While Francesca Woodman’s career may have been short lived, her work has become increasingly more popular since her death. At age 22, Woodman committed suicide. This has cast a darker shadow over her photographs and its difficult to view her work without relating it back to her mental illness.
Woodman’s images are mostly self-portraits. George Woodman, her father, told The Guardian, “She was concentrating on the picture. That was why she didn’t want people around. She didn’t want any distractions.” Woodman produced over 800 images, focusing on a surrealist approach and using long exposure to create a burred image that merges the subject with its background.
Image analysis:
Context/Concept:
Like most of Woodman’s images, this one plays on the idea of identity and a freedom from gravity. However, taken the year previous to her first suicide attempt, this image may also look at Woodman’s possible consideration of hanging as a means of taking one’s own life.
Visual:
This image shows Woodman dangling from a door frame. She wears only a shirt. In front of her is a chair. Woodman herself could be considered almost Christ-like as her pose is close to that forced upon Jesus during his crucifixion. Similar to her other works, the levitation suggests a further exploration of Woodman’s need for weightlessness. This need may have stemmed from Woodman’s metal illness and desire to escape her negative feelings.
The placement of the chair in the image suggests a further darker tone. A common form of suicide is by handing. When one hangs themselves they often kick a chair from under themselves. While the chair is this image has clearly not been kicked over, it does suggest that Woodman may have been considering the idea.
However, since this image was taken in 1978, two years before Woodman’s first and unsuccessful suicide attempt, it is unlikely that the image relates to suicide at all.
This is a series of images from my second photo shoot, which I have re-edited in a drastically different way. They have kept the visual noise and black bars, however they have now had black & white filters applied, with gradient overlays in the center points of the images, which was designed to look like a heat map/infrared camera.
How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?
“If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality?” (Bright and Van Erp 2019:17)
The notion of family is a subject that has been thoroughly explored by photographers such as Rita Puig-serra Costa and Diana Markosian. However, “when it comes to interpreting internal family dynamics, perspective is everything” (Hawarth,S. and Mclaney, S, 2016, 8). I believe each photographer portrays an either positive or negative view in regards to their personal relations, making it important to consider their point of view when deciding how much weight their narrative bears when showing the truth behind family dynamics. My personal study is focused on my family’s history; more specifically the story of both my parents and important events in their life which lead to me being where I am today. I have chosen to analyze Markosian because her project “Inventing My Father” contrasts directly with Costa’s study “Where Mimosa Bloom” which I will also be referring to throughout this essay. I like the way Markosian explores the absence of her father in her life in such a personal and raw way, which eventually leads to a reunion which she captured through images. The photographs along with the context she provides into her life, makes this project very interesting. Equally, I think the way Costa explores her family through the use of archival images and objects was effective as it really conveyed a sense of love and importance of family. I specifically loved how her entire project was an homage to her mother since carefully photographed objects paired with thoughtfully taken portraits further shows how fond she is of her family. These two photographers were particularly interesting to me as I felt I could personally relate to both bodies of work. Due to my portuguese heritage, family is a of great importance to me and is valued highly in my family’s culture. However, my parents choosing to separate also led to the lack of a parental figure in my life which will be included in the narrative I intend to tell. In this essay I will be discussing the notion of family and relationships, loss and hope in the works of both these artists.
Realism is the concept of capturing things in their natural element. This genre of photography is most useful when trying to capture something such as family history, as documentary photography allows us to be able to see someone’s real life situation through a photograph. Photographers such as Dorothea Lange and Paul Strand focused on documenting the effects of urbanization and industrialization on working class Americans. This was something very prominent at the time of this movement, as the great depression in 1929 left a lot of people struggling. We now see this type of photography as realism. I feel as if this movement fits in well with my personal study as it recognizes the importance of capturing raw, documentary style images which I think is necessary when exploring something as personal as a family’s history, especially involving immigration and the struggle surrounding that journey. Images of this sort are characterized by having a wide depth of field and having sharp focus which contradicts the pictorialist style. The move away from creating a painterly aesthetic ultimately opened the door to a more forensic approach but also one that is open to distortion, manipulation and the notion of narrative. This will ultimately depend on the agenda of the artist, their integrity and skill in delivering a message, story or sequence of events.
