Postmodernism is more of a reaction against the values and ideas of modernism. Described broadly, modernism is a search for the truth and answers, whereas postmodernism presents the idea that there is no set truth and is much more philosophical. Both these movements came as a result of the thinking patterns of the society during those times. Post modernism first emerged in the early 1960’s, but it wasn’t till the 1970’s till the term postmodernism started being used.

A key element of postmodernism was breaking the divide between high and low art, especially through including pop culture elements. A good example would be cubism, where Picasso, an artist who was part of the movement, often included the lyrics of popular songs in his paintings.

Above is an example of one of the most famous paintings of the postmodernist movement. More specifically it is part of the visual art movement, also known as pop art. It was painted by Andy Warhol, who i will take a lot of inspiration from in my personal study. His works incorporate large blocks of colour and are always vibrant. This is a very expressive way of showing one’s visions and ideas to the world, but it works as it attracts a large amount of attention due to the visually appealing colours, which in turn helps spread the message the artist is putting out.

Focusing back on postmodernism as a whole, its all about referencing things outside of the work (E.g. Social, political, or cultural issues) which is exactly what my project will be about. The works are always aware of and make reference to previously hidden agendas of art markets, relations to museums, dealers and critics.

Unlike modernism, postmodernism did not pay any kind of attention whatsoever to original works. They would dub them as pieces that gained popularity due to propagation. Also, due to scientific and technological advancements and other related fields,postmodernism saw no absolute truth in original works. It believed more in creating applied art. Digital media was used extensively to copy original work of the modernism period.

This is a mood board I have created of the most influential and well-known works of the pop art movement.

The two following photographers have very different approaches, ass well photographing completely different things; Hassan Hajjaj is a portrait photographer, whereas Jean-Pierre Raynaud is an object photographer. However I enjoy both of their styles; they would also both fit into my personal study as I have done both styles in past projects and enjoyed doing them.

Hassan Hajjaj

I really enjoy the vibrant colours he always implements into his work, they are always bold and help turn the photo into a statement through exaggerating certain elements of the photo. Such as in the photo below, its a woman wearing boxing clothing and holding boxing gloves in the way a purse would be conventionally held. This has been done to show the strength of a woman, especially in a male dominated scenario.

I also really like how he makes a frame for every photo out of food related items most commonly found in Morocco. This helps add another layer of, usually contrasting, colour to the photo, as well as to strengthen the feel the photo gives you.

Jean-Pierre Raynaud

These photos are of the Jean-Pierre Raynaud designed ‘La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ in Paris; which opened in 1974. It is a house and art installation comprised entirely of white tiles. The obsessive construction of the house’s walls, floors, ceilings and fixed furniture were all coated with white 15cm x 15cm ceramic tiles with black joints.

I like the strong geometric shapes all of his work is based upon;they help make all the images bold, and make any other objects (e.g. a plant) stand out a lot more due to the contrast between its curved/irregular lines and shapes and colour, compared to the black and white grid of its surroundings.

I also enjoy the simplicity that comes with his style of work; there is usually one focal point of the image, using the example of a plant again, which attracts all of the attention towards it. The grid around it also helps accentuate the shape of the object through again, contrast between the lines.

To conclude, both these photographers have very different styles which both appeal to me, however they do have one main thing in common: the subject of their photos always majorly contrasts with the rest of the image, be that through colour or shape, and I will take inspiration and feature this in my future work.

This is a selection of photos from the Paris trip, where I have edited all images with noise and other filters, trying to achieve a retro style.

I have documented the process of editing one of the photos I have taken on the trip to Paris. The goal was to achieve a lightly faded retro style.

A photo sheet of all the raw images I took on the trip.

What I learnt most from the occupation vs liberation project is that occupation doesn’t have to be physical, such as the occupation of Jersey in WWII. There are many other forms, be that mental, subconscious or many others. This opens up a wide possibility of subjects; ranging from far-fetched government conspiracy theories, to technology and how we use it more everyday.

I was inspired most by high contrast techniques in this project. I really enjoyed the visual aspect of making the subject of each photo ‘pop’ and stand out from the background.

• Mind-map + mood board on how I interpret occupation vs liberation now.

These are screenshots of the finished second Zene:

I have chosen these four photos out of many others which I have edited; this is as due to the colour block theme most of the images look similar, and these four are a good representation of the whole photo shoot.

Historical context

Still life is the depiction of inanimate objects for the qualities of their form, texture, colour, and composition. The genre began in the form of painting as cameras (or any form of photography) hadn’t yet been invented. The earliest known still life paintings date back to the 15th century in Egypt, these were mainly of food, fish, meat etc. Although these paintings appeared sporadically since then, it wasn’t until the Renaissance that it became and independent genre of painting.

Early paintings from the Netherlands included Skulls, candle and hourglasses as allegories to death and its immanence, and sometimes combined with fruit or flowers to symbolise the cycle of nature. These are now known as Venitas. From the 18th century until the rise of Nonobjective painting after World War 2, France became the centre of still-life painting. Most major artists who at some time resided there during this 250-year period painted still life portraits.

This is the image I have chosen to analyse, it is by Jacopo de’ Barbari, who is widely considered to be the first still life painter.

I have chosen it as it is full of symbolism and hidden meanings. Firstly, it is in the style of a Venita as shown by the center-piece of the whole painting being a skull. It is also quite a powerful one as there is a crown propped up against the skull. This could suggest many things, such as that power doesn’t last forever, or the fact that being a powerful ruler doesn’t grant you eternal life. Or it could be much simpler and be a sign of dislike towards the ruler at the time.

The strong diagonal lines which make up the painting are very aggressive and intimidating. This is as the painter has placed weapons and sharp objects all pointing in one direction, they also create other strong shapes such as triangles which help give the painting structure. This could be a symbol of the violence and war at the time, or be carrying on with the theme presented by the crown of a possible greediness.

The words above the skull are the biggest sign of the theme of the painting an it’s message. ‘Mors Vincit Omnia’ translated from latin reads ‘Death Conquers All’ or ‘Death Always Wins’. The first translation of ‘Death Conquers All’ fits the painting perfectly and explains the aesthetic of it. The crown next to the skull, the aggressive objects around it, and the throne-like object they are all sat on. They all symbolise the conquering of death which the artiswt is trying to depict. They do this rather well, as the painting does a good job at making the viewer feeling threatened, and looking intimidating.