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.
Here is my final choice over the selection of what order and the layout my book is. I only wanted the title of the book to be on the spine of the book and I decided that the word doppelganger should be in lowercase as it is more aesthetically pleasing, but as my sisters are identical twins, the lack of distinction between the letters can symbolise them as a collective. The paper will be glossy and the book will be hardback.
For my final prints I decided to print them in different sizes and to spray glue them onto a black board. I decided to lay them out in a unique way as I wanted it to look unusual. I decided to place them on a black board as the photographs themselves are quite light to the colours juxtapose eachother and the black enables the gaze to be placed onto the photos more. I am happy with how this turned out as I manged to get the images all together and present by sisters with eachother and as individuals.
To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality in Sian Daveys Work and Maja Daniels?Introduction:
"Reality, witness and point of view can actually blend into one another." (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019:18)
The quote above displays how all these factors can be completely separate from each other, a point of view from one side of a story can alter the true reality of an event, however, can align as well. Documentative photography has been around since photography began. It’s used to chronicle events and environments that are significant to everyday life, history and historical events. Documentary photographs aren’t just produced by professionals; family photo albums and phone albums can provide an insight from the everyday to the historical world of an individual. Whether it’s a photo taken of someone blowing out the candles on their birthday cake, or the fireworks on bonfire night. However, although those images are captured in a moment, often candid, how do we really know that the photographs aren’t staged? After practitioners established photography as an art form, there was “a need to define which images were based on ‘objective’ reality (documentary) and which were instead the creations of an artist’s ‘subjective’ sensibility (art)” (Rosler 2003; Sekula 1982; Soloman-Godeau 1991b; Walker 2002: 21-21).
For my project I will be focusing and capturing my identical twin sisters. There is a cultural fascination with twins, people are confused by their striking symmetrical features and their unearthly connection towards each other. Many claim to know what each other are thinking and feeling and their undeniable bond creates curiosity towards the uniqueness that surround the ideology of twins. As their older sister, I know my sisters extremely well as we also have a close bond, however, I recognize that I could never have a bond like Phoebe and Scarlett’s. Although we sometimes describe them having a love-hate relationship, they are each other's best friend and always seem to know what the other is thinking and feeling. They have deep empathy for each other rooted in them and always defend each other, even if someone is only joking about the other, they will always back each other's corner. They often tend to copy each other when the other twin does something. For example, Scarlett cut her long hair to shoulder length and the next week Phoebe cut her hair to shoulder length as well. They also have extremely similar grades and are in the same classes as they both have the same intellectual ability. Guang Guo discusses how researchers believe that the reason identical twins have do similar actions is because of their genes. “If a physical or behavioral trait, like hair color or success at math, is shared more often by identical twins than by fraternal twins, researchers reason, genes must have played a role in developing the trait.” (Guang Guo, 2005).
The artists I will be analysing will be Sian Davey and Maja Daniels. They both do capture twins, Daniels having a whole project on Mady and Monette: twins who both work together and dress the same. Davey’s work doesn’t feature around twins, but her stepdaughter Martha is friends with twins, and they do feature in Davey’s work, in particular, her project Martha. Both of the artists can be viewed as documentative photographers, although, because of the similarities between Mady and Monette, Daniel’s work looks more staged, whilst Davey’s work looks more naturalistic and candid. I will discuss the extend of reality portrayed in both of the artists work and the difficulties to truly believe they are authentically documentative.
Historical Context:
I will be incorporating both realist and pictorialist photography into my project.
Postmodernism can be seen as a reaction against the ideas and values of modernism, as well as a description of the period that followed modernism's dominance in cultural theory and practice in the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. The term is associated with skepticism, irony and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality. Postmodern art questions the notion of authenticity and embraces 'hybridity’, blurring the lines between high art and popular culture. Postmodern photographers are particularly interested in the selective, constructed nature of the photograph.
Realism is not so much a style, but rather one of its fundamental qualities. From its beginnings in the 1830s and 40s, photographers and viewers of photography marveled at photography’s ability to capture an imprint of nature. Photography’s capacity to depict people, objects and places realistically made it suitable for trying to record and document individual likenesses, scientific discoveries and foreign places – concerns that were of particular interest for 19th-century Europeans.