In the words of Martin Parr, “most family albums are a form of propaganda, where the family looks perfect and everyone is smiling” (Hawarth, s and Mclaney 2016, 7). Although to certain extent I believe this is true, Markosian goes against this idea as she uses a non-traditional method of exploring the family concept. Instead of portraying a sense of happiness and love, which is typically associated with family relationships, Markosian chooses a more raw and honest approach highlighting how she grew up without her father figure and turning that into the foundation that her project is built upon. In this context, I believe the words of John Tagg are appropriate as the view that “the camera is an instrument of evidence” (John Tagg:1988) perfectly demonstrates how Markosian’s work stands out amongst other artists exploring the same themes, since a certain truthfulness radiates from her images which goes against the dominating stereotype that every family is perfect, leading to a more contemporary output which appeals to modern day people.This view is put across quite skillfully and subtly through the use of black and white images which puts forward a sense of emptiness since the monotone theme is often associated with despair. This means that the audience will be able to feel a certain coldness and the lack of emotion, while also simultaneously feeling a surge of emotion through the scenes and objects depicted in the images leading to an interesting contrast that is highly effective throughout her work. The use of archival imagery is complementary to Markosian’s photography since by itself it would usually portray a sense of happiness, however with the context, it is instead replaced with a slight sense of resentment, especially the archival image showing her dad cut out of an image.
I believe the image above to be one of Markosian’s best not just due to its impeccable technicality, but also because it is rich in context. This image shows a suitcase belonging to her father containing things such as undelivered letters, newspaper clippings, and a shirt he was saving for her brother’s wedding. This image is in black and white making it more emotionally detached yet since the objects are sentimental it creates an interesting juxtaposition, as it shows the photographer is conflicted over her feelings.I believe Diana Markosian represents a modern wave of photography where beauty can be found in imperfections, and appreciated.
“where mimosa bloom” by Costa takes the completely opposite approach into the exploration of family culture. It becomes obvious that the entire project is very thoughtful and the audience can almost feel an overpowering sense of the love Costa has for her family. Although Costa focuses on the positiveness of relationships with family, I believe it is the underlying theme of her mother’s death which makes her work particularly stand out since it reinforces the view that “real families aren’t often idyllic” (Hawarth,S. and Mclaney, S, 2016, 7) , even though on the surface, her family circumstances appear favourable. While exploring important people, objects and places that play a significant role in her relationship with her mum, she alludes to her death in an ennobling way. This notion is put across carefully through many aspects throughout the book such as a light colour scheme which conveys a sense of delicacy through pastel shades and also the metaphorical link to mimosa, a tree that blooms bright, yellow flowers in Spring, in Barcelona, where Costa is from.
This image is one which perhaps conducts the most emotion. In this double page spread we see Costa clutching a premature bird in her hand. Costa said, “When she died, I felt like a bird whose mother had abandoned the nest. I had to learn how to fly on my own,”. The context in combination with the image depicts a real sense of vulnerability, conveyed through the bird, that Costa is feeling in relation to not having her mother anymore. I think that using the bird as a medium for her own feelings, further shows how much thought and care was taken into each image as this has deep metaphorical value. I think that Rita’s work is a more traditional way of portraying family as she utilises portraiture and archival objects in a positive way, while also showing feelings and emotions through metaphors. I believe Rita Puig-Serra’s work represents positive sentiments towards relationships giving an almost romantic representation of a typical family unit.This book exudes closeness and sentimentality, by showing a kind of poetic bond between her relatives. However, with the view that “photography is a system of visual editing” (John Szarkowski:1976), the possibility of work being refined and changed to reflect perfectionism could be high.
