This image contrast between his parents wedding, which is meant to be the happiest day of they lives, and his mother alone on a beach, with no one but the memory of her husband, seems sentimental but also harsh. The layering of the images allow their lives to be to close but also so separate from each other which is how someone does feel during divorce. This image could be showing Fujii’s desire for his family to be whole again but as reviewer Alexander Strecker says it is merely “fragments of that which was” (Strecker, A). This book could be Fujii’s way of coping as the book is so personal and intimate. Strecker claims the book is a “reconstructed journal of this separation” (Strecker, A), however I believe rather than being a journalisms of the separation, I believe it is more like a journal of coping with the change. The book itself is broken, with a split in the centre, forever keeping his mum and dad separated, a tragic thought for those who know hat its like for parents to separate. The archive images used so frequently are almost a form of grounding. It is continually reminding a viewer of the past happiness making the separation and loss so much greater. The handmade fragile book really encompasses the fragility of life friendship and love.
To what extent does Surrealism create an unconscious representation of ones inner conflicts of identity and belonging?
In 1917 surrealism was first seen in the form of art through the work of Giorgio de Chirico, who illustrated average streets but through a hallucination perspective. His paintings were moving away from realism, instead of just capturing physically what was there he also created subjective meanings within his art. Andre Baton was the original inventor of surrealist concepts in 1924 through his written surrealist manifesto, where the he describes the movement as ‘the pure psychic automatism expressed in the real functionality of a person.’ (History.com editors 2017:1). Breton was saying that a surrealist artist must bypass any thoughts of rationality in order to gain automatism which is an act or idea achieved through the unconscious mind. Sigmund Freud may have not been an artist but his development and exploration into how the mind works was a large influence. This Little Hans study into dream analysis and phobias opened doors into the world of unconscious thoughts and desires, he uncovered areas in psychology and philosophy that hadn’t ever been discovered before due to the idea that is wasn’t ‘scientific’ research. Similarly, in surrealist work can be seen as ‘unscientific’ because it doesn’t follow a strict structure like realism once did, rather it used the unconscious mind as the force behind the influence.
Dadaism was an early stage of surrealism that commenced during World War I, its purpose was to ridicule the meaningless of the modern world. The whole concept was formed to deconstruct the definition of art by experimenting with different techniques, materials and mediums. Photo montage became popular through Dadaists such as Raoul Hausmann and his piece ‘The Art Critic’. The montage was used as a means of expressing political dissent. Other techniques were invented such as collage which is widely known today as assembling different elements to create a whole, Max Ernst famously created ‘ The Hat Makes the Man’. Cubomania is a form of collage where an image is cut into squares and reassembled randomly. This technique was invented by Romanian Surrealist artist Gherasim Luca. Surrealism began to emerge into photography through artists such as Maurice Tabard and Man Ray who explored automatic writing using techniques such as combination printing and double exposure. In the early 1920s, technology was developing rapidly and became of great interest to avant-garde artists due to its association with technology. Photography was beginning to become a chance for artists paradigms of vision and representation. The evolution of the camera worked in harmony with the movement from realism to surrealism, as technology modernized so did ideologies.
I took some archival images from photo albums, during times where I was too young to understand the complex nature of having divorce. I painted my finger tips with black ink and transferred it onto white paper, then I roughly cut them out. I placed my fingerprints on top of the faces in each image and took a photo. I wanted to include old photos as well as keeping my theme of lack of identity. I used the fingerprints to not only cover up the face but a metaphor for family. This concept is similar to my earlier blood photoshoot and how our family share genetics. In our modern day you can make a name for yourself, but it hasn’t always been like that. You weren’t judged based on your own image, you were judged based on your family, whether they were rich or poor.
Pultz, J.(1995).Photography And The Body.London:Weidendelf and Nicolson
Quote Inside Text:
“Documentary photograph is a picture of the living world captured by a photographer whose intention is to describe reality and transfer some important message or tell a story.”
—————– critic says “She was concerned with the female body’s representation in the media and in art.” (Pultz 1995:128-130) ——————-Comment/opinion of quote written above.
Essay Question- Is it possible for photography to capture moments in time objectively and truthfully?
Opening Quote- What are the differenced between reality, witness and point of view?”– Bright and Van Erp 2019:19
Introduction (250-500 words)- What is your area of study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? Will you be using photographs as a way of showing your idea? How will these aspects respond to their work and essay question?
My personal investigation looks into the development of my dance journey throughout the years from 2010. I specifically will be looking into the physical elements i still own such as objects, costumes and images in order to show my journey truthfully. This idea has come from looking into artists Diana Markosian, and Walker Evens who show a clearly their personal styles through their use in photography. Diana looks into archival imagery through her personal life to add emotion to ideas, where as Walker is a documentation photographer and uses the project ‘ let us praise famous men’ to showcase his style.
