Since the summer of 2019 A-Level Photography Students at Hautlieu School have been working on an extensive programme of study in their final year exploring Jersey’s Liberation and Occupation history in collaboration with Société Jersiaise, Jersey Heritage, Channel Island Occupation Society, Jersey War Tunnels, Bureau des Îles Anglo-Normandes and post-graduate students from École Européenne Supérieure d’art de Bretagne in Rennes with funding from Liberation 75. Students were challenged with responding to personal stories told by islanders experiencing the German Occupation first-hand and finding inspiration by looking through images, documents and objects held in various collections in Jersey’s public archives, producing a series of individual creative outcomes such as montages, photo-zines and collectively construct a visual narrative presented as a newspaper supplement printed and distributed by Jersey Evening Post on Friday 24 April 2020.
The Liberation vs Occupation project began partly as a response to 75 years of celebrating freedom in Jersey from the German Occupation in 1940-45. Sadly, islanders will not be able to commemorate this landmark event as initially planned and it is hoped that this newspaper and joint exhibition between Jersey and French students will in some small way act as catalyst for remembering those years of hardship and subsequent joy when Churchill’s now famous speech was broadcast on the 8 May 1945 with the endearing words ‘our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today’.
The programme of study began on the 4 June at the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive where students took inspiration from a presentation by Patrick Cahill, Photo-Archivist and looked through some of the historical collections held in the photo-archive pertaining to the German Occupation of Jersey in 1940-45. In September students explored the landscape of German fortifications around the coastline of Jersey with specific visits to bunkers, such as Battery Moltke at Les Landes and Battery Lothringen at Noirmoint Point. Further visits followed to Jersey War Tunnels and Jersey Archive to research public records and learn more about life in the island during the Occupation.
Personal stories and memories from islanders, Bob Le Seur, Hedley Hinault, Joyce De La Haye and Joan Tapley, experiencing the German Occupation first-hand were recounted to students in a series of workshops, that included portrait sessions in the photographic studio at Hautlieu School and photographing objects from 1940-45 held in the Occupation collection at Jersey Heritage. Students have interpreted how the themes of Liberation and Occupation relates to them as teenagers growing up in the 21st century and the combined outcome of their studies can be seen on the pages of this newspaper, and in a joint exhibition Bunker Archaeology 2020 with postgraduate students from École Européenne Supérieure d’art de Bretagne (EESAB) originally to be held at the Berni Gallery, Jersey Arts Centre 6 -30 May 2020, now postponed due to Covid-19.
The Bailiff Timothy Le Cocq, who has written a foreword in the newspaper expressed his delight with how this collaboration has played a wider role in cultural diplomacy by; ‘allowing Rennes-based Masters students to work with students from Hautlieu on a project that has helped to spread the message of our important history, shared heritage and bringing communities closer together.’
Photographer and teacher Martin Toft who led this project, commented: ‘Every student involved in this project engaged passionately in the subject of the German Occupation of Jersey and the images presented here in this newspaper are only a fragment of the enormous amount of work that each student has produced. It provides a fascinating insight into how young people have used the language of photography to explore and interpret events which happened many years ago.’
Here is a video browser of the Liberation Newspaper printed and distributed islandwide by Jersey Evening Post.
Zines: The editing and sequencing of this newspaper was derived from a number of photo-zines produced by A-Level photography students at Hautlieu School.
Evaluation :
To conclude our liberation Vs Occupation topic we all put together a 48 page newspaper to be presented island wide on the JEP. Each photograph has been chosen and placed in order to tell that narrative that really highlights the celebration of Jersey’s 75th year of liberation. Having two of my own images showcased in the newspaper makes me happy with the way it has all come out. Whether there on the people we met, the landscapes, objects from the war tunnels each image shows that years on later, younger generations have the interest in wanting to learn more about our Jersey Heritage.
Overall I am satisfied with the way my project came out and following the theme of “Occupation vs Liberation” it gave me many choices in terms of what to focus on for my personal study. However considering this was a personal study I gathered I would do something involving my family as then I know it would be something I could look back on in a few years time that would hold value. As my parents are both Portuguese and lived in Madeira growing up the concept of occupation didn’t quite fit with the idea that I wanted to do. Eventually I decided to have my own take on the idea of liberation. My parents divorce was a way they got liberated from each other. This was something that was personal to me and was something that forced me to be centre of all the problems. In a way I would say I was being occupied into a situation I didn’t chose to be in. However, this gave me a direction with how I wanted to develop my personal study.