To conclude, both Markosian and Costa have created very emotional pieces of work based on their own personal family stories and journeys. Although we do get a sense of love from Markosian’s work, I believe this sentiment is often fighting against a feeling of hatred and resentment towards her father, whereas we purely get the feeling of love and closeness from Costa’s photo book with hint of sadness due to the loss of her mother. Costa’s photo book contains a very unique color palette containing light, delicate, pastel colors which is expected as her images are delicately framed and excrete fondness towards her family. On the other hand, Markosian’s body of work contains a lot of black and white images which shows that there is a lot of distance between her and the subject, yet all the things she photographs are of rich sentimental meaning to her. Both photographers also make use of archival images and objects, Costa utilises this to show a deep connection to her mother whereas due to the nature of Markosian’s work, her archival objects are used to show her father as being someone she is detached from.
Bibliography:
Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019). Photography Decoded. London: octopus Publishing House
Howarth, S. and McLaney, S. (2016). Family photography now. London: …….
Szarkowski, John (1976), William Eggleston’s Guide. New York & Cambridge, MA: The Museum of Modern Art & The MIT Press
Tagg, John (1988). The Burden of Representation. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan
What are the differences between reality, witness and point of view?
“What are the differences between reality, witness and point of view?”– Bright and Van Erp 2019:19
My personal investigation includes documentation of my own dance training and how it has developed over time. I first started dance training in 2010. My memories and experiences are often supported by images from the time, but can often be in contradicted too. In the essay I will aim to discuss the extent to which documentary photography and the notion of narrative actually portrays reality.
Walker Evans photographic series ‘Let us now praise famous men’ and Diana Markosian’s photographic series entitled ‘Inventing my father’ both explore reality, witness and point of view in quite different ways. Photographers may attempt to capture or create reality through the making of imagery, but it is the transference of this information to the audience which gives the work “life”. This is shown within Evans photographic series where he uses portraiture to represent raw emotions in farmers during the Great Depression. Looking into these photographs they are very simple and the topic of ‘reality’ is significant in his work, further showing that he is a witness in emotional times within the family photographed. Continuing, Marosians archival project can additionally be seen as showcasing as exploring reality within her family life, presenting a personal feel to the project without witnessing the early stages of her life.
Realism and Straight Photography was a responseto and rejection of, pictorialism in the early 20th Century, and presents life “how it is”. This area mostly focused on looking into cultural and social issues of the time, this was done through creating high quality images which are illusionistic. Additionally, this is a documentary style which focuses on real people in their natural situations. This genre was most useful when trying to capture family history as it allows us to be able to see someones real life situation through a photograph. Photographer Diana Markosian focused on this element within her work when documenting the effects her father not being in the family had on her. This was a prominent aspect during her life and I feel as if it fits well into my personal study as it recognises the importance of capturing moments in time. Evans is also a great example of this subject as he can be seen to use the documentation style within his projects such as ‘Let us now praise famous men’. Images within this area of study can be seen as contradicting the pictoralist style while using sharp focus to capture emotion and effects clearly.
Walker Evans is known as being one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. His sharp photographs of the harsh realities of life for specific groups and communities shows us clearly what we “need” to see, without being biased. We can also see he has authenticity within his work. 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. It is clear to see what the families have gone through and how they don’t know any different. He is accurate with representing his work in the way he is successful at capturing raw images through simplicity. Evans uses natural 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.