Paragraph One (500 words)- Historical/ Theoretical context within art, photog and visual culture relevant to your area of study, Make links to art movements
Realism and Straight Photography was first introduced in the 1840s and looks at producing imagery which displays life how it is. Artists who work within this area mostly focused on looking into cultural and social issues which were revenant within that time, helping to gain recognition to issues and showcase detailed images to exhibit real life. Artist Frederick Henry Evens and his project ‘A sea of a Step’ is known to distinctly present realism through the use of lighting and space. He uses symbolism of creating subjective perspectives while changing the reliability of art movement. Focusing more on documentary photography, artist Walker Evens uses portraiture to show lifestyle within an enviroment which can sometimes be shown as being accurate or inaccurate. This carries me to explore my own topic which is based on my own dance lifestyle and I left that using a small element of documentary photography within my project would be nessesary to capture my intended subject. Carrying on from this, Paul Strand took an interesting approach to photographing objects where he uses the ‘Macro Technique’ which shows clear focus on light and shadowing. This gives an idea as to how Strands work is seen and how his work causes a narrative which can illustrate how the art movement can be truthful.
Paragraph Two (500 words)- Analyse first photographer in relation to your essay question. Present/evaluate your own images and responses.
I will be analysing my chosen photographer Diana Maroksian and looking through her non-traditional way of photographing archival images. I feel as if her use of archival images adds an element of truth to her work and contrasts a stereotypical family, adding a sense of loneliness to her work. This particular emotion can be linked to the use of black and white edit which is typically used, creating more depth in the background of her work. To extend this, Maroksian had a particular project called ” Inventing my Father” which can be seen as portraying the truth behind her families upbringing, in particular how her mother left her father to move to California, not thinking on how the children would feel later on in life not being able to be brought with with a father figure. Adding to this, she cut the father out of all the images in the family album, adding separation. I feel as if this clearly shows an element of truth in her work and also shows that archival imagery is a successful way of representing how reality is.
Paragraph Three (500 words)- Analyse images which will help to represent your ideas and visions
This image shown above is from Markosian’s project ‘ Inventing my Father’ which explores her family history from when she was born to the time period where the project was published. The project is very emotional and focuses mostly on the images she has taken which don’t include a lot of editing, adding a raw approach to her work and showing it for how it originally was, adding an element of truth to her work. We can see in the image above that conceptually it seems as if there has been a disappearance of a family member, due to the size and build it looks like a male suggesting it is her father. The cut out also proposes that the father has either left or the mother has left him as a cut out is very drastic for precious family photographs. Carrying on from this, the cut out shows to the audience how important diana’s mother was to her, being her only adult influence throughout her life. Furthermore, the edit also carries a lot of emotion through it which is obvious to the audience, these emotions include emptiness, loneliness and pain. To contrast, the contextual approach to this particular image is said that this particular image shows Diana’s mothers heavy emotion which can be seen as being in pain as she cut out her husbands image from the family photograph after she left him to move to California after he had been dissapering for weeks on end and then showing up one day. The cut up also shows the loss of a family member and how he isnt ‘family’ anymore because of his unhealthy habits towards his loved ones. Technically, we don’t know whether this image has been taken with a camera because of the high quality phones which are used in this day and age. However, we can see that there has been artificial lighting used in taking the image because of shadowing.
Paragraph Four (500 Words)- Analyse second photographer in relation to your essay question. Present/evaluate your own images and responses.
Walker Evans most recognizable work is from his project ‘ Let us Now Praise Famous Men’ a series where he explores Alabama farmers during the Great Depression from portrait using a documentation style of photography. Looking into his portraiture, it is clear to see what the families have gone through and how they don’t know any different. He has stated that he enjoys to use editing as a large part of his image as it develops an image even if you are trying to prove a realistic point. Evans imagery has been described as “You can’t sniff the stink of the quilts in the Evans pictures” showing a positive response to his work and emphasis how he is accurate with representing his work in the way he is successful at capturing raw images through simplicity. Evans uses naturalistic lighting to capture his images and does not position the models, but photographs them in their typical element adding a sense of truthfulness and reality. Capturing the subject in their naturalistic environment allows a sense of authority to the images, adding emotion and a sense of sympathy.
For my independent bunker shoot, I decided to drive to Corbiere and photograph the German radio tower. It is part of the old German radio complex situated around the west coast of Jersey to assist in detecting allied ships within the Atlantic ocean that meets the west coast of the Island. the radio towers were also used to assist in co-coordinating aerial attacks upon allied fleets in the English Channel.
Today, the tower can be rented out as a luxury getaway destination, with 360 degree panoramic views of St Ouens bay and Corbiere lighthouse. Back in the occupation, this tower was a key asset in channel surveillance, and a nearby bunker system hosted multiple anti shipping and anti aircraft batterys to bolster the west coast defense.
Here are my images taken from my shoot. I went and shot my images around sunset as I wished to capture the sunset and experiment with the colours of the sunset, to almost reflect the end of an era, and to use the sunset as a metaphor to represent a promise of a tommorow, a promise that was fulfilled with the liberation of the Channel Islands.
Editing approach
For this image, I wanted to highlight vapor trails in the sky as well as emphasise the clouds in the background. To do this, I increased the clarity to +40 to make finer details stand out and I also adjusted the colour filters to make the colours of the sky and sunset much more prominent to create a dramatic colour palette.
