For my personal study final pieces I aim to create 3 separate handmaid books; one named ‘Erasure’, a hand bound poetic narrative book that explores my want of not wanting my own identity, another named ‘Uncomfortable Skin’ another hand bound book with images that reflect myself and how I’m not currently settled into my vessel I was given, and finally another hand bound book with my final essay discussing ‘Can a personality and identity be reflected through a portrait?’. This trilogy will be encased in a handmade small cardboard box tailored to fit my smaller than A5 books. The idea of the box is to reflect how mental health is still a taboo subject within society so I’m physically hiding the problems away until someone goes and physically discovers them. Everything within my project is supposed to have a rough-and-ready feel due to it being handmade and personal, and could also be connotated as nothing and no one is perfect and usually their imperfections are the admired. My box is neutral toned so that it appears normal on the outside, then my two photographic anthologies are a soft grey colour with red thread which binds the book. This contrast was done mainly for aesthetic purposes. Then my essay zine has a crimson cover and is white thread bound so that it’s obvious that it’s different, this is due to it being a heavily weighted essay reliant upon knowledge and context that benefit my personal identity.

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Compare Francesca Woodman and Mary Ellen Mark’s representation/documentation of mental illness.

Introduction: 346

For me, photography is a way to express perhaps more negative emotions in a non-judgmental medium. Perhaps people interpret the meaning in the wrong way, but the act of capturing the image gives a sense of control over the emotion behind it. That’s part of the reason that I wanted to explore mental illness via photography. After struggling with depression and anxiety in the past and at the time not really having a way to express how I was feeling, I wanted to explore and remember past emotions to educate others on mental illness, while additionally finding a new way for me to cope in the future. I am particularly fascinated by the work of Francesca Woodman. The young photographer was herself suffering from depression and her images are often seen to reflect this as a result of her suicide. The images are surreal at times and often have a dream-like quality to them. While now related to her suicide, Woodman’s images were an exploration of her own identity and gender, often showing a lack of the former by obscuring the subject’s face. Individuality is important when it comes to mental illness; no one experiences it in quite the same way. Woodman expresses her illness in a way that is very personal to her and it’s interesting to gather an understanding of someone else’s experiences. However, I also wanted to see how people, who have never experienced severe mental illness, view mental illness. In contrast, Mary Ellen Mark spent 36 days inside Oregon State Hospital on Ward 81 and created a documentary book of work that captured the essence of such an institution and its patients. Mark was tasked with photographing the ward’s occupants along with journalist, Karen Jacobs who wrote a piece on their experience. Mark was primarily a photo journalist, however her Ward 81 project was a follow up to meeting the patients while photographing for 1975’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’ In contrast to Woodman’s images, Mark gives a more realistic view of mental illness by photographing what she observed of others.

Historical Context: 383

Documentary photography was a way to capture event often related to history. These can be personal in the form of family albums or more large scale. Larger scale documentations often appear in news outlets as an aid for written information. However, it can be used to tell a solely visual story. For example, Mary Ellen Mark’s documentation of Ward 81. While this doesn’t show an obvious narrative with a clear beginning, middle and end, it does well at showing the main aspects of life on the ward. A criticism of some documentary photography, including ‘Ward 81’ would be whether the images are socially sensitive. This means that the images may cause unjust discrimination or social unrest. An example of this would be propaganda. Propaganda is designed to sway opinions in a certain direction, perhaps leaving people to believe something which is untrue or exaggeration in order to prompt an unjust response. However, Mark’s work may cause an unintentional negative response. During the 1970’s in America, misdiagnosis caused by the outdated DSM-II and sexist doctors resulted in the institutionalisation of many, especially women. Mark’s work may have been socially sensitive at this time due to the representation of only female patients. This may have reinforced the stereotype that women were often more prone to mental illness as a result of their apparent increased emotional responses. As result this may have increased discrimination against women who were more emotional and may have even caused them to become institutionalised. A second important ethical consideration for documentary photography is integrity. In modern society it is very easy to manipulate images with the use of editing software such as Photoshop. However, is it ethical to deceive audiences when presenting documentary style images? An article for photographylife states that, ‘…it is only ethical when such imagery is provided without ANY manipulation whatsoever.’ I have to agree with this. Since documentary image are often used as part of news features they can help shape people’s opinions and influence their actions. This comes back to social sensitivity. In addition, the constant manipulation of image without the knowledge of the desired audience may damage the reputation of the photographer or the co-operation they work for. The audience may lose trust in them or in series cases the individual responsible can be prosecuted.

