story they or a higher power wish to tell. The movement of photojournalism is one that carries with it the burden of deception at times. Some photojournalists working for large media outlets have proven that in some instances, they are employed to give a differing perspective of a story than the true perspective of the story.
Conclusion
Within images taken by photojournalists, we are often led to believe that what we see is what we get. For example, a disheveled elderly man sleeping rough will be seen by many as simply a homeless person, poor and dirty, struggling for survival. But many are quick to just claim this is nothing new and bat an eyelid and move on. Now what if this man were to actually be a military veteran, kicked out on the street after a long fought battle with mental health issues. The perspective would instantly change, further highlighting the representation of subjects of photojournalism and the photographers responsibility for the image of a subject. Jeff Wall however, is not a photo journalist, but rather an artist whom recreates an image solely from memory and events he has witnessed. The meticulous recreation of these memorised scenes is regarded as tableaux photography to the trained eye of a photographer, yet to the general public, this is seen as a reality occurring right before them, and they are left completely oblivious to the staged nature of the image and the industrial process behind the creation of the single image in front of them, and this can cause deception among most as they deem this image to be a real life event, captured at exactly the right second by a photographer who just so happened to be in the right place at the right time, whereas in the case of Jeff Wall, this is far from the case.
How does Carolle Benitah and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson explore their past as a method of understanding identity?
“For most people, looking at a snapshot does not only make one sad for the time or person gone but can also trigger memories of the past, bringing them right back into the present in the mind of the viewer. Photographs, whether happy or sad, and especially family ones, work on both memory and remembrance – at the same time representing a memory and calling us to remember – and they hold a very special and important place in our lives.” (Bright and Van Erp 2019:37)
Through my personal investigation, I am going to focus on my mobile family life and how this lifestyle has effected me as an individual. I will explore how living in different countries has allowed me to gain cultural knowledge, new experiences and memories. It has ultimately shaped who I am and how I perceive the world. I will explore my mixed identity and the different cultures I have been exposed to by starting the narrative from the beginning. Creating collages and manipulating archival images will help me tell the story of how my mother and father met and fell in love in Peru. Since my father is a geography teacher, he takes the opportunity to go travelling whenever he can. Through applying to jobs in different countries, he ended up in Peru which is where he met my mother Isabel. I want to present their love story and display the events that followed after their marriage.
I will be investigating the two visual artists Carolle Benitah and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson who explore family, memory, displacement and identity from their own point of view. Through the use of vintage family photographs and the use of different mediums, these artists uncover family stories and create complex, multidimensional narratives to reflect upon what they have left behind while shifting countries and at the same time honouring and remembering family traditions. I have chosen to investigate Carolle Benitah because of the visual aspects portrayed in her work. For my own personal investigation, I would also like to manipulate and physically edit my archival imagery through artistic techniques, whether that may be sewing, drawing or cutting. She demonstrates her feelings towards her childhood from her current perspective, which is what I intend to do in my own project. Claudia Ruiz Gustafson is my second reference since her autobiographical, self reflective series Historias Fragmentadas has inspired me to make my own digital compositions. Like Gustafson, I want to use archival images and documents to explore my past and cultural identity. To respond to her work, I will be juxtaposing, tearing and layering family photographs in order to tell a personal story.
Before I begin addressing my work or the chosen photographers, I think it’s important to recognise the photographic history that influenced both projects I am analysing within this investigation. Having looked into a variety of artistic/photographic movements, I was interested by Dadaism and the way in which it linked into my personal study. Dadaism or Dada was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and politics. Dada was not a style of art like Cubism or Fauvism; Instead it was more a protest movement with an anti-establishment platform. There was a clear motive behind this movement. However, it is not the social, political and cultural issues behind the artworks that I am interested in. Although I admire the intentions of Dadaism, I am more intrigued by the visual aspects within the movement.
Dada began in Zürich, Switzerland and arose as a reaction to World War I and the nationalism that many thought had led to the war. The results of Dadaism were extremely diverse, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, paintings and collage. Dada’s aesthetic, obvious by its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes, was a powerful influence on artists in many cities, including Berlin, Hanover, Paris, New York and Cologne, all of which generated their own groups. The movement dissipated with the creation of Surrealism, but the ideas it gave rise have become the foundations of various categories of modern and contemporary art.
Left: Max Ernst – Anatomie als Braut, 1921 / Right: Herbert Bayer – Lonesome City Dweller
Cut with a Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany (1919) Artist: Hannah Höch
In Berlin, one of the most popular mediums among the Dadaists was photography. Using scissors and glue, they made photomontage, with photographic images taken from the press. The realism of these images helped transmit the dreadful scenery of combat and death accurately and effectively. Photoshop is an example of how photomontage has developed into an advanced practice. With this software we can create photo-montages by layering and merging images together in order to create a new result.
I believe that Dadaism links to the photographic work that I have produced for my personal project. The photographers involved in the Dada movement would create collages of separate photographs that is re-photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. I have carried out a similar approach by layering archival images of my own family photographs into one digital collage. Although my work does not address social, political and cultural issues like the Dada movement, I am creating collages in order to explore the past as well as my own cultural identity.
Carolle Benitah’s series Photo Souvenirs explores the memories of her Moroccan childhood by reworking and threading old family snapshots. She uses beads, coloured thread and scissors in order to alter her family photo albums to explore her memories during childhood as a way to understand her current identity. Benitah became interested in her family pictures when she looked through a family album and found herself “overwhelmed by an emotion”. She explains that the photographs represented “me, spoke about me and my family, told things about my identity, my place in the world, my family history and its secrets, the fears that constructed me, and many other things that contributed to who I am today”.
The artist says that she “excavated” images in which she appears from family albums and chose snapshots that relate to memories and loss. Benitah carried out a process of order, classification, scanning and then printing. She never manipulates the original photo. Once the images are chosen, she starts to tell her version of the story. Benitah explains that “The past of a human being, is neither permanent or finished, but reconstructed in the present time”. I find it interesting how Benitah doesn’t do anything directly on the original image. If you manipulate the original, then it would be changed forever. However, there is some sort of dedication that comes when adjusting the original since you are essentially rewriting your past and making a statement.