This image above is one of Evans most well known images, an image representing family lives and a sense of reality while showing truth during that time. We can see that the main subject of the image is a young boy who is sat on a what seems like old bed. Due to the black and white edit and contrast working together, it appears he is dirty while sitting in an also filthy and worn bed which can be seen from the thin mattress, also representing it was cheap. The bags under his eyes can be sign of tiredness or malnutrition, adding to the idea that the boy is in an unhygienic environment, causing stress. Looking into more detail, there is an old style of clothing which is worn which again can be seen as grubby. We do not know why his clothing is like this, but judging on the background of the image we can guess that is belongs to a working class family, further proposing that his family may work as farmers, a typical working class job in those days. The boy in the image is looking into the camera, suggesting that he may not know what the camera is, again repressing his class as he hasn’t seen luxury items like a camera. Furthermore, by looking at the boys face, it is noticeable that quite white in relation to other aspects of the image, this leads me to believe that a flash has been used to take the picture. Evans typical use of natural lighting can be seen as being used in this image from the deep shadowing on the right hand side of the image with an also brightly lit face.
Diana Markosian focuses on a non-traditional method in order to explore family concept as a way of showing personal exploration. Markosian can be seen to focus on emotion in her images where she focuses on the honest approach to her family instead of the. happiness and love which is what is typically seen in this type of photography. Her raw approach highlights how she grew up without her father which she uses as a basis towards her work. This is created through her use of archival images which are manipulated uniquely which I believe makes her work stand out. Due to using archival images in her work, this adds an element of truth to her work, helping to contrast to the stereotypical perfect family which puts a sense of emptiness into her work. Furthermore, this emotion can also be seen through the typical black and white effect which is associated with despair and creates a cold feeling within the audience. Markosian’s most well known project ‘Inventing my Father’, a project based on her mother leaving her father to move to California when Diana was seven years old. Diana had quoted “had no pictures of him, and over time forgot what he looked like”, inspiring her to later travelled back to Armenia to reconnect with the man she hadn’t’t had contact with for so long. For her mothers coping mechanism after moving away was cutting his image out of every photograph in the family album in order to forget about the life she had before California. She looked at these images as a way of coping with never knowing her father and decided to photograph and manipulate them to represent her documentation with finding her father one day. The images she took can be seen to be very raw and both truthful and untruthful at the same time. This allows for the audience to create their own interpretation of what the photos may convey. Carrying on from this, the truthfulness behind her images helps to show that archival imagery is a creative and efficient way of showing the past with black and white editing making it more emotionally detached. This represents that archival images can be a way to show the past truthfully and accurately at that point in time, concluding the investigation if this type of photograph can be seen as showing truth. Diana Markosian’s work clearly relates to my own because of the relation between archival imagery and us having our own idea behind the photographs.
Diana Markosian: “Inventing my Father”
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 emotional and focuses mostly on the images she has taken. There is a raw approach to her work with a sense 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. The size and build appears to be a male; suggesting it is her father. The cut out also proposes that the father has either left or the mother has left him. Cutting something out is very drastic for precious family photographs, quite definite in fact. Carrying on from this, the cut out shows 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. She cut out her husbands image from the family photograph after she left him to move to California after he had been dissappearing 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.
“Inventing my Father”
“Inventing my Father”
“Inventing my Father”
In my response to still-life photography, I captured fully focused images of memorable objects used in my dance performances/ sentimental objects which had an influence in my career. Through positioning and composition of my objects, I created imagery which showcased the important awards/ hair pieces which were a part of typical performances. The positioning of these objects added a sense of authority towards my background as I was able to use lighting and camera settings to create realistic images which showcased the truth. The artificial lighting with the high shutter speed allowed me to create sharp focused images which could be been clearly, showcasing the ‘still-life look’.
To conclude, both Markosian and Evans have created emotionally charged bodies of work based on their own point of view on personal family stories. I believe that within Markosians work she is fighting mixed emotions towards her father; although there is also a sense of love, where as we don’t see these elements within Evans work as it is not based on him or his family, but other families. Evans’ projects contains mainly black and white image, helping to add to the emotional context behind it, possibly representing depression and negativity. Drama is created with high contrast, striking lines, shapes and clear cropping techniques. Similarly, Markosian uses the same technique to show distance between the family. Both photographers also make use of using portraiture as their main way of representing emotion and force us to confront our own sensibilities, emotions and level of compassion.