Francesca Woodman: 605

Famous for her self portraits, Francesca Woodman preferred to work alone, but there’s more to her images than a representation of herself. At only age 22, Woodman threw herself out of a window in New York. This leaves her images forever tainted, in the sense it’s difficult to view them without wondering whether they’re a prediction of Woodman’s fate. In 1977, Woodman worked on ‘On Being An Angel’ while staying in Rome. The title in itself suggests a surreal approach to self portrait as the word ‘angel’ suggests the presence of a higher celestial being. While it is possible that the title could indicate that Woodman believes herself to be this celestial being, it is more likely that this refers to the faith, love, hope, strength and intelligence that angels often symbolize. However, this is a clear juxtaposition to certain extent. The images are in the black and white, mirroring the aesthetic of Woodman’s other works while also showing a darker undertone that suggests that Woodman sees herself as more of a misunderstood angel. It was not secret that Woodman was struggling with the lack of success and recognition her images were receiving. It had been clear to those close to her that her images were some of the best, so why didn’t others see that? One such image from ‘On Being An Angel,’ shows Woodman in a derelict building, her preferred location to shoot in, with two white sheets behind her as she leaps up in front of them as if flying. It is obvious that the sheet represents her angel wings and the image as whole suggests that Woodman wishes to take flight, to escape perhaps. Another striking feature present in this series is Woodman’s often completely bare chest. She has her breast thrust out, however, this is not by any means sexual. She had previously explored her body in several of her other works and had grown comfortable with it. Woodman wanted to show a certain rawness and maybe even innocence to the images one would find when thinking about angels. As for the idea of flying, Woodman has also previously referenced the theme of weightlessness in some of her other works taken in Rome. It seems perhaps that Woodman was toying with the idea of angels taking flight while also thinking about how she might like to do the same. The reasoning behind this, some would suggest, comes down to her death. In 1981, Woodman threw herself out of a window in New York. The similarity between her chosen method to end her life and the images of flying is astounding. An article in The Telegraph suggests that Woodman’s images are ‘…coloured by her suicide.’ However, I find myself disagreeing with this to an extent. Is it really plausible that Woodman had been predicting her end since age thirteen? Of course not. She was simply just a girl that was doing what she loved while exploring and learning more about herself and where she fitted in the world. On the other hand, I think that some of her work during the last few years of her life may have had some kind of warning to it. Some of the images Woodman took in Rhode Island between 1975 and 1978 are captioned with almost foreboding messages. For example, one image is captioned, ‘I stopped playing the piano.’ Assuming Woodman stopping playing through lack of interest could suggest the beginning of her depression as the early signs of such mental illness often includes a sudden lack of interest or enjoyment of activities that may have even been a person’s favourite thing to do.

Mary Ellen Mark: 378

In 1975, while photographing on the set of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, Mary Ellen Mark was given the opportunity to talk with the patients of Oregon State Hospital’s Ward 81. She returned a year later with writer, Karen Folger Jacobs. The pair spent 36 days on the ward. While known for her documentary style projects that have a clear narrative, Mark took a slightly different approach to how she presented her images from the ward. In an interview with American Photographer about her time on Ward 81, Mark said, “Instead of the 1-2-3-4 of a picture story, I was interested in doing pictures that would stand alone.” This is to perhaps represent the isolation of each patient, while also giving them a sense of individuality that they may not get on the ward. Ward 81 consists of a series of images that give an insight into the side of mental illness that people had never seen before in the 1970s. Jacobs wrote ‘At first glance, they could be almost any group of women in any institutional lounge or day room,’ (Folger Jacobs 1979:) and for the most part that was probably true. The lock ’em mentality of 70’s America was the main reason many of the women of Ward 81 were where they were and once they were institutionalized it was hard to introduce them back into society without seeing them return to the ward not long after. This is perhaps one of the reasons why Mark wanted to spend so much time with the patients while photographing them. She had always thought it vital to build a relationship with the people in her images so she could understand them. The image titled ‘300B-011-005’, perfectly captures the idea behind the project. It shows a girl sat on her bed. At first glance she could be considered a normal teenage girl with clothes that show more skin than her parents would like and posters and pictures above her bed that show the things she likes. That’s what you’re supposed to see first. However, you soon notice the cuts on her arms and the phrase ‘I wish to die,’ written on the wall. While on the ward, Mark recorded in total 4,800 images on 200 rolls of film.