For the last step she adds needlework. Embroidering is principally a feminine activity. Waiting was associated to this activity: women embroidered, hoping for the man to return home. Embroidery is strongly linked to the environment in which she grew up in. Girls in a good family used to learn how to sew and embroider which were essential activities for “perfect women”. She uses embroidery with a purpose, a decorative function to re-interpret her own history and expose its failings. “With each stitch I make a hole with a needle. Each hole is putting a death of my demons. It’s like an exorcism. I make holes in paper until I am not hurting any more.”
I selected Benitah due to the visual aspects portrayed in her work. For my own personal investigation, I would like to manipulate and physically edit my archival imagery through artistic techniques, whether that may be sewing, drawing or cutting. Her series Photo Souvenirs captivated my interest since her artistic manipulations can be interpreted in different ways since they are not direct and obvious in their message. Therefore, the viewers must analyse the illustrations and come up with their own reasoning as to why Benitah chose to create these marks as a form of self reflection. This means that Benitah’s personal story remains personal since only she knows her true intentions behind each work. In order to explore her cultural identity and reflect on childhood memories, Benitah displays her current feelings based on the snapshots captured through artistic alterations which is what I intended to do with my project as well.
Les Cafards (The cockroaches)
This piece is an example of Carolle Benitah exploring her past as a method of understanding identity. The photograph above has been scanned and then manipulated using embroidery. By manipulating the photograph, she is returning to an old memory and imprinting current thoughts and messages within the past. This archival family photograph has most likely been captured by a family member whilst she lived in Morocco. Carolle Benitah has embroidered red thread where both children have linked hands together. This area is the main visual element of the image since it is the only colour feature in the entire frame. As viewers, we know they are related because of the red string bounding their hands together. Their connection cannot be broken. Like all the collages within the series Photo Souvenirs, Benitah uses red thread with a purpose. It leads Benitah to her past history. This vibrant yet deviant of all colours showcases its spectrums between love and hate, pain and joy, life and death. The children are surrounded by embroidered cockroaches which invade the space but they have angel’s wings and the fraternal links protect her and saves her. Like I have mentioned before, what I’m most fascinated about this collage in particular is how the visual alterations within the work are completely up to the viewer’s interpretation. It doesn’t really make any sense to the viewers since the concept is not personal to us but is for the artist. She has simply illustrated her ideas and how she views the moment that has been captured.
Originally from Lima, Perú, Claudia Ruiz Gustafson is a fine art photographer based in Massachusetts. Her work is mainly autobiographical and self reflective. Claudia Ruiz Gustafson grew up in a conservative middle class family in Perú and moved to the US when she was in her twenties. As time passed and the last of her grandparents died, Claudia felt compelled to bring attention to what she had left behind, being the only person in her family who left her country of origin “For me the hardest part was not to be able to spend the last years of my grandparents’ lives with them. My grandmother was the pillar of my family, the story teller and the story keeper of our family’s history. I knew she wanted me to continue this tradition”. This series helped Claudia to look deeper into her past by exploring memories and the emotion of loss.
In her series, Historias fragmentadas (Fragmented stories), she creates digital compositions from images of the past. By tearing, juxtaposing elements from the past and the present, layering archival documents, fragments from her journals and objects from her childhood, she has shed light on a personal story within an ancestral story that spans generations. Continuing her exploration to recall what she has lost, Claudia uses staged imagery, mostly self portraits, to transport her physical presence into the spiritual past as seen in the compositions. This series exposes the vulnerability of childhood, a longing for a time gone by and the truths of a particular Latin American Family.
I have chosen Claudia Ruiz Gustafson as my second reference for my personal investigation because her self reflective series Historias Fragmentadas has inspired me to make my own digital compositions through Photoshop. I intend to use archival images depicting my family in order to look into the past and explore memories. Like Claudia, I will explore my cultural identity by juxtaposing, tearing and layering archival images and documents in order to tell a personal story. In order to continue the exploration of my cultural identity, I have created photo-montages which merges self portraits with archival images to exhibit how living in different countries has shaped me as an individual.
Llena eres de gracia (Full of Grace)
This digital collage displays layers of different archival material combined together into one seamless photographic print. She often employs family snapshots in collages that are layered with textures and fabrics to reveal a longing for childhood and a person or place left behind. It is clear from my research on the photographer, that the purpose for creating this collage was to bring attention to someone she had left behind who presumably died when she moved to the US. Her layered compositions in the Historias Fragmentadasseries offer at times a playful sense of memory and in others a mournful sense of loss and longing. In this case, she has created the collage as a remembrance to one of her family members. This photograph is from Claudia’s family archive that she has inherited from a relative. The portrait in the middle of the composition depicts a middle aged woman in glam. It is a head shot in back and white film of a relative of Claudia whether that may be her mother or grandmother. The Portrait image is torn precisely in half, signifying that her mother/grandmother has passed away. The colour red makes an appearance. It seems to be some sort of fabric which runs down the middle of the frame. This probably signifies that although the individual has died, the family blood line still remains. In the middle of the torn portrait, there is a fragment of paper, perhaps from her childhood journal or a letter she has received from the individual in the image. This acts as a momento and reminds Claudia of her place of origin since the writing on the lined paper is in Spanish which is the official language in Peru.