The time period for pictorialism was the 1880’s – 1920’s. Pictorialism is an approach to photography that emphasizes the beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. I would describe pictorialist photographs to be very dreamy and reminds me of fairy tales. They focus on the dream world and oppose documentative photographs. They tend to focus on nature; however, they do also feature cityscapes. They also tend to have fog or low clouds which gives it a dream like effect. Reacting to the widespread commercial and domestic uses of photography for recording people, events and places, pictorialist photographers sought to evoke emotional sensations and states of mind. They depicted commonplace scenes in ways that suggested psychological and spiritual meanings.
Modernism began in the late 19th century and lasted to about the mid 20th century. Industrial revolution kicked off modernism as machines were being standardised for production in factories. The industrial revolution started in 1760 and continue onwards. Modernism was a broad movement encompassing all the avant-garde isms of the first half of the 20th century. Although different modernisms were often incompatible (and occasionally antagonistic) they all rejected the dominance of older movements such as Classicism, Naturalism, and Academicism in favor of new experimental ways of producing art. Early modernity is characterized intellectually by a belief that science could save the world and that, through reason, a foundation of universal truths could be established. The common trend was to seek answers to fundamental questions about the nature of art and human experience. Modernity imbue all aspects of society and are apparent in its cultural forms including fiction, architecture, painting, popular culture, photography.
Artist 1: Sian Davey
Artists that I am interested in are Sian Davey, in particular, her project on her stepdaughter 'Martha' and her other book “Looking for Alice” which focuses on the life of her daughter who has down syndrome. Davey's is able to capture the lives of both Martha and her friends who are transitioning from child to adult. Davey's also captures a set of twins who are Martha's friends. Davey tends to use a documentative approach to her photography, capturing the natural essence of Martha's development in life. Although they look very similar due to them being identical, the audience are able to distinguish that they do have some different characteristics e.g. their different hairstyles and clothing choices. I want to study Davey's work in particular because of her approach to photographing the teenagers, she isn't trying to sugar coat or emphasize their actions, but just want to capture what they do together and how they interact with each other.
The image below is from Davey's book "Martha". It is called "Twins". It features one of the twins staring directly into the lens and the other gazing down. The audience may have to question Davey's image and whether it truly tells the truth about the reality of the scenario that is occuring. Is Davey, truly capturing the essence of reality? Did the twin happen to glance up at the camera or did Davey direct and stage the photograph? Just because an image looks candid and authentic doesn't mean that is the true reality.
In response to Davey’s image “Twins” I wanted to capture my sisters in a different location but doing similar things. Both the twins in Davey’s photo and mine are looking in different directions and are in beach/swim attire: Davey’s twins feature one in a surf brand jumper and the other in a bikini/bra. Whilst my sisters are in their bikini’s and one of them wearing a sarong. I also used natural lighting in my photos but wanted to make my photo a bit lighter to replicate the airy and beachy aptmosphere that was there when the photo was being taken.
The difference between the subjects of our photos is that in Davey's photo, one of the twins is staring into the lens, meaning she is aware the photo is being taken, whereas my sisters were unaware that the photo was being taken, making the image candid and authentic to being documentative. The truth behind the reality of the photos can be questioned as both Davey or mysef could've directed our subjects to act and present themselves in a certain way, however, the natural looks to the images can infer to the audience that you can trust the documentative images produced and that they are portraying a true reality.
Artist 2: Maja Daniels
When Daniels discusses first talking to the twins she talks about “When I finally approached them I found out that they had long stopped celebrating their birthdays and that they defy any pre-conceived notions related to growing old. I then thought that the twins could make an interesting project that could somehow comment on questions regarding ageing in today’s society a bit differently.” Daniels work can be seen as unique as there aren’t many photographers who capture adult twins. There is a fixation on identical twins, particularly when they are children, maybe because as they get older many grow out of wanting to look similar and want to lead their own lives.
Although Daniels is capturing and documenting the lives of Mady and Monette and what they do, the truth about reality can also be questionable. In the image below, both the twins are aware of the camera presence due to their stare into the camera. Although the truth is that Mady and Monette are identical twins, Daniels credibility can be doubted with the twins' dresscode: matching. Just because Daniels claims that the twins choose to dress identically doesn't mean that it is true. The audience would have to ask Parisians who either personally know Mady and Monette or who see them often whether it is their personal choice to present themselves in their particular style, or whether Daniels has been able to construct a narrative and persona for the twins.