Many edits went well and turned out great. However,my problem with exploring and documenting their divorce was the lack of images I was hoping I was going to be able to gather. I looked through old cameras and laptops and photo albums but couldn’t find many images of my parents together. As they rarely ever speak now a days I knew I wasn’t going to be able to gather new images from so I just had to play around with what I had. The part of this project that I found more challenging was how to actually put all these photos together in order for it to tell the narrative but without any written elements.
These are the photographers that inspired me to look at family especially relationships and breakups.
From this study I have been able to step outside my comfort zone and experiment with techniques that I wouldn’t normally use. I have done research that has helped me find inspirations from the works of photographers such as Mathew Finn and Diana Markosian. Using photographers like them I managed to create a question steer for my essay and allowed my research to gain a deeper meaning. I watched several videos and read loads of articles in order to back what I was saying and allow me to view things from other peoples perspectives. Overall, I am happy with the way my book came out and with the way I conducted research and produced my experiments. For my exam title I am going to try and broden my options in terms of what to photograph and how I’m going to gather my primary source.
This was my book final and this is the link below to the PDF version of the book.
The way I have designed it is in chronological order.
NARRATIVE AND SEQUENCING –
Starting right from the front cover I have chosen to use a picture of my whole family including me, my brother, mum and dad. I have also chosen to use this childlike scribble over each picture to show and underline that this book is about my childhood and will reflect that within the pictures. The book I have chosen to call ” Casos Encerrados” which actually translates too ‘closed cases” which is used to reflect their marriage. Then right from the beginning of the book I have used one of the oldest archival images of my parents. This was actually taken on the day of my christening so very early on to their marriage. As we move further into the book across this double page spread I have used 2 archival images of my parents as children. The left is my mum and on the right is my dad. These pictures show childhood and underline this feeling of innocence that each of individual had at that time. These images are important to me as it shows a beginning of two people who knew each other through mutual friends and family who eventually became like best friends.
My book also has some images of places and things that are significant. The image of the house is important and I felt like it had to be included because it was my parents first home in Madeira and it was actually constructed by my dad and a few of his mates. Despite not being able to find an image of the house being built I found this and decided to include 2 versions one in colour and the other in black and white. One of the images is upside down and I have chosen to do this to incorporate the idea that everything sort of went downhill from the moment my parents decided to get divorced. Although there are worse cases to me and my brother who is now 10 but was only 4/5 at the time it turned our lives upside with little to no time to adjust. I have then added images of my brother who was born when I was about 7 so I wanted to add images of him after a good few pages into the book.
Towards the last 6 pages of my photo book I have used photoshop to cut out myself o one of the image which I took inspiration from Diana Markoisan’s example from her project. Moving on I have another image of my parents with that pen overlay to create that sense of innocence from the time these images were taken. The rings I chose to photograph as they were a gift from my dad to my mother in the 17/18 years they were together. Then I have chosen to include one photo taken from my half brothers christening with my dads new girlfiend . Finally for the second last page I chose to crop one of the images I had used before and create that split in the middle of the page to incorporate their divorce followed by the image of the official papers with their agreements.
The way I found was best to display my images was through using the foam board and creating a story with it. I have included images of their home in Madeira which I haven’t visited in 7 years so it has a lot of significance being able to put it on their. Theres images of my parents as children and me and my brother when we were a bit younger and swell as some of the only images I could actually find of them together. Then I chose to use the images I edited with double exposure of my dad and put it more to the right top hand corner to create this idea of him being distant.
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
investigate how Diana Markoisan and Yoshikatsu Fujii explore childhood and
family breakups through the use straight photography. I be looking at both
photographers and evaluate their most influential work that inspired me.
I will also be addressing how
separation can have an impact on how we grow up and how we understand the
concept of love. I will be situating their work within the development of
Realism in documentary photography. Documentary photography is associated with
storytelling and It Is an approach that I have placed In my book about my
family. 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 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. During 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 as important to me as it
will bring back memories from parts of my childhood. Moving to Jersey from the
island of Madeira 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 is an exact
category that their works fit into documentary photography.
Realism is an 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 produce 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. Doroetha Lange is an American female photographer that is known for one of the most recognizable images called “Migrant Mother.”