The research on both these photographers has influenced my personal project, which focuses on my mobile family life and how this lifestyle has effected me as an individual. To investigate my cultural identity, I created collages by sewing and layering archival images which are aspects inspired by both artists. I will be looking at some of the different methods I used and visuals I created and what they represent. The first image features two archival photographs combined together into one digital collage. Both images were taken in Austria, a country I used to live in during my younger years. The top image within the collage, depicts me and my mother embracing each other which demonstrates our strong connection as mother and daughter. I only made alterations to the image below which depicts me as a child surrounded by deer sculptures. I have replicated Benitah’s series Photo Souvenirs by reworking old family snapshots with a red graphic ink pen. I created red illustrations on top of the image as a metaphor for leaving my traces behind in each country. To incorporate an element of Claudia’s work, I scanned a cloth originating from Vienna to act as the border. The second digital collage tells the story of when my father moved to Peru. Since my father is a geography teacher, he takes the opportunity to go travelling whenever he can. Through applying to jobs in different countries, he ended up in Peru which is where he met my mother Isabel. The two images within the collage showcase the culture in Peru and the different locations he visited once he arrived. The photograph below depicts my father visiting Machu Picchu for the first time, an iconic landmark in Peru. On the right side is a piece of Peruvian fabric I decided to incorporated into my digital collage. Creating photo-montages has helped me explore my mixed identity and the different cultures I have been exposed to during childhood. I have manipulated my archival imagery through artistic techniques, whether that may be sewing or drawing. It is a form of self reflection to explore how living in different countries has allowed me to gain cultural knowledge, new experiences and memories.
Both Carolle Benitah and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson explore the memories of their childhood by reworking old family snapshots. They both grew up in their country of origin and shifted when they started their photography career. Carolle Benitah lived in Morocco during her childhood but then made the decision to move to France, whereas Claudia Ruiz Gustafson moved from Peru over to the US in her twenties. Both Photo Souvenirs and Historias Fragmentadas are autobiographical and self reflective since they use their current perspective based on their childhood in order to alter the archival images artistically. Benitah uses beads, thread and scissors in order to change her family photos, whereas Claudia tears, juxtaposes elements from the past and present, layers archival documents and images from her childhood. Benitah and Claudia have similar intentions for their projects since they both explore their past in order to understand their identity. Benitah created the series Photo Souvenirssince her archival photographs evoked strong emotions as she looked through her family albums. She uses the photographs to explore herself, her family, her identity, her place in the world and many other things that contributes to who she is today. On the other hand, Claudia uses her archival imagery in order to bring attention to what she left behind in her country of origin. Moreover, the colour red has great significance in both their work although used with different purposes. Carolle Benitah uses red thread because it leads her to her past history. The vibrant yet deviant of all colours showcases its spectrums between love and hate, pain and joy, life and death. Claudia Ruiz Gustafson uses the colour red within her digital compositions because it represents the blood line among family members. Although both photographers create collages, they craft them using different methods and techniques. Claudia produces collages digitally by scanning each image separately and then layering them together using Photoshop, whereas Carolle makes artistic alterations on the image physically and afterwards scans the result in order to have a final seamless photographic print. Unlike Benitah, Claudia continues her investigation based on her cultural identity by using self portraits and staged imagery in order to transport her physical presence into the spiritual past.
In summary, I can conclude that photography as a medium can be used to explore memory, displacement and identity as demonstrated by the work of Benitah and Gustafson. It was insightful to investigate the way in which individuals illustrate their current perspective within their art through different methods and mediums. Attempting to convey a personal story and feelings through a traditional photograph is problematic because it is difficult to connect the viewer with the artists work especially if they don’t know their intentions or the symbolism behind certain aspects. In response to this dilemma, artists such as Benitah and Gustafson have drawn inspiration from the Dada movement by physically manipulating images and creating collages. I have learned about photographys potential and the way in which time frames can be altered and depicted through images. The work from these two photographers are heavily reliant upon the past and archival childhood images. Both artists inspired my work throughout my personal investigation and I am satisfied with my final outcomes since I have fulfilled my desire to experiment with as many materials and methods as possible, both traditional and digital. Every collage and image that I have used within my study has helped me tell the story of my mobile family life and how this lifestyle has effected me as an individual. Ultimately, I wanted to explore my mixed identity and how being exposed to different cultures through childhood has shaped me as an individual.
How does the work of Diana Markosian and Yoshikatsu Fujii explore childhood and family breakups?
“My family will never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside each of us that we once lived together.” Yoshikatsu Fujii
In my essay I am going to explore how Diana Markoisan and Yoshikatsu Fujii explore childhood and family breakups through the use straight photography, which to an extent is another form of documentary photography. I will be looking at both photographers equally and evaluate their most influential pieces that inspired me to research them.
I will also be going to address how separation can have an impact on how we grow up and how we understand the concept of love. Looking at the evolution of realism I am going to incorporate that and how it affected and been explored through the use of family breakups and childhood. The reason I have chosen documentary photography for my project is because it requires a narrative and I am going to show this narrative in my book and my project. I shall begin by including single sized, passport images of my family members. This being mum, dad, me and my little brother. I will include images of when they first met, when they began their relationship and items and gifts, they gave to one another. Although the reasoning behind their divorce can’t be shared, I tried to incorporate images that are significant to me and can be used to show their happier times. I have found images from holidays and images of just me and my dad which I would also like to incorporate. I’m wanting to include him in the majority of it as although we may not be as close, I want him to still be a part of it.
Family breakups and childhood images are important and are often recalled on later on in reaching adult life. I think for me, this project is simply going to close a chapter on something I have finally come to terms with. Most of their divorce I tried to isolate myself from both my parents. However, it got to the point where I was always in the middle of both. This is why a project on my parents is so important to me as from what I remember from parts of my childhood would be spent with most of them. Moving over here from Madeira also and not speaking any English meant that I wouldn’t often ask to go and stay at friends’ houses instead I became more family orientated.
Realism and Documentary Photography
For me, the concept behind realism is for it to be real and exactly as it is being shown. Documentary photography is often used to show chronicle events and focuses on the environment that both associates with the subject and is significant in history. Exploring a theme like childhood and family breakups this is the exact category that their works fit in.
