George Carteret Statue – Sir George was a prominent investor in the Company of Royal Adventurers in Africa, which dealt in slaves as well as gold and ivory; owning over 12,000 slaves.
The former Constable of St Peter, John Refault, stated that ‘protesters were wrongly trying to impose today’s values on historical events.’ However, the links that George Carteret had with slavery and racism, although they may have been ‘the norm’ for that time period, only serves as a reminder for the terrible history, actions and consequences that racism still creates today. As a form of protest against this statue, and the many others like it, many have ‘vandalised’ them due to what they stand for or represent.
A Russian artist who primarily focused in photography, topography, design and architecture.
He helped develop suprematism, an art movement focused on basic geometric forms painted in a limited range of colours, for the soviet union.
He greatly influenced the constructivist movement which was abstract and austere art, aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space.
El Lissitzky began his career illustrating Yiddish children’s books in an attempt to promote Jewish culture in Russia
In 1921 when he took up a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to Weimar Germany.
On his deathbed in 1941 he produced one of his last works – a Soviet Propaganda poster rallying the people to construct more tanks for the fight against Nazi Germany.
“Black women’s heads of hair are galaxies unto themselves, solar systems, moonscapes, volcanic interiors.”- Elizabeth Alexander.
Using advertising photographs of black women (and men) drawn from vintage issues of Ebony and Jet magazines, the exquisite and thought-provoking collages of world-renowned artist Lorna Simpson explore the richly nuanced language of hair. Surreal coiffures made from colorful ink washes, striking geological formations from old textbooks, and other unexpected forms and objects adorn the models to mesmerizingly beautiful effect.
born August 13, 1960, is an African-American photographer and multimedia artist. She made her name in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as Guarded Conditions and Square Deal.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Simpson was showing work through solo exhibitions all over the country, and her name was synonymous with photo-text artworks. In her early work around the 80s and 90s, she tries to portray African American women in a way that is not derogatory or actual representations of the women portrayed.
Her works have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She is best known for her photo-text installations, photo collages, and films.
Prior to receiving her BFA, Simpson traveled to Europe, Africa, and the United States where she further developed her skills through documentary photography.
Simpson sets two women side-by-side; a household servant from 1860 and a wealthy homeowner from 1960. allowing parallel and haunting relationships to be drawn.
She commented, “I do not appear in any of my work. I think maybe there are elements to it and moments to it that I use from my own personal experience, but that, in and of itself, is not so important as what the work is trying to say about either the way we interpret experience or the way we interpret things about identity.”
Khadija Mohammad Saye (30 July 1992 – 14 June 2017), also known as Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, was a Gambian–British photographer. Her photography explored her Gambian–British identity and was exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2017. Saye died in the Grenfell Tower fire.
An iconic image can be defined as a photo that represents a specific event or location, that has a strong emotional impact for people in a certain era, place or within a particular culture. The features that make an image iconic are widely debated, from ‘right place, right time’ to colour, context or props involved when taking the photo. I plan to explore the two key iconic images: ‘Guerrillero Heroico‘ by Alberto Korda and ‘The Falling Man’ taken by Richard Drew.
Alberto Korda’s image of Che Guevara (titled as ‘Guerrillero Heroico‘) is a prime example of a photo that would be considered ‘iconic’. It’s had an impressive impact across the world, initially representing the Cuban revolution and Marxism but he later became an icon for capitalism. There are many factors that drove Korda’s image to the global impression it had.
The photo was originally taken at the funeral for the victims of the La Coubre explosion in Cuba, where 75-100 individuals died as a result of a freight ship exploding (containing grenades and ammunition), which Fidel Castro charged as an ‘act of sabotage’ by the United States.
Che Guevara is reported to have driven to the scene of the explosion that day to attend to the injured, giving medical attention to crew members, armed forces personnel, and dock workers who had been hurt.
The context of the image itself shows Che’s courage and patriotic nature. However, over time, the photo has become detached from its original context, in turn diluting the photo’s substance and meaning; yet the image still works as a graphic icon. Why? Firstly, Korda’s image is a candid portrait, meaning the image portrays Che Guevara completely naturally, fully capturing the impressive force and anger in his expression. In addition to this, Korda used a low camera angle to make his subject look like a great and powerful leader.
He then cropped the image, so his subject was the only focus in the frame. It is argued that the strength of Korda’s image would have been radically reduced if he used the full-frame, as the presence of Jorge Masetti (pictured on the left) and a palm tree on the right diverts the eye away from his subject.
Had Korda kept Masetti in the frame, Guevara may not have become the global icon he is today. Besides shifting the focus of the image, the presence of Masetti holds political meaning. His code name was “Segundo Sombra“, in reference to the Argentine Gauchos (solitary, hard-riding, hard-living, freedom-loving men) who were reputed to be brave and unruly. Members of the guerrilla army stated that:
“Masetti was known simply as Segundo, or #2, though for us he was really our first and only commander.”
Federico Méndez, survivor of the Guerilla army
Therefore, if Masetti was present in the image, he may have held more political power than Guevara, in turn abolishing the intensity and force held by him in the cropped photo.
The process as to how Korda’s image become a timeless image of hope began after the murder of Che Guevara himself. After he died in Bolivia, the irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick created a stylished poster of Korda’s image (‘Viva Che’), with strong red tones that helped to seal Guevara’s iconic status as a powerful anti-establishment symbol.
Richard Drew’s photograph of ‘The falling man’ from the September 11th attacks at the World Trade center is another example of an iconic image.
It depicts a man falling from the world trade center after a terrorist attack left hundreds of civilians trapped in the burning building with two options: to stay in the building and burn to death, or to jump from the building to end their life.
The image shows one of these two decisions, magnifying and amplifying the severity of this decision that many had made that same day.
The image itself encapsulates and represents all the 9/11 jumpers who chose to leap. It has become incentive for introspection for those who had watched the tragedy from afar posing the question: “Given the choice, or perhaps lack thereof, what would you have done that day?”. It had a huge impact on everyone that saw it. Drew’s image had made it to the front pages of newspapers and countless online articles. Although, it received heavy criticism, with many arguing that the image is too gruesome to have been published so publicly and to so great of an extent.
However, seeing as it is almost two decades since the event, Drew hopes that “The Falling Man” can be more widely accepted, as it is no longer a horrifying and distressing images of one man’s decision that day. but rather it has become a quiet reminder of the fate of hundreds.