Daniels uses natural lighting in the image below and the colour palette of the photograph is very similar. It can also lead the audience to question whether the scene itself is constructed due to the perfect coordination with the clothing colour to the walls, or their bright red hair to match the scooter. Although Daniels is capturing the twins out on a walk and although she is not taking the images deliberately in a studio, the truth behinf the reality of her images can be questionable to whether she is truly and authentically documenting the twins or whether she is planning her shoots and directing what is happening.
The image below is my photographic response to Daniels work. Although I documented my twin sisters in the sandunes, both playing and then sunbathing (what they're doing below) I directed the images and ensured I got the shots I wanted. For example, I ensured that theyboth would wear identical outfits and wear their hair the same to enhance the similarities between them. I decided to go for an earthy tone with the image, with the fresh white to juxtapose the tone. After Phoebe and Scarlett started to sit down, I ensured that their faces were looking up in a similar direction and that they both have a similar facial expression. Although I am documenting what the girls are doing, I am constructing a reality and manipulating the truth behind the image.
Although Daniels work can be viewed as truthful and just happens to document the twins at the right places at the right time, I wanted to deliberately display that the truth behind the reality of an image can be confusing and misleading.
Conclusion
In conclusion, documentative photographers, such as Maja Daniels and Sian Davey will be documenting a reality. However, there is a grey area to how truthful and authentic the images are, and whether a narrative and reality is being deliberately and misleadingly constructed.
Both Davey and Daniels manage to capture a set of identical twins, their methods and subjects juxtapose eachother. Mady and Monette are portrayed as extremely similar in Daniels work due to the matching outfits, hair and the way they present themselves. As they are older they do tend to wear makeup and manipulate themselves to how they want to be portrayed in their reality. Whereas Davey's work has a more natural approach where the twins similarities aren't forced upon the audience, the girls are dressed differently are are doing different actions.
Both of the artists are documentin the realities of the twins in their images, the realities the artists portray are extremely different. Davey portrays them more as individuals whereas Daniels tends to enforce the similarities between the twins and treat them as almost a collective. I took inspiration from both of the artists and I believe I managed to portray a truthful reality of my twin sisters, they are individuals and are unique in their own right, but there are also extreme similarities between themselves and they can act as a collective.
Bibliography
- Bright, S. and Van Erp, h, (2019), Photography Decoded, London: Octopus Publishing House
- Stephen Bull, (2010), Photography, Oxon, Routledge
- James Cartwright, (2012), Photographer Maja Daniels' wonderful Monette and Mady series explores our fascination with twins, viewed 07/03/2020 https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/maja-daniels
- Guang Guo, (2005), Twin Studies: What can they tell us about nature and nurture?, viewed 07/03/2020 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ctx.2005.4.3.43
For my shoot I went to St Ouens to the sand dunes. I used the daylight as my natural light. I dressed my sisters in the same outfit as I wanted to make them look as similar as possible. The aim of this shoot was to reflect the similarity between my twin sisters and how people view them as a collective rather than individuals.
Manipulated Images
I manipulated my images using Adobe Lightroom. I adjusted the brightness, contrast, white balance and clarity. I liked how these photos turned out and I think that the natural lighting and lightness of the surroundings helped make the images very beautiful and natural looking.
I wanted to delve into my own family archive of images of Phoebe and Scarlett from when they were younger. I wanted to display how much they have changed over the years and how even at a young age they were both very similar but different.
The Editing
I manipulated these images on Adobe lightroom. I adjusted the exposure, contrast, vibrance, clarity and cropped some of the images. These are my three favourite images. As babies, the girls looked incredibly similar however my mum always made sure to dress them differently to ensure they have seperate identities. The second image is the girls on their first day of school. In matching uniform and identical haircuts, people found it difficult to distinguish the girls apart. In the last image, it was a photo of their girls at their first nativity. My mum liked how the school ensured they played different characters to ensure they have seperate identities and are not classed as a collective.
For my photoshoots in Bali I wanted to capture the twins doing things without me realising, but with some staged photos aswell. I had to work with the natural light and learn to adjust the camera to the different lighting, shutterspeeds etc. As we were all on holiday we had to spend a lot more time with eachother, and Phoebe and Scarlett tended to spend a lot more time with eachother than anyone else. They played a lot ith eachother in the pool and enjoyed playing card games.