Realism is an American art movement that began in the 19th Century taking photography as its main inspiration. The whole aim was that artists could formulate these highly detailed paintings that was a replica of the image. Artists such as Ralph Goings, Chuck Close and Richard Estes attempted to produced what the camera could capture. Documentary photography and realism go hand in hand as one offers the reality and the other is telling the narrative. In regard to my project these are the best to photography movements to research as I am documenting through the use of images a narrative about my family. Doretha Lange is an American female photographer that is famously known for one of her most famous images called “Migrant Mother.”
This is the image produced by Doretha Lange in 1936 while she was employed by the US government during the time of the great depression. When she went to California, she encountered this lady “Florence Owenes” and her children. She explained that the whole camp was filled by farm workers whose lives were depending on producing crops. Lange explained that “I do not remember how I explained my presence or why the camera was there.” Not going into loads of detail but Lange is one of the “mothers” of documentary photography. I liked her approach and think all the images she has taken falling under this category are captivating and tell a
story. Having her children on either side of her makes the story ten times more heart-breaking. Knowing about the reality of things but not being able to change it is the exact reason I wanted to document parts of my childhood and what I can access. The disheartening fact of reality is that when a snapshot is captured there is no way of re-photographing that exact moment again. This fit well with my theme and the photographers that I have chosen to explore.
Diana Markosian
Diana Markosian was born in 1989 and is an American and Russian artist of Armenian descent, working as a documentary photographer and writer. In 1996, she moved to California with her brother and her mum, whilst her dad remained in Russia. She had no contact with him until 23, when she found her father in Armenia after 15 years of being apart. She explores the relationships between memory and place and is mostly known for how well she tells the narrative through the use of photos.One of her most famous projects is the one I am focusing on called “Inventing my Father.” Her work embraces uncertainty as a tool to craft her narrative.
Contextual: This is the image Diana Markosian has used for her front cover of her “inventing my father” project. She explains that for most of her life her father was nothing but a cut out in most of her family albums. An empty hole as she has written herself and a simple reminder of how he wasn’t there. She explains that in one image they are dancing together in their tiny apartment and in another he is leaving. Her descriptions for her images are blunt and short which would be done initially to symbolise their relationship coming to an end. She tells the story that her father would disappear for a few months then return unexpectedly until one day in 1996. This day, they decided to leave him. Her mother woke her up and told her to pack her belongings and told her they were going on a trip. The next day they arrived at their new home in California. She also wrote “We never said goodbye to my father.”
For her mum her best solution in order to forget her husband was to cut him out of all the family albums, but for Diana it only made matters worse. She also explained she missed out on the feeling of having a father and sometimes wonders to this day what it would have been like having a relationship like that.
Visual: This image is taken with very low lighting. Immediately looking at the image without knowing any context behind it makes us as the viewers take a step back and think why has she done this? Markosian wasn’t the person to actually cut the whole in the image though. The darkening of the image and how the lighting sits on the subjects of the image make the image more mysterious and adds elements of curiosity. In the image we can see Markoisan, the baby, and her mother on the left and the missing figure that has been cut out is from just reading the title of her project is her father. It looks like it’s been taken from a family album but also looks relatively old.
Technical:
Her images have a rather warm yellow and reddish undertones. I think she has done this purposely to create that mysterious yet inviting element to her images. It looks like she has used normal day lighting coming through maybe a kitchen window or something. Her focal point in the image is her, her mother and father. Although when you first look at the image the first thing you notice is the cut-out figure which just from the title of her project “inventing my father” we can infer that it’s going to be him. The image is also a bit under exposed due to the lighting in which it was captured in.
Conceptual:
The meaning behind cutting the image as previously discussed was due to her mother not being able to cope with his abandonment. She told Markoisan that in order for her to deal with him leaving was to cut him out of everything that associated them together. I think her decision to photograph these and make a project about her father was almost to gain the closure she has always wanted. In order to help her mum officially close this chapter she needed to see what she had before as a reminder that most things happen for a reason and maybe this could have been a blessing in disguise. For me she maintained this idea that she will always care for her father despite their problems growing up.
Yoshikatsu Fujii
Yoshikatsu Fujii was born and raised in Hiroshima City. He began taking photos in Tokyo in 2006. Most of his work often deals with historical themes and memory lingering on in contemporary events. He created a project called “Red String.” Which was highly inspired by his parents’ divorce. This hand-made book has been nominated as one of the best photo books of 2014 by contributors to numerous publications including TIME magazine. This book which he decided to make hand-made has been bound together by the red string. This was important to him when making the book as the colour red in his community is known to symbolize unity. In Japan, legend has it that a man and a woman who have a predestined encounter have had each other’s little fingers tied together by an invisible red string since the time they were born. Not only is he bringing some of his cultural references he’s also making a project on something that will always be significant to him. Only 35 copies of this book were made which was also done purposely as his parents were married for 35 years.
Contextual: He was born and grew up in Japan. For places like that in the world family will always be a priority and Japanese are known for being massively family orientated. Too come out and decide they wanted to divorce after 35 years of being married was more of a shock to those who knew them than to themselves. Fujii explained that at the time of their divorce he didn’t feel any particular emotion apart from thinking that the time had come. He was anxious he might not be able to see them anymore and how many days he would be able to see them considering the distance to get to them. He explained that “my family will probably never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside of each of us that we once lived together. To ensure that the red string that ties my family together does not come undone, I want to reel it in and tie it tight.”
Visual: I like the layout of these image and I think he has really thought out his process when designing his layout. The photo looks like it had been taken on the same day due to what the baby is wearing in the picture. It looks like there on the same wall as well. On the left the photobook is dedicated to his father and on the right his mother. I like the spacing around the image and how he has defied what a normal photobook would look like and chose to create the middle as a starting point. Right from this page we can already tell that it is going to be about his family this is because of the way their holding the baby and doing some research on the red string and the reasoning behind that.
Technical: The lighting he has used to obtain these images was natural day light. I can intel this from the quality of the image and how you can see fine details. The images used are archival some looking like they were glued down and others stitched down. When opening the book these are the first images we are presented with. The images look like they’re on the right exposure setting due to the clearance on the picture. Its sharp, focused and the focal point for the image is directly in the middle as the images look like they should join up but don’t.