Bibiography
Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019). Photography Decoded. London: octopus Publishing House
Pictorialismis an approach to photography that emphasizes the beauty of the subject matter along with tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. The time period it was popular was 1880s-1920s. One of its main conventions is the idea of making photos look like paintings.
Artists associated: Julia Margaret Cameron, Emerson, Kuhn, Henneburf, Watcek – the Vienna camera club. -The brotherhood of the linked ring. -Photo succession group. – Sally Mann
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Soft focus, manipulating images within darkroom, scratching and marking in darkroom, fuzzy imagery, Vaseline in front of lens . allegorical
REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
Realism is all about the ability to take images of things the way they are, there’s no making the image look like paintings or editing them. Realism became popular after Pictorialism wanting to challenge the art world and how photographers make photos look like paints. It became popular early 20th century.
Key characteristics/ conventions :Artists associated: Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Stieglitz, social reform, jacob riis, Dorothea lange
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Not blurring, real people, abstraction, social reform
Surrealism
Surrealism is all about unleashing the unconscious mind and they tend to have socio-political connotations because they also comment on politics and society. They tend to have a dream-like quality to them. Surrealism grew out of the World Wars in the early 20th century and Dadaism and abstractism.
The artist that I will be looking at is Charlie Clift.
Clift does take pictures with the topic of mental health, one particular piece of work which interested me the most was his work which he joined up with Kate Forrester to create the “Let’s Talk” campaign.
In this campaign, they would talk to people about their mental health and they would write up notes and keywords about what they heard. Forrester would then take the keywords from the conversation and write them/paint them on the models face ready for them to be photographed.
I feel that this is very powerful and very emotive piece of work. As the fears and the feelings that they have within are being shown to the world. The saying ‘a picture can show a thousand words’ with the photo literally showing words and the feelings of the model.
Clift used this style with famous and well known celebrities in a way to show that they have mental health issues as well, and (in my way of interpretation) to show people that it’s good to speak up and talk about your feelings and struggles, hence the title of the campaign in which the photos were used “Let’s Talk”
I really like the way that the use between the words and the model have been made, and I will be using this technique in one of my photo shoots, but I will be using male models and writing the simple and most used response which is used men are asked how they are doing mentally.
This is my final photobook design, without the added essay yet. I have decided to use a pretty simple layout with my images. I have started and ended with similar images, taken of the same thing. I have made some images small on some pages to emphasise the images on the other page or if they’re on their own on a page to create a break between larger sets of images or double page spread images.
I have also used a few double page spread images along with three quarter images. These are used because these are what I saw as the most important and the best of the images I have taken within the photoshoots.
With a few of the smaller images that are opposite larger full bleed images, I have added black backgrounds to carry over the contrast between the images and give a clear definition of where one image ends, due to the sky in most of the images being very white due to the time they were taken along with contrast and exposure settings making it seem whiter.
I have also added a couple of 3D maps of small bunkers within the photobook. I have used the black background around these again so that the white of the model in the center of the screen is a lot more visible and can’t be missed.
Lastly, I have added two sections of text within the photobook to separate off the images of each bunker, the text depicts the equipment within the bunkers during The Occupation.