My response: 329

I was heavily inspired by Woodman’s images, more so than by Mark’s work. I liked how Woodman made her images very personal by photographing herself and wanted to demonstrate the same thing for my images. Her surrealist take on mental illness was especially interesting for me because I thought it would be a good way to communicate the thoughts and emotions I felt when I was suffering. I was fascinated by Woodman’s portrayal of angels and the idea of weightlessness. I had always struggled with finding some sort of freedom from my feelings and could recall instances when, usually with my friends, I didn’t even think about how sad I had been or how I might that way again, it was as if nothing else mattered except that small moment of enjoyment and weightlessness. With this image I thought I showed this idea pretty well. While responding to Woodman, I decided that I would mimic some of her techniques including her use of long exposure. I used a shutter speed of two seconds and made small movements to create a blurred look. For this image I explored weightlessness by creating what could be considered wings by wearing a skirt around my shoulders and moving my arms gently up and down underneath it. Again, similarly to Woodman, I wanted to create a ghostly look to the image. To do this I not only implemented the blur created by the long exposure but also exposed the image further and increased the blacks to make the image appear more striking. My choice to blur the image had multiple purposes. The main purpose was to mimic Woodman’s exploration of lack of identity. I thought that this would work well with my images as it represents the invisibility often felt by people suffering from depression as well as the isolation I had felt. I think that I have responded well to Woodman’s ideas and it’s clear that I have taken inspiration from her work.

Conclusion: 183

To conclude, both Francesca Woodman and Mary Ellen Mark show a deep understanding of mental illness as demonstrated by their image. Woodman, while originally exploring identity has come to draw people to her work with her tragic story, but has continued to keep people interested whether that be by instigating theories on how her images relate to her death, her clear exploration of gender, identity and feminism or simply the darker, gothic surrealism displayed in every image. She demonstrates, for me, the thoughts and feeling behind depression and clearly used her creativity to give herself a release while giving the impression that she knew what was happening to her was not her fault. In comparison, Mark gives a meaningful insight into the women of Ward 81 by allowing herself to really get to know them and understand them on a personal level without tainting her opinion with their mental illness. Her book tells the story of those 36 days by showing all aspects of daily life without censorship and maintaining her integrity. This results in Mark presenting the women as just that, women.

Bibliography:

Bailey, R 1978, Mary Ellen Mark’s poignant scrapbook, American Photographer, viewed 11 February 2020, <http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/american%20photographer/911T-000-001.html>

Folger Jacobs, K. (1979), Ward 81. New York: Simon and Schuster

Mansurov, M 2019, The Importance of Ethics in Photography, photographylife, viewed 11 February 2020, <https://photographylife.com/the-importance-of-ethics-in-photography>

Salter,K 2012, Blurred genius: The photographs of Francesca Woodman, The Telegraph, viewed 11 February 2020, <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9279676/Blurred-genius-the-photographs-of-Francesca-Woodman.html>

change is inevitable

The physical dynamics of my photobook

I will be handmaking my own photobook, including the printing, editing, binding, text, and the overall assembly of the book.

For the book cover, I am using the shell of an old diary I kept a few years ago, which is sentimental and relevant to the topic of my book. Its roughly the size of an A6 sheet of paper, maybe slightly bigger as it has to house the A6 contents. Its also a hardback, with a textured red covering similar to a snakes skin.

Im planning to use my old dymo label maker, which used to be my moms when she was young, to create the title on the front of the book. I’m also planning to incorporate a simple photograph right in the middle aswell, creating a minimalistic but bold demeanour.

Both the front page and the back pages of the book will be thin, lightweight tracing paper to give the book an unclear, surreal opening and closing. Between each signet, which will only be 1 folded a5 page, I’ll bind in the smaller sheets of paper with the handwriting. I’m hoping that using a variety of differences sizes and types of paper will give the book less fluidity and structure, as I’m not showing my photographs in a linear order.