Some more examples of Yoshikatsu Fujii’s work from Red String:
My Project
These are a few of the images I am going to incorporate into my photobook. The image on the left was one of their first images taken together when my mum moved to Jersey just sometime after my dad.
I feel like these image capture the idea of family and all being united. I am also going to include photos of my brother too as he was also an addition to our family in early 2009.
I have taken some of my inspiration from both photographers. The example on the top right is inspiration from Diana Markosian and her example in which she cut out her dads’ figure. The images from the past are now the only images in which I can keep from the time of my parents being together. Reflecting and keeping these images close to me allows me to understand that things happen for a reason, not only that but also help me come to terms with their decision. Being 12 around the time the problems started was fairly young and a lot to handle, but now being 18 and producing a project like this has allowed me to view things differently. At the end of it all I wanted what was best for both of my parents, despite their continuous effort to stay together it just wasn’t meant to be. All the images I have chosen to use in my photobook are significant and have a connection to either the divorce or how I coped with it. I have included pictures of my little brother who is 10 years old now but was only 3 or so when all of this was happening. Due to their divorce, me and him became a lot closer and I started looking after him more and helping my mum a lot more. Having my brother so close to me during their separation helped me cope with it a lot more because I knew I wasn’t alone. To this day, years after their divorce I would still say me, and my brother are still close if not closer because of this. My parents’ divorce allowed me to create a bond with my brother that I would have never expected ever, despite the 7-year age gap. In my book I have also incorporated images of my childhood, these images are some of me and my brother when we we’re younger and I have even found some images of our house in Madeira. As I was born there and as it was there that it all started, I have chosen to use a photograph of our house and some images of the interior. The house is significant in my parents’ marriage as that is where it all begun, and it is where I associate with the times of them being together.
Conclusion
To conclude, I believe Diana Markosian and Yoshikatsu Fujii explore the theme of childhood and family breakups, through photographing archival images and comparing and editing them in order to resemble that hidden message of absence and breakups. Each photographer has had similar situations that have somewhat led to abandonment. Although to some extent they can still communicate. This linked well with my personal study and my chosen topic which was separation and divorce. They both kept series of images that they’d collected and gathered throughout the years of their families and of themselves.
Similarly, to my project I also chose to do this. Their work inspired me to do something that affected me as a child and even at times whilst growing up. I’ve chosen to maintain a greater focus on images of my parents together and as the time went on I created this blurry distorted effect on some of the images. The narrative as a whole is pretty simple as I didn’t want to offend anyone or even have my book only focused on one parent. Obviously, the beginning of it all started around 2010 so I’ve collected some images that I had when we went on a family holiday as a 4. That was one of the only times we went all together therefore that trip and even that island will always have a special connection to me. I am in contact with both my mum and my dad but live with my mum at this current point. My mum is single and has been my main root of support for almost my whole life. My dad now has another family therefore were not as close as we used to be. There are times where I think about it and get angry but part of me knows he’s happy in what he has. I think overall, the photographers convinced me that things like separation happen to lots of families, some at younger ages than others but that everything happens for a reason. The first image from Markosian is the image above for her project “Inventing my father” this is the story line I liked as each image from her project had a sentence or so explaining the image and why she’d put It there. It was simple yet short and I think this is the exact effect she was trying to portray to us as the viewers and maybe mirroring the relationship she had with her father. Having something so personal be told in such a creative way adds the element of excitement and makes the sadness of the topic sort of fade away. At times when looking over the images I did begin to get quite upset but I am glad I chose this as my topic as it made me research a bit deeper than what we can just see in the photos.
HOW DOES GJON MILI REFLECT DANCE MOVEMENT AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMOTIONS BEING PORTRAYED THROUGH HIS PHOTOGRAPHY?
‘Questions of self and identity have long concerned artists and are intensified as digital lives become ubiquitous and an aspect of performance becomes the norm in terms of modes of behaviour’ (Bright and Van Evp, 2019; 150).
In our lives we portray and represent ourselves among many others and highlight our passions and significant features that make us who we are, enabling to show our individualism. The world we live in is somewhat being taken over by the performing arts genre and takes up a huge amount of social and contextual importance; portrayed to our society that individuals who shine over others are one in a million, that making it to the top is a one in a billion chance, so why do people even bother trying? The dance industry is something I have always had a drive to be a part of and I believe is an area that helps me identify myself and show to others my deeper emotions and feelings that may not always be depicted through speech; along with hundreds and thousands of other people around the world that use dance to do so. To use dance and movement to tell a story, to show a feeling, to show a concept, an idea. However, the idea that dance is just a ‘performance’ or a show rather than an expression, a place to hide away rather than to flourish, a secret rather than a narrative is a consistent debate that continues to divide critics and our society. This demonstrates that within a dancer there is a front, a side that they want to show the world, the side where they put themselves forward, contrasting with their hidden deeper meanings and insecurities that they hide away from the audience when they perform. Therefore ‘The question arises: if manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what does that say about the value of photography as a reflection of reality?’ (Bright and Van Evp, 2019; 17). This quotation is something I will keep in mind during my investigation; a reminder than I want the reality, the truth not a manipulation or a cover up to hide but the certainty of reality. For my personal study I will be investigating the idea of representing emotions that an individual feels through dance, however I want to diverge away from the norm and look at more uncomfortable subjects rather than the stereotypical face of dance. In my photography I want to show both sides of individuals in the dance community, I want to show the hard work that goes into it, to show the love, the relief and the drive. I want my images to represent a narrative to its viewers, for them to see my images and ask more questions but most importantly I want to use my photography to highlight each emotion that someone feels when they dance and why they feel certain way; to exit the norm of dance photography and enter a new realm of ideas that reflect more than just a pointed toe, I want to show the vehemence of a dancers response to how they truly see themselves and the industry.