Above is an online display presentation of my final photo-book. ‘A Flight of Imagination’ is my photographic book surrounding the narratives of some of the folklore tales in Jersey, Channel Islands. Some of the tales date back hundreds of years and still showcase themselves in ways to the residents and tourists of this island in todays society. The book includes landscapes of the sights surrounding the stories as well as staged tableaux photographs which I went out and produced in order to tell these tales in a way in which showcased them still inhabiting the areas of the island. I split the photo-book in two, focusing on one tale in the beginning of the book and then moving forward to the next as I feel this made the most sense. I began each story with a starting image, heading off and leading into the story, the use of text in my book helped to elevate the stories most I feel, as the photographs need context to help make the narrative make sense so the best way I felt to do this was tell the story throughout the photo-book. For the first story I mainly focused on the landscape that surrounds the tale of Devil’s Hole, as it is something that brings a lot of locals and tourism to this specific point, now having a pub and cliff walk around the hole itself, I tried to create and include a small amount of tableaux photographs in this section however focused heavily on the landscape area. For the second story in my photo-book I mainly used and focused on the staged photographs, taking myself out and putting models in specific costumes to create these photographs, I wanted to tell a specific narrative with these photographs, the story specifically, although also using text to help add context to the photographs I focused on moving from character to character to create the story and narrative with minimal words. The use of the disposable camera in this section I feel adds a different touch to the photographs, they have a mystical hue around them which I feel works well with the subject of the story in telling it. I chose to have my impactful or important photographs larger and on double page or 3/4 page spreads as this makes them stand apart from the others. I decided to use some of the physical prints into the book to add a different effect to showcase the idea of these tales still being really in the island, to have them captured ‘on camera’ makes them seem more real and there I feel. I have ended my second story on a strip of negatives from the disposable camera to add a human, realistic touch, while displaying a subject which does not seem all that real. The essay, my personal investigation, found at the end of the photo-book, gives some context and insight to the lengths and extent that these images are influenced and derive from stories. I chose to place this at the back of my photo-book as I feel it helps to add some substance to my images more, it gives context into the idea of staged and tableaux photography and the idea of fact and fiction and where the lines are blurring of what separate individual people believe and how this also effects the outcome. This design has gone through many experimentation and trials to find the best way to produce and display the photographs, I believe I have successfully been able to produce what I aimed to of a book which displays the idea of stories and folklore tales occupying the island of Jersey, Channel Islands, I feel it has a clear narrative and I have been able to produce photographs that work well together and flow to clearing show meaning and narrative discussion.
How has children’s stories and literature influenced the work of Anna Gaskell and Julia Margaret Cameron?
“…these artists incorporated elements of fantasy, artifice and make-believe into their work.” (Bright . S, 2005 : 78)
Traditionally, throughout the 20th century photography was cantered around capturing the decisive moment, however, we have come to explore the notion of creating this ‘decisive moment’ artificially, constructing scenes made for only the purpose of photography. Tableaux photographs have been made from the beginning of the medium, although Staged Photography emerged as its own known genre in the 1980’s; both ideas involve composing a scene much like a painting, borrowing elements from Pictorialism. Anna Gaskell creates ominous photographs of women, taking themes from literature and children’s’ stories, generating a dream-like narrative in her work. I chose to look at Gaskell due to her staged and tableaux approaches and how she uses her influences to warp them into her own narratives and blurring the lines between fact and fiction. I am going to review the extent to which stories and literature has influenced her work using her imagery for Wonder (1996-97) influenced by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and Hide(1998) influenced by Brother’s Grimm tale The Magic Donkey. In my own work I intent to explore the stories of the myths and folklore based in my home of Jersey, an island in the Channel Islands Archipelago. Using Gaskell as my influence to explore the notions of the boundaries of a narrative from a literary influence in the visual work and representations of female characters in children’s literature. I plan to explore the narratives with the legendary folktales using tableaux approach set in the real landscape of the island.