The image was made 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 family of 3 were crop picking. Lange explained “I do not remember how I explained my presence or why the camera was there. I liked her approach and think all the images she has taken falling under this category are captivating and tell a story. 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. There are a lot of contrasting theories and views on Doroetha Langes ‘Migrant Mother.’ For example James Estrein a critic for the New York Times published an article called ‘Unraveling the mysteries of Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant mother.’ He explained that this image has been round for several years and has been used on t-shirts, postage stamps, post cards and many other things. The message behind this love between mother and child is an iconic image that has been represented since 10th century in religious painting and murals. The reasoning behind the image becoming so popular is due to the anonymity of this family, which realistically could have been many families suffering In America from the Great Depression. There have also been many questions raised in relation to gender, race and class. Lange has been referred to as the ‘mother’ of documentary photography, being one of the first woman to follow this tradition. It has been argued that her gender made her pictures, particularly of other woman, more compassionate. However, In 1978 Ms. Thompson wrote to the editor of Modesto bee newspaper explaining that she was the woman in the photo and that she felt exploited because she was never compensated for this photograph. The Image appeals to emotional empathy, a mother worried about her children. The Image also reflects a humanitarian notion of universal similarities in the condition of human kind. It can reflect a symbol of motherhood, poverty and survival. Ms. Thompson later explained “For others this might represent the depth of the Depression; and for others this might represent a suppressing of racial identity. Each of those interpretations is perfectly valid so long as we agree on the facts.”
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 herself, 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.
These are a couple examples from her photobook:
It took me fifteen years to be here, sitting across my father in his home. I had forgotten so much about him- the shape of his face, the sound of his voice, the way he laughed.
This is one of the only images of my father and I together. I saw it for the first time when I was 23.
As a little girl, my father felt like a secret being kept from me. When I would ask my mother about him, she would tell me he was gone.
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 they’re 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, 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 tell this from the quality of the
image and how you can see fine details. The images used are archival and
looking like they’ve been glued down and others stitched together. 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, through photographing archival
images and comparing and editing them in order to resemble that hidden message
of absence. 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 and 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. 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 my own 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. 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.
After having looked a several photo-book ideas I have decided to experiment with a few different design layouts.
I began designing my book as landscape but then decided that actually I wanted to have a book that was smaller. I changed the size of the book to square with en example of the size I am aiming for below:
An example of a square sized book from a previous student.
I would like to have my phonebook asteticaly pleasing. What I mean by this is that I want my book to have a narrative that makes sense without the viewers knowing the story line. I have also decided to name my book “Closed Cases…” The reasoning behind this is that I am going to translate it into Portuguese. Both my parents are Portuguese so I thought it was only right to add elements of my culture as well as theirs. “Closed Cases” in Portuguese translates to “Casos Encerrados…” The reason my book is being named this is because to me, and to both my parents their relationship is over and they will most likely never get back together. As harsh as it may sound I have become okay with the reality of this and have grown to accept this.
In terms of my design lay out I wanted to have a variation of size in the images. I wanted to also have images that made sense together, one balancing the other out. Some images are going to be kept smaller and I might also have a page of writing in Portuguese, like a quote and names of places that were and will always be significant to me and my family.
The above screenshot is going to be my front cover. I have chosen to use this image as it is one of the only pictures we have as a 4. I also used an app called ‘Pics Art’ to create the white pencil overlay effect. As I am exploring childhood as part of my project it adds that childlike feel to the book. I am still continuing to add images and edit them in order to fit the sequence I am trying to portray.
This is an image I have chosen to put towards the end of my photo book. I am choosing to place this here as it is symbolising the end to my dads first family and the beginning of his new family.
Another thing that I have experimented with in my phonebook is the colour of the background.
I didn’t want to experiment with really harsh, dark colours as I feel like It takes the attention away from the actual focus of the photo, being my parents. Most of the images I have chosen to use are either in black and white or the colours are too dull therefore having dark colours would over power the book completely.
THE LAYOUT ON THIS BLOG WILL NOT BE MY FINAL VERSION OF THE PHOTO BOOK.
Over the last couple of weeks I have focused on looking through lots of archival images and objects that focus on my parents from the times they were together. I then found a camera with several images from 2010 which was the year after my brother was born. On this camera there was lots of pictures of my mum and a few of my dad. Also on this camera is the only pictures I have access to from one of the only holidays we went as a family of four. Although I am not going to use several of the images I would like to take some that capture the interior of our home which my mum no longer lives in.
From the archival images I have found a photo of our house and where I first lived before I moved here. I am going to use both images one in colour and one in black and white. I want to display the images close to each other because I want it to contrast In colour. I also have several images that I have taken in black and white therefore would like to maintain some elements of colour in my final book.