When taking a closer look at my photography work it is clear to see it has connections with realism, and a documentary point of view. There is a narrative. However, it is vital to consider that realism was a rejection from the pictorialism which was a movement from the 1860s through to early 20th Century. Pictorialism is the development of photography into the reinvention of an art form placing beauty, tonality, and composition above creating an accurate visual record. This was where photography finally began to be fully accepted and began to be seen on the same line of painting and start to have it recognised as such by galleries and other artistic institutions. In the early beginnings of photography, it was mainly for scientific and representational purposes. This soon shifted in the 1850s when advocates such as the English painter William John Newton who suggested that photography could also have artistic trait.
In this case, I am looking at the genre of dance. We know that photography can create a more realistic point of view of real experiences. But, as can be seen with Cindy Sherman who exploits various tools of the everyday cinema such as costumes, makeup, stage scenery to uphold an illusion of ‘realism’ when capturing what is known as ‘iconic snapshots’ that can reflect significant pre-conceptions. Tableau and staged reality create an illusion that is fed by stereotypes, and this is something that I want to keep away from with my own work.
Cindy Sherman quoted ‘The still tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told’ (Sherman. C, 1982, Cindy Sherman) this quote itself demonstrates the sheer point of my work and why I have decided focus on this particular area.
A prime example of how this helps relate and boost the background work of my own photography can be out laid to one of her most famous self-portrait images from her series called ‘Disasters and Fairy Tales’ (1985) photo shows Sherman as a damsel in distress. Crouched on the ground, she fearfully looks away from the camera. With wetted hair and a tensed position, she appears as if she just walked off the set of a horror film. The clever and thought out use of the specific lighting helps shows how Sherman favourably evokes an old tradition, quasi-racist ‘’cheap tricks’’ represented in the movie industry. By using this particular freeze frame, it is demonstrating how Sherman portrays as a visual ‘truth serum’, a force of social change by way of its ability to stop a viewer in his/her tracks and suggests how certain assumptions are culturally inherited and therefore not necessarily ‘natural’ and cause a fake front hiding the true and deeper meaning of the ‘fairy tales’. This overall, highlights the significance of representing the correct forum of the genre of dance in favour of the realistic view contrasting with the covered-up front provided by the media. Sherman’ postmodernist approach questions gender roles and stereotypes, common in mainstream media, cinema and the performance industry. The femme fatale has come full circle now in the age of the #metoo movement.
After looking more closely and in depth into the background of my initial idea for my investigation it essential to continue looking back at my questions and statement of intent that helps guide the study and overall investigation of my projected.
Born on November 28th, 1904 and passing away February 14th, 1984, Gjon Mili is a extensively influential photographer that was a flourishing influencer to the type of photography he produced, known for using stroboscopic instruments to help capture a sequence of actions in one photograph. Furthermore, his life dedicated to photography allowed him to be one of the first to tamper with electronic flash and stroboscopic light to create images that had a more scientific background to the creation. Many of his notable images revealed the beautiful intricacy and graceful flow of movement too rapid or complex for the naked eye to discern. Gjon Mili’s highlight of his career that aided his popularity and well-deserved credit was his work published by Life, in which he photographed artists such as world-renowned painter Pablo Picasso. Mili was a photographer I wanted to use to investigate for my study and potentially be my inspiration for my images that I produced, due his simplistic approach creating such astonishing outcomes, as well as this factor he has done a lot of photography were his has capture dancers specific movements; instead of just the specific movement he presented the steps towards and after that certain movement. Mili once said ‘Time could be truly be made to stand still. Texture could be retained despite sudden violent movement.’ To me this clearly demonstrate his approach to photography the concept of time and movement being projected in his images.
Here is one of my favourite images that he has produced using stroboscopic technique to allows each movement made to be capture and represented; this image is a multiple exposure of Alicia Alonsa (vintage sliver gelatin print). From this image is it clear there is a deep technical consideration to be made and highlighted; firstly, there is a strong artificial lighting being produced from the left of the image and illuminating the dancing’s main features in each particular movement to be captured. In addition, the positioning of the camera is pretty much straight on which gives the illusion of being on par with the flooring which helps the ballet shows on the dancer have a significant standout feature which additionally aids the point of the images; the image has high intensity with a strong detailed focus on each aspect of the dancer in each position.
Overall form the texture of the images it suggests a low light sensitivity due to the lack of graininess being shown in the photograph, as well as the colouring of the image which are warmer forms of black and white shades producing a more emotional point of view of the image being transformed though each aspect of each position of the dance move being captured. On the other hand, you have visual aspect of the photograph to consider as previously mentioned thighs the use of the black and white shades used in the image it aids the feeling of a darker representation of the photograph to be exhibited; alongside the view of a 3D image due to the shadows of the dancers which help highlight this point. Evidently though the technique Mili used to create this image there is a visual aspect of repetition of the image, seen through the repetition of the dance with a slightly different position as she moves through the whole movement. In terms of lines you have the strong lines being formed through the dancer herself through the specific positioning of her body and her gradual arm movement which creates a different point of view and overall positioning in each step and section made. Contextually the image is pretty clearly showing the motion of a dancer, the dancer in the image is Alicia Alonsa who was Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and chorographer whose company became Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955; this additional information aids the point of the image and the actual emotion, the genuine passion that the dancer has for the movement, which is believe to be very well represented in the image by Mili through the specific positioning and layout of the ballerina dancer.
Overall this analysis and general research in to Gjon Mili helps to answer my questions on how photography is used to reflect dance movement and the significance of emotions being portrayed through his photography; to Gjon does this through the technique of using stroboscopic instruments to allow each position of the overall movement of the dancer to be seen through the image therefore reflecting the dance movement; as well as using conceptual and contextual factors to help support the emotions that are being projected and represented by the image; Finally being supported by the clever throughout camera techniques which help the end concept.