‘Hide’, Anna Gaskell
‘Untitled Film’, Cindy Sherman
Historical Context
The shift from photography being used to produce purely scientific and representational images happened from the 1850s onwards when advocates such as English painter William John Newton suggested that photography could also be artistic. Although initially originating in Britain, Pictorialism spread to be a worldwide movement in photography, seen as the first international art movement in photography. Despite it’s important role in photographic history according to David Bates, Pictorialism is still shown in negative terms due to ‘attracting little or no contemporary critical discussion’ (Bates. D, 2015 : 31), being dominated heavily by imagery of pious sentiment and romantic metaphor. Pictorialism requires time from the viewer due to its use of narrative as well as an understanding of the language of film and culture. In an chapter of ‘Art Photography Now’ this is described to be ‘the mise-en-scene and the dramatic lighting all borrow from the filmic tradition and share seductive qualities of the silver screen’ (Bright. S, 2005 : 78). Pictorialism began to rely heavily on narrative and like Bright discusses, share qualities and traits with the silver screen, some contemporary artists that used this idea is Cindy Sherman who took a post-modern approach in referencing specific cinematic tropes to generate parody and pastiche. Narrative photography, however, relies also on vital sources that veer away from cinema, such as painting, fashion, theatre and literature. Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron referenced popular poems and literature in her photography in elaborate ‘tableaux vivants’, one example of this is Margaret Cameron’s Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty, where an asserting model stares directly down the middle of the camera, due to this she is also looking directly towards the viewer as she fills the frame of the photograph, this image takes its title from John Milton’s poem L’Allegro, a celebration of life’s pleasures.
‘Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty’, Julia Margaret Cameron
‘Untitled #47’, Wonder, Anna Gaskell
Anna Gaskell
Anna Gaskell is a contemporary American artist known for creating contemporary work exploring themes from literature and children’s stories. Gaskell creates ominous images of women that nod to familiar or historic narratives. She explains her process of an attempt “to combine fiction, fact, and my own personal mishmash of life into something new… “(Cascone.S 2017), Gaskell is creating imagery by merging together reality, fiction and her own personal touches of the two warping and blurring the lines between the well-known stories and her own interpretation on them. Creating photographs that depict narratives from literature, Gaskell takes her influences and translates them into her own, stretching the boundaries of the narrative of the stories and literature that has influenced her work. Gaskell’s work dips into the tradition of Pictorialism, using tableaux methods to generate her photographs. Gaskell’s photo series “Wonder” is influenced off Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the work is produced off the back of the idea of isolating dramatic moments from the larger plots. The photographs are staged and planned in the style of ‘narrative photography’, the scenes are artificial, produced and only exist to be photographed.
‘Hide, Anna Gaskell
‘Hide’, Anna Gaskell
I have chosen to look closer at ‘Untitled #47’ from Anna Gaskell’s series Wonder, the photograph depicts two young girls both dressed identically interacting with each other with a sense of urgency, one towering over the other holding their neck and nose. Although interacting with each other they do not represent individuals, but instead, act out the contradictions and desires of a single psyche, Gaskell’s use of twins for the representation of Alice builds a connection and visual link of identicalness for in which we know they are being represented together rather than individually, while their unity is represented by their identical clothing and looks. Gaskell has staged the photographs to create her own striking visual reinterpretation of Wonderland through the moments of Alice’s physical transformation, the mysterious and often cruel rituals they act out upon each other may be metaphors for disorientation and mental illness. Gaskell’s work has no clear beginning or end containing ambiguous narratives, adding to the emphasis of the unknown and disorientation. This idea is striking in comparison to Alice in Wonderland as the narrative can be originally taken as Alice’s own dreams taken from stories, the character collectively evoked is Alice, perhaps lost in the Wonderland of her own mind, unable to determine whether the bizarre things happening to her are real or the result of her imagination. Gaskell has created a alternative narrative one in which the audience is familiar with, generating a post-modern effect of a simulacra to entice her audience.
In comparison to her series Wonder it is clear Gaskell has been influenced by other stories and pieces of literature which is clear to see in her later series Hide based off Brothers’ Grimm tale The Magic Donkey, this series has been suggested to be her most radical and abstract to date, the title of the series can be linked in reference to the children’s game ‘hide and seek’. In this series Gaskell has again cast young girls as her forefront protagonists, placing them in photographs that emit a sense of nightmarish foreboding and thinly veiled violence. Gaskell’s reference to the Brother’s Grimm story is brought out in the sense of anxiety that she creates with the dramatic lighting and camera angles.