This is the layout of my photo book without any text (with the exception of the front cover and spine)

I guess this is the place where it all started, in Youghal, Ireland. This is where my mum grew up and spent most of her young life, and its still the family home today which houses my auntie and her two dogs.

I’ve been my most creative here.

I’ve been my most vulnerable here.

I’ve been my most happy here.

A wall in my bedroom. my bedroom. One of the few places where I feel creative and able to see things clearly.

This photograph was taken the evening my dad left the house, sometime in January of last year. It was a monumental occurrence that effected all lives involved in his movement, but mostly for the better rather than the worst. It relived the stress from all of us.

This Photograph was taken during one of my stays at the Jersey General Hospital in 2016, when I was the sickest I’d ever been. For this particular stay, I spent 2 months on bed rest, with the only view I had being out of one single window, overlooking the outskirts of town and out to the sea. During the start of my illness, I was convinced that there was nothing wrong with me, and because I thought there was nothing wrong, I didn’t see any point in getting better and committing to recovery. But deep down I knew there was a serious issue I had to face and acknowledge in order to keep living.

It was hard being cooped up in a hospital where real life was only occurring everywhere besides in the hospital. So I tried to find comfort and happiness in the little things I had access to; like the view out my window. It was the only thing that was close to real life that I could lose myself in.

my family had eyes but could not see the sickness which was controlling me. at the end of the day I knew I needed help but I was too deep in my own shit to be able to catch a breath and acknowledge how sick I was.

rolling my eyes because sometimes things change too quickly for my head to keep up with. Why can’t things slow down a bit. I know time is just a concept, but we are ruled by it with such vengeance.

I always seem to feel little fireflies buzzing round in my head. one evening it got too much and they started to emerge out of my eyes in an orderly fashion.

Hospital x2. same meaning different angle. featuring Stanley the rabbit who’s been with me since 24th September 2001.

A tree in the back yard in my family home in Ireland. Has always been there ever since I was a baby, but probably not for much longer as things tend to change.

A more practical approach to letting negative things go… try breathing them out. It doesn’t really work but its worth a go.

A second photograph taken on the night my dad left, except at a different angle.

A self portrait in my room. where everything that I need is there right in front of me.

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Biography

Simmons is an American filmmaker, photographer and artist born 1949. She is part of The Pictures Generation which includes Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger and Louise Lawler. She received a BFA from Tyler’s school of art in 1971. Her work tends to be feminist inspired and a social commentary on society’s view on women.

Analysis

This image is called ‘Woman Opening Refrigerator/ Milk to the Right,’ it’s from Simmon’s series Early Colour Interiors taken from 1978-79. This was during the second wave of feminist such as the take back the night campaign in 1976. Conceptually the doll is meant to represent the classic housewife which is given away by her outfit and hairstyle. She photographs this doll in multiple constructed scenes of her doing stereo-typically household chores.  The concept was to demonstrate the daily life of a housewife but also to illustrate the loneliness and isolation felt by some housewives. I think this is shown by the fact that in most of the images she is the only doll and using lighting and shadows. I think she intentionally kept those shadows in order to symbolise the darkness, isolation and emptiness some housewives feel. The focal point of the image is the doll in the center. She’s a walking stereotype. With the haircut, flowery dress and the whole kitchen mise-en-scene around her she’s a stereotypical housewife that Simmons grew up surrounded by.

Compared to Bright’s work, Simmons work doesn’t just focus on the subject, the doll, herself. She uses a wider aperture to capture the housewife doll’s ‘natural environment’ in order to get her message across. Whereas, Bright solely focus on the doll’s appearance. Their difference of subject makes sense. Simmon’s who is 70 would have grown up with vintage doll houses so it makes sense she’d focus on that. Bright is 53 so would have grown up with Barbie’s.

Narrative:

A paragraph:

My narrative is the story from the Perfect Fantasy to being awake and aware and pulling and from it and feeling acceptance. As a person I always feel like I have to be perfect, perfect being what the world around me tells me is thin enough and pretty enough. The narrative with represent my struggle to acceptance and to realise that this fantasy that’s been created by society is always going to be slightly out of reach and obtainable because it’s always changing.

A Sentence:

The struggle to overcome society’s expectations of beauty.