Finally, after going into depth about Gjon Mili and getting a true understanding to how his work reflects dance movement and emotions, I began to investigate myself through planning and piecing together aspects of the investigation that I wanted to incorporate that would allow for the best possible outcome; whilst still considering work produced by Gjon and other relevant artists. For my own image I began by creating a plan and making a final decision in whether on whether I would photograph myself in the form of self-portraits or take images of other people to project the feeling and emotions of myself through the use of others through myself. In the end I decided to use other dancers for my investigation. I used three other dancers and planned four to five shoots that would help tell a story and the final result that I wanted to have by the end of project; a shoot where I photographed their baby photos, one where it was in the photography studio, dance school studio, detail shot shoot and then photographing my dance school environment. When adding all these photoshoots together to helped aid my story and emotion that I wanted to project through my images relating to dancing. After finishing up on my shoots it was essential to look back at Gjon Mili’s work and reflect on how I can relate it to my own, of course unfortunately I do not have access to stroboscopic instruments in order to create the movement of the image and capture the whole layout of the dance step. Furthermore I had to come up with a way that would enable me to give off a similar effect, for this, when in the studio I used the sports mode of the camera and got each dance to perform a pattern of movement for example, a high kick or a pirouette; this meant I got a photo of each different position that happens when carrying out these motions. Next I opened the images of each dancer’s movement which consisted of about 7 images per movement in Adobe Photoshop. Firstly, I edited each image to a certain standard in this case black and white with emphasis on the costumes so it would stand out when photographed were over laid. After the images were over laid, I adjusted the opacity which would enable all the images to slightly fade so they would become transparent; therefore, be able to see the process of the movement of doing a high kick, from start to end. This is somewhat a representation of Mili’s work as it creates the same forum when answer my question as the image represents the dance movement as long side emotional aspects presented through the colour and editing of the image; which helps tell a story when placed with other photographs that may aid this point. Overall, I am extremely happy with my final outcome and response to Gjon Mili’s work due to the technical and visual aspects that have been produced. On the other hand, it is key to consider that there are defiantly different conceptual and contextual differences between my own work and Gjon; in terms of the dance movement and emotions being projected.
In conclusion, there is over whelming evidence to suggest my investigation had guided me to answering my initial question ‘how does Gjon Mili reflect dance movement and the significance of emotions being portrayed through his photography?’. I believed this to be presented through the specific camera setting and illusions created in order to give the effects of literally showing each movement through each position being captured, this is a more visual front and approach to the question. On the other hand, when looking at the emotional reflection of dance movement being portrayed in the images; for this projection I think that the temperature of the image aids this point as well as the actual face expression being reflected through. Overall, highlighting the final argument that clearly shows how Gjon Mili Mili reflect dance movement and the significance of emotions being portrayed through his photography.
I have presented the screenshots of my final photo book spread below which is entitled “Keep Dancing”. This title has come from the block which was photographed in my still-life shoot, a block that I have had for many years and resembles an element of childhood, therefore I feel as if this was a goof start to my book. I also think that his book title is welcoming for the audience and is a simple heading.
“Keep Dancing” is a photographic book which portrays the narrative of my journey through dance from young to present, I look into sentimental items, costumes and archival images to represent my development and documentation of this narrative. This book includes mainly still-life images with also elements of archival images and costumes to show intimacy, documentation and relation which relates into the underlying theme of lifestyle. Onto sequencing these images, I broke them into separate sections which are separated by a page. The first section is five pages long and includes archival and object still-life images to go along with it. This section establishes a sense of beginning and the theme of starting my dance lessons and this developing into my first competition. We can see that the first image is an archival image on the left hand side which has been taken by my mother in a dance lesson. Aside this my own still-life image is presented on the right page next to it, a pari on ballet shoes which are the same I was wearing in the archival image, my first pair. I liked this sequence as it allowed two sets of images to go together, representing a beginning of a story. Following this, I displayed a tiara which is a double page spread up with no boarder. I included this still-life image as it added an element of childhood and innocence as a tiara is an accessory young ballerinas would wear, an accessory I also wore in a performance. Adding to this theme, I included both a singular and duet image from my first dance competition where I can be seen in a balletic tutu. This added to the sense of starting up as a new dancer therefore why I included it. To represent the different sections I then included a double blank page. Adding to this, I then included another double page spread which can be seen as a brochure and a t-shirt from my first dance show, again adding to the first stage of dance upbringing. To section this off again I used a blank page. The next two sections (page 14-35) includes three different elements that follow the structure of including elements that follow on the documentation, however there is not a set structure to this as I wanted to follow the narrative as well as possible. These pages showcase the middle stage off my dancing, therefore showcasing I was doing my competitions, explaining the certificates, broachers, trophy and archival images shown as being on stage. This also represents peak time in my career as the awards show my winnings. Following this, these pages showcase me now and the opportunities dancing has given me. This section started with images from my final Silhouette Studios show. This archival image can be seen with dance friends and represents how dance builds friendship. I then modelled the same costume shown on the right hand side of that page. Carrying on with the book it then ends with two archival images, pictures which have been taken by a photographer in my most recent project I took part in. The two double page spreads are show me and my friend modelling for a jersey magazine ‘The Gallery Magazine”, a dance inspired fashion shoot. I only got this opportunity because of the recognition gained from dance, showcasing the effect that dance has on other career opportunities as well as representing my development from the first dance competition I took apart in.
I feel as if this set up has allowed me to portray my intended narrative clearly through photo manipulation and documentation throughout my life. The set of images and sequencing between them have been experimented and I now feel as if I have a solid book which I am happy with.
In this blog post i will be experimenting with different kind of still life categories and researching all the different ones to decide which genre of still life do i want to focus on to talk about and then research and finally experimenting to create some photographs of that genre.
So i started by choosing my favorite two genres which were dead animal still life and symbolic still life.
Dead Animal Still Life
After doing my research about dead animal still life i concluded that it is not much more than just a still life of something rather iconic but with not much meaning behind. It is just basically a still life photograph that includes the body of a dead organism that represent something else but not much of a reason behind that.