‘Wonder’, Anna Gaskell
‘Im Garten’, Julia Margaret Cameron
Anna Gaskell and Margaret Cameron both have been inspired by that of Lewis Carroll, equally from his literature and his photography. With almost over 100 years difference between the two photographs they have contrasting ways in which they use staged Pictorialism photography. Gaskell has taken on the darker side of the literary influences, taking a high contrast, menacing point of view in her photographs, whereas Cameron’s photographs are lighter and less intense, the figures in Cameron’s imagery show a sweet and kind aura compared to the sinister persona’s depicted in Gaskell’s imagery. Fairy-tales can often be gruesome, Brother’s Grimm tales were never often sweet and innocent, but rather threatening and perverse, Gaskell has explored this side of fairy-tales in her work rather than a ‘cinematic’ ending. Films and cinema commonly end on a high, Cameron’s work could be seen as taking this pleasant side of literature into account in her photography.
In my own work I explored tableaux techniques as responses to the folklore of Jersey. Using the landscapes of the island where the stories are set I planned my photoshoots to include stage tableaux photographs as well as landscape imagery to represent the legends. While planning my shoots I researched the individual stories, using the documentation, The Channel Island: Les Petits Faîtchieaux, I was able to develop the fairytales of Jersey. The fairies are strongly associated with prehistoric sights; MacCulloch, art historian and academic, notes it was best believed that the fairies inhibited the island before the people who are here now and ‘that the cromlechs were erected by them for dwelling places’ (MacCulloch : 2). It is said people who interfered with the ancient sights would be punished by the fairies. One tale tells of Mr Hocart who broke up the ancient One tale tells of Mr Hocart who broke up the ancient stones of La Roque Qui Sonne for building material who soon after became cursed. Tales are also told of men being blinded by the fairies for disrupting the lands and sights. From tales like this I began to take a cinematic approach to my photographs, having my models staging the tales in chronological order of a story, adding a narrative to the photographs. I edited my photographs so that the colours were enhanced and higher contrast. I did this to add to the other-worldly type effect to enhance the idea of these being folklore and alienated from reality.
‘Beatrice’, Julia Margaret Cameron
‘Wonder’, Anna Gaskell
My own work has similar attributes to Anna Gaskell’s work and slightly contrast with that of Margaret Cameron’s. I have also chosen to take on a slightly darker side of the fairy-tale with looking at the side of the story that includes curses and the act of blinding. This links to Gaskell’s work which also takes on a darker approach to stories, as well as using the cinematic style of mid-action (photographs compared to Cameron’s images which generally showcase still, gentle figures.) Taking the idea of stillness, I also produced portraits of my models surrounded with a sense of tranquility. I felt this added effect to my narratives to have them posed still and silent juxtaposing my other images. I have connected more to Gaskell’s work with creating a sinister sense of suspense through my photographs with the use of cinematic shots as well as the angles and mise-en-scene I have used.
To conclude, literature has had a large effect on Anna Gaskell as well as Julia Margaret Cameron which has in turn influenced me. Both photographers have taken on two different approaches to interpreting children’s stories and literature, while staying connected by taking on conventions of Pictorialism using tableaux staged photography. Gaskell takes the approach of the darker, more menacing approach, with Cameron representing the lighter, softer side of the stories. Both represent and visually show their influences from literature but in two different ways. In my own work I have also used staged photographs, mixing in the menacing side of the Jersey folklore with the bright high contrast colours adding an alienation to the photographs in order to separate them from the daily life that rests in the landscapes today.
Here I have my final layouts for the print work I produced at the end of the personal investigation in relation to Occupation and Liberation. I chose and finalised on the specific layouts I did as I feel they all enhance and showcase the work well. Choosing to single out one large photograph against the black I feel works well with the particular image due to the colours and the forms in the image works well by itself as I do not have many like it. For my other photographs I chose them together as they work well in a sequence, telling a narrative together to create a larger picture to take from.