With this image, I decided to deploy the same principles as the last image, Yet I adjusted the hue of the yellows and orange as well as the saturation filters to adjust the sunset to make it much more dramatic. I used a wide angle shot to get the full tower into perspective and utilise as much cloud as possible to further increase the dramatic effect given off by the image. I chose to take a wide angled shot to incorporate the bench looking out into the sunset, Using it essentially as a metaphor for reflection upon a time of upheavalFor this image I chose to photograph Corbiere lighthouse in the shadow of the radio tower, To highlight the sense of occupation. having the tower in close perspective and the lighthouse in the background helps to emphasize the idea of occupation and the domincance of the occupying forces upon the Channel Islandsin this image, I chose to have the lighthouse as the central feature of the image and incorporate the observation slits of the radio tower in the foreground to portray a sense of observation over the bay. i have altered the colour filters slightly in order to create a more vibrant image.With this Particular image, i chose to use the silhouette of the radio tower combined with the calming colours of the clouds to create a contrast between the occupation associated with the fortification and the liberty and freedom of clouds
Final Edits
Here are my final edits for this shoot
Overall, I am deeply satisfied with this image due to the vibrance and warmth of the colours on display, as it has been manipulated yet seems still realistic. The depth of the colours create a dramatic effect whilst maintaining an aesthetically pleasing look Within this image, I am pleased with how the tower is silhouetted against the dramatic colors of the sunset, Representing the idea that the scars of the occupation are still visible even to this day and that the fortifications are left as a constant reminder of the occupation of Jersey
With this image, I focused on capturing the texture of the clouds in the background as well as the iconic Corbiere lighthouse to create a dramatic effect and to also depict the idea of the fortifications still watching over the island landscape to this day. However, Now looking at the image, I find that I could crop the right hand side of the image slightly more in order to get rid of the sliver of blue backdrop present to create more of a framing effect, utilizing the radio tower to do just thisFor this close up shot of the observation slits, I wanted to emphasize the texture of the concrete structure and compare it to the softness of the clouds within the background and I find that I have achieved just this to provide a string textural focused contrast within the image, representative of the harshness of occupation in comparison to the comforting image of freedom and open skys With this image taken at the exact same location, I aimed to capture the drama of the sunset as well as the texture and formation of the clouds. In the mid left of the image, there is a seagull flying and I wanted to capture this particular image to use as a metaphor for liberation and freedom as the seagull flies free in an open sky
Born and raised in Hiroshima City. Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University of Arts with a BA in Art Film. He began photography work in Tokyo in 2006. His photographic works often deal with historical themes and memory lingering on in contemporary events.
Fujii’s project “Red String,” was highly inspired by his parents’ divorce, produced a hand-made limited edition photobook. Nominated for several awards, including the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards. The book has been named as one of the best photobooks of 2014 by contributors to numerous publications including TIME magazine.
” This work may be a personalized narrative for myself, but “family” is something that everyone has – a universal theme. There is nothing happier for me than if viewers can insert their own families and freely appreciate the work.”
Yoshikatsu Fujii
I chose to study Yoshikatsu Fujii I felt his images resonated with my experience of parents divorce and he manages to express similar feelings. I thought I would easily be able to use his images as inspiration and effectively respond. I enjoyed the minimal editing and simple montages with the incorporation of aesthetic images just to set the tone. Like him, I want the image content to be centre focus rather than the looks. The mix of colour and black and white, as well as the incorporation of old family photos really spoke to me and it was definitely something I wanted to include into my project.
Mateusz Sarello was born in 1978 in Warsaw. A Graduate from the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. He is the author of the book “Swell”
Swell is a story of a break-up and of unaccepted loneliness. About going back to the same places and memories that we can’t forget. At first, Sarello was doing a photographic documentary of the baltic sea, when he went through a break-up. His images (and the project itself) turned into a representation of the loneliness and sadness that follows.
“It is never easy to talk about love. There is banality and pretentiousness round every corner. There are, however, authors who can balance successfully on the border of beauty and kitsch. Mateusz Sarełło is certainly one of them.”
Dariusz Bochenek
I wanted to study Mateusz Sarello as I find the way he laid out his book (the broken spine and the ‘happier’ images first with a gap and the ‘sadder’ images after) and the images using flash interesting and a great way of creating disturbing feeling in a viewer.
My uncle recently gave me a pen drive full of old family photos and videos. As part of my project, I thought I would go through this pen drive and pick out some photos I thought would be effective in conveying the feeling I wanted from my project. Not only did I try to find as many photos of my parents together, but I thought I’d also include old ones of my whole family, as my sisters have moved out which also affects our family dynamic.
I plan to explore what life is like living with separated parents, one of which does not live in jersey, and document it. I will be looking at Mateusz Sarello with his project ‘swell’ and Yoshikatsu Fujii and ‘red string’ and responding to their images and creating my own concepts as these projects both are based around the theme I wish to study. I plan to use minimal editing and make the subject in my photos take the main focus. I will also be using old family photos to interweave into my project and be using them to inspire some of the photos I will take.