This is a still life of a scene were there is a dead rabbit and dead birds, but what really caught my eye is that the actor chose to keep one animal alive which was a grey African parrot on the top of an exotic fruit basket. I did a lot of research about it but still didn’t find an exact reason for why did the artist chose to draw some dead animals but keep one particular animal alive.
Symbolic Still Life
This is a wider category that denotes any type of still life with an overt symbolic narrative, usually religious or quasi-religious in nature. which i really liked because there is a reason and/or meaning behind everything in a symbolic still life which makes it very interesting and eye catching. What i really enjoyed about this genre is that you can get lost in it as in to understanding the meaning or reason behind everything in the still life.
After a lot of research i could identify what the objects in this still life represent, with the skull representing mortality, on the other hand the burnt out candle represent death, with the book under the skull meaning the transmitting of information, and finally the finished sand clock on the side representing the finishing of passing time.
Vanitas (Latin for vanity). These are paintings with still life symbolism around a central theme with a moral message. They remind the viewer of death, the fragility of human life, and the brevity of our existence. The artist would use items like a skull, timepiece, snuffed out candle to represent the passage of time. Books, musical instruments (very expensive items during the time period) are there to warn of the futility of worldy pursuits.
Conclusion
So in conclusion i chose symbolic still life as my focus in the still life project as i can experiment with a lot of stuff while taking my photographs and in the same time sending a message with the final photographs to represent something.
This is my complete photo book sequencing and layout for my book named ‘ You Can Never Step In the Same River Twice’. The title was influenced my philosopher Heraclitus who came up with the quote ‘no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same and he’s not the same man.’ This can be translated to a persons life and how its constantly changing and at no point is it ever the same.
Evaluation:
The book starts with images of my younger brothers hands which connects to the idea of children touching and feeling when they are young to explore the world around them. I continue with the ghost image to integrate the initial concept of lack of identity and how I felt lost and intimidated in my new extended family. The two blood images link to how my new family began to merge into my existing family and how I now had to call a random women my ‘step-mum.’ This whole arrangement went against my parents teachings of stranger danger. The tree branches are seen at the start, middle and end of my book to symbolise old hauntings coming back and how memories aren’t forgotten easily, the best and the worst are always remembered. I still remember life before I was introduced to my new family, when I lived in a one bedroom flat with my mum and a bungalow with my dad. The archival images with fingerprints for faces are next and represent a state of confusion and not belonging as a child I felt constantly in the middle. Next is the mirror which again signifies my lose of purpose by not having a relfection, i couldnt see myself fitting in to my family. The reason the mirrors outside is because I didn’t feel that I had a permanent home as I spend most of my time moving from house to house. The second colour image of my bloody hands was used to continue the dark and eerie theme of the book. On the next page I included an image of rippled water to go with the the title to represent the river I was floating in. The birth mark on my arm was included to create a personal feel to my book. After the second tree photo is another hand image which links to my idea of repetiton as well as change, my life at the time was unpreditable. When I was younger I used to suck my thumb and twiddle my fingers when I was anxious or tired, so my hands were a comfort blanket. I included another mirror image but this time it was leaning against my house, as if I was on the outside looking in. The next image was of my brother looking under his bed, which was a reinactment of me as a child and how I used to check for monsters under my bed before I would go to sleep. I included another hand image and archival fingerprint image then my heart birthmark as I feel it’s a big part of me physically and mental, it’s one thing I can’t change about myself and that I don’t want to change. Following from that I used an image of my handprint on a foogy mirror to mimic childish behaviour. Then I put in an image of my brother covering his ears, at some points my parents argued a lot and it was a signifcant memory that I thought I should include in my narrative. The empty box symbolised moving houses and how weird it is that you can fit all your worldly goods in a cardboard box. Another archive image, then a final lack of identity photo that is of my brother with a bucket on his head. I used a final tree image and finished as I started with a hand image.
Overall I am thorughly pleased with my final outcome, it connected to the theme of liberation and occupation in a contemporary way. The divorce was a time of change and struggle for me and my family, which in some elements is similar to the time of the occupation. At the start of my project I had worries as to how I was going to execute my images whilst keeping to the theme of lack of identity. I knew from the start I wanted my book to be engimatic, with images that were subjective yet minimal. When I first explored Chris McKenney’s work that gave me inspiration, so I could start the momentum of producing my own photos. I feel that I have displayed creativity within my book, using images which involved setting a scene like my blood photoshoot where I had my camera over my sink on self timer and poured red food colouring over my hands. Also my fingerprint images where I painted my tips and pressed them onto card, cut them out and put them on old archival family photos. My outcomes have provided evidence that I have the ability to experiment and explore different concept and ideas within my own work. I have created an aesthically pleasing photobook as well as outlining my ability to display a clear narrative through my sequencing. The essay was a well thought addition to my images as I discussed relevant themes such as identity and movements like surrealism, which I used throughout my book.
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.).
With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greco-Roman art, still-life painting emerged as a distinct genre and professional specialization in Western painting by the late 16th century, and has remained significant since then. One advantage of the still-life artform is that it allows an artist a lot of freedom to experiment with the arrangement of elements within a composition of a painting. Still life, as a particular genre, began with Netherlandish painting of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the English term still life derives from the Dutch word stilleven. Early still-life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Later still-life works are produced with a variety of media and technology, such as found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.
The term includes the painting of dead animals, especially game. Live ones are considered animal art, although in practice they were often painted from dead models. Because of the use of plants and animals as a subject, the still-life category also shares commonalities with zoological and especially botanical illustration. However, with visual or fine art, the work is not intended merely to illustrate the subject correctly.
Still life occupied the lowest rung of the hierarchy of genres, but has been extremely popular with buyers. As well as the independent still-life subject, still-life painting encompasses other types of painting with prominent still-life elements, usually symbolic, and “images that rely on a multitude of still-life elements ostensibly to reproduce a ‘slice of life'”. The trompe-l’œil painting, which intends to deceive the viewer into thinking the scene is real, is a specialized type of still life, usually showing inanimate and relatively flat objects..