Editing
After going through all of my images on Lightroom, I used the colour rating system to single out images I liked and then manipulated them. I used many applications to manipulate the images such as make some black and white, adjust the contrast, vibrance, saturation, clarity, highlights, shadows, blacks, whites and cropping. The green represents the images that I like the most and the yellow images are ones that I sort of like but am unsure of.
My Favourite Images
I chose these images because I thought that they were the most aesthetically pleasing. I chose the black and white underwater one because you cannot tell which twin it is, their identity is hidden and can represent how a lot of people view my sisters, as one and as a collective rather than having their own individual identities.
A sentence: An insight into the life and bond of my twin sisters.
A paragraph: My twin sisters are identical, however, as they grow older they become less and less identical. People often class them as a collective rather than two individual girls. Twins have a bond that is incredibly strong and people often believe is ethereal or telekinetic. In my project, I want to display that although they do have a strong bond and are similar in many aspects; they are also different individuals. I will explore their interactions, the way they dress, items they own and what they like to do in their free time. They are twins but I like to think of them as doppelgangers; they may look alike both they are both different individuals.
Design: Consider the following
How you want your book to look and feel: I want
Paper and ink: Matte paper
Format, size and orientation: I want the book to be a portrait book and to be A4 size.
The photobook I will be looking at will be Looking for Alice by Sian Davey. The narrative is from the perspective of Sian, a mother and she captures the day to day life of her daughter Alice, who has down syndrome. Davey captures raw photos that outsiders wouldn't usually see, Alice's interactions with her family, strangers, animals and the world around her. Sometimes she is smiling, sometimes she's crying, sometimes she is all dressed up and other times she is completely naked. Alice experiences the world differently to everybody and Davey is able to capture Alice's unique experiences due to her being her mother who has an intimate relationship with her daughter.
2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, awards, legacy etc.)
Davey started capturing images of her daughter from when she was a year old. In Davey's prologue at the beginning of the book she describes how Alice is "no different to any other little girl or indeed human being; she feels what we all feel and needs what you and I need". Davey later on discusses how "ninety two percent of Down's Syndrome babies are terminated at the pre-natal screening stage." I feel that Davey is trying to display to her audience that Down's Syndrome children are still children, wonderful, quirky and it is beautiful to watch them grow up. Davey is also trying to challenge the perceptions of difference within society as Alice should be treated with no less respect than any other being within society. Davey describes how she struggled to initially love Alice due to "fear and uncertainty", however, Davey discusses how Alice is loved "unconditionally, as it should be". Just because Alice is different doesn't make her any less of a beautiful being and that she should be valued everywhere "without distinction, without exception, without a second glance".
3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book such as:
The book is a hardback and feels heavier than it looks. It has a linen cover which adds a rough texture and the pages. The pages are white and are matte paper.The images are all colourful images. After you turn the first page there is a sheet there is a piece of greaseproof/acetone paper with what ooks like a blurry shadow is printed on. This adds depth to the books and I believe that it is deliberately there to make the readers question the difference, just like how many strangers tend to queston Alice, who many class as different due to her disability. The format size is around A5 and the book is portrait. The cover features an image that also features in the book of Alice standing on a fence and looking out into a meadow. There is a letter press into the cover which indents the writing and makes the letters gold.
The title is more poetic rather than literal because the photographer is Alice's mother, she doesn't really need to literally look for Alice as she's always around her. However, it can have a more metaphorical meaning, such as looking at the way society percieves Alice, how they treat her differently and how they should really treat her. The subject matter is Alice, who is Davey's daughter. She can be percieved as being unique to many other children due to her having Down's Syndrome, however, one of Davey's purposes of her book is to display that although Alice has a disability, she is no different to any other little boy or girl. The images consist of Alice interacting with her family, friends, strangers, animals and generally the world around her.
Most of the pictures are in the same place, near the top of the page and in the middle of the page. There are no double page spreads however, there are some images that are larger than the usual pattern and does overlap onto the other page. Some images don't have text for them, however, some images has text either below them to explain the image or on the opposite page. For example, the image above has writing underneath it which calls the image The hen and the cat. At the beginning of the book there is an introduction by Davey explaining the book and her reasons to make it. She then has an extract by David Chandler called The love you take. David Chandler is a writer, editor and curator in the fields of photographic history, contempory photography and visual arts. At the end of the book, a poem by Luke, Alice's brother and Sian Davey's son. It is titled sister and it is assumed the poem is dedicated to Alice.