This is the original image before I edited it or cropped it. As you can see the image isn’t in the highest quality due to the year and device the archival image was taken on. At this point in time both my parents weren’t rich. My dad lived in Jersey when I was born and my mum lived looking after me. He worked so we could afford this house which was built by my dad and a group of his mates. This image is significant in my project because it is where their story began and this is the first place I called home.
This is the image in black and white and after I edited it in Lightroom. I also changed a few of the settings like the contrast and brightness. Too make it look even older than the time it was captured I used the grainy effect in Lightroom. I like both the copies of the image as they both capture something meaningful but one actually looks more sad which is the feel I’m going for.
The images above I have chosen to use as a compare and contrast. On the left of the image above is my mother and on the right the picture is me. Below on the left we have a picture of my little brother and on the right we have a picture of my dad. The reason I have chosen to use these and present these like this was to show the difference in time, culture and even the way we were dressed. Both images of my parents were taken in Madeira, whereas the image of me and my brother were in Jersey. I wanted to show the whole aspect of change and adapting as this was something I have had to do for most of my childhood. I also liked the idea of showing what my parents looked like at similar ages and have this element of innocence and childhood coming through in my phonebook.
I have also chosen to edit more of my archival images so that they’re not all the original image. I have chosen to use double exposure setting on photoshop and the cropping tool to take out elements of the photograph.
This is an image of my mother as a child. The reason I have chosen to bring out the black dots of the image and create this double exposure is because I have done a similar image of my dad. I will be presenting both of these pictures across a double page. Using these dots adds elements of excitement and also adds a childlike atmosphere to the image. The double exposure me is used to represent how I felt about my parents divorce. I was always in the middle of their divorce so for the most part I felt like I was being divided into two.
I later chose to crop myself out of one example as I had cropped one out of my dad. I cropped myself out of this picture as an experiment and originally wasn’t even going to consider it for my phonebook. But after having considered the layout and narrative of my photo book I decided to do this to create that feeling of separation.
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.
For my second shoot on this project based around my parents divorce I continued to explore archival images and have found some images of them together. I also decided to gather the court order papers and gather a couple images from the hard evidence that they are not together anymore. In some of those images I managed to find dates that explicitly say when it was filled and dates that show how long the process was. Additionally, I found gifts that my dad gave my mum when they got married at the civil partner ship in Madeira, with these I found images of their first home together and the place which I called home before moving to Jersey.
Because my parents were together for the best part around 15 years a lot happened during their marriage. Like for example the gifting. The rings above are the rings my dad gave my mum as part of a tradition in Madeira where sometimes people gift gold for special occasions. I chose to photograph this as it will always be something she has as a gift from my dad.
NEXT:
For the next shoot I am going to continue to gather images from the times they were together and images of me and my dad. The reason I am going to do this is because i live with my mum me and my dad aren’t as close anymore and I wanted to create that element of absence through these images.
I am also gather images of my dads side of the family like his new girlfriend and my nearly one year old little brother. This is because I want to incorporate them into my personal study because although I might not see them as much they’re still family. As I am from Madeira and we have quite a few celebrations and traditions I am going to take a similar idea like Diana Markosian and experiment knitting and binding together my book by hand or have a couple of pages being bonded together with maybe notes or anything meaningful to when my parents were together.
This is the image in full. I have also edited it in photoshop into black and white to add the idea of an olden day image. Although this image was most likely taken in the years of 2002-2006 before my younger brother was born I wanted to include it and play around with it as their both quite happy in this picture. In the example above that I have cropped it and split it into half which I think adds the element of separation I am looking for. The white line in the middle is actually a set out from the blog but I like how it sits perfectly in the centre. After having cropped his face out of the image to show “absences” I decided I didn’t really like the idea of not being able to see his face. Therefore I am going o experiment using the blur tool and see if It makes a difference. Another thing I didn’t really like was how it cropped and changed to white. I think because his face looks white its too striking and draws attention away from the main focus of the image which is my mum. However, I did like how it adds an element of curiosity and it makes the viewer want to know what he looks like.
I have also began using the snipping tool and began experimenting cutting out my dad’s face in some old archive photos. However, after having experimented with one I decided that I’m probably not going to do a lot of these examples as I don’t want my project to become one sided. Although I am focusing on my parents divorce as I live with my mum I want more of my project to focus on her. I’m going to do that by using some old archive photos and I am going to gather images of her from now.
For my next couple of experiments I have decided to gather more images of them together and create quite a blurry effect over a few examples.
Blurred all the images slightly to create a sense of confusion ,absence and tiredness.
The inspiration of cutting out someones face came from Diana Markoisan’s work. I also experimented using the blur too and the sharpening tool to give another effect on the image.