Three Words:

Dangerous beauty standards

Beauty expectations, unrealistic body expectations, Society

• How you want your book to look and feel– look like an old fairy tale book. Hard cover
• Paper and ink– normal paper
• Format, size and orientation-A5 portait
• Binding and cover- an image
  
• Title –
• Structure and architecture
• Design and layout– I want a mixture of double page layouts and just normal pages.
• Editing and sequencing– all my images from different shoots mixed up. more shocking images towards the end.
• Images and text– images with text

My Photobook

I chose to start the book with ‘the beginning’ and finish it with ‘the end’ in order for the book to seem like a story book which relates to innocence and childhood.

I changed the text from fancy to creepy to show the transition from childhood to womanhood and the mental and emotional transition between. Also the types of images shift as well.

Final Layout

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

The book has a sort of musty smell, almost mirroring the contents and obvious context thats being portrayed in the book. Initially, the book is weighty in hand, considering the average amount of pages it possesses

• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

Throughout the book medium to heavyweight paper is used, probably around 100 – 110 grams, and there is no change in this. It creates some form of structure, unlike the the book where the time frame of images jump from 1998 to 1995. Most, if not all, images are shot in coloured film with the majority having a slight cold colour undertone – perhaps it was the type of film used, perhaps she edited them or maybe it was the the surroundings fault that cause this to occur.

• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

The book is roughly A4 and portrait, although most images inside are landscape. It consists of 112 pages, with images both on the left and right hand side with handwritten subtexts and dates – very brief but effective.

• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello

case binding has been used, with around 2 dozen signets being bound together and combined with the hardback cover.

• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.

On the front of the hardback cover there is a solitary image bang in the middle, a portrait of Tara St Hill, an upcoming model at the time and who is the main feature in this photo book. Below the photograph there are handwritten words that write, “Corinne Day Diary”, which is the title. Although the text is handwritten, it has obviously been scanned onto a computer and been inserted digitally. This happens to be the same on the back of the book where she has written a short message predominantly directed towards her close friends, and signed it off with her name. Her handwriting is also prevalent on the back inside page where she has written a thank you, who it was edited by and the copyright and publishing text that goes along with any book that is published. In a way, Tara using her handwriting to write seemingly unimportant things such as copyright information could be seen as comical, but mostly it made me feel like I was almost snooping at her most private of creations. This creates a bond with the viewer from the very beginning

• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

Whilst the title is pretty relevant and obvious, “Corinne Day Diary”, the context of the book is soaked with an unconstrained aura of a poetic nature. There is no beating around the bush when it comes to the context of this book, as all images look unedited and somewhat candid, but at the same time Day manages to incorporate

• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

No doubt there is a narrative to this book, but it does not follow in the order of events which occurred. Day had given the impression of making her own narrative out of a group of photographs taken between 1990 and 1999. There is no linear sequence to these group of photos: they simply jump time frames on almost every page.

The word tableau is defined by The Oxford English Dictionary as, “a picture; a picturesque or graphic description,” and the word “vivant” is derived from the Latin word meaning “living.”

Tableux vivants originated in the medieval era. Actors would re-enact famous bible scenes during mass, this then evolved into actors creating live versions of famous paintings during the Renaissance era. These actors reacted paintings of Greuze, David and Isabey. Tableux viviant acting was also popular at weddings and other events. Tableux viviants became less popular in the early 19th century due to the realism movement. However, in the 20th century, actresses re-enacted nude classic paintings but then tableaux started to die out because of the invention of film, however, became popular within photography. In terms of photography, Jean-Francois Chevrier as the first to use tableaux in association which was during the 1970’s and 80’s. Photographer’s then began replicating famous paintings in constructing new meanings. Previously in my coursework, I studied Tableux viviants and reconstructed fairy tales with modern day twists. The difference with this project is that I won’t be doing it with real people but with dolls and doll house sets. 

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The Manniquin Challenge

The Mannequin Challenge was a viral internet trend that became popular in November 2016. It was a challenge where people would set up a scene and remain frozen whilst moving the camera films. The song “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd often playing in the background. It was a new form of tableaux viviant and became a trend causing thousands to get involved. Before film and camera killed tabeleaux viviant and made it unpopular and now it’s being used to explore it in a whole new way.