Statement Of Intent –

Write a statement of intent that clearly contexualises how you wish to develop your project further, including theme(s), subject-matter, artists and final outcome you aim to make; photobook or film.

The main aim of my personal investigation is to explore and represent different mental health issues that many people who struggle from them find hard to articulate or represent visually. Although I am to research and explore multiple mental health issues, I will mainly focus on anxiety and depression as these are two that have impacted me and many people I know. In order to express these ideas and representations, I am going to use a mix of documentary landscape photography as well as conceptual portraiture photography as I feel that these two different styles will complement and also juxtapose one another, creating a form of distortion and confusion to the narrative of my book, simulating a similar effect to that of these two mental health disorders. As well as this, I am also going to research some different literacy texts such as different poems to include as little monologues to go along side some images throughout the book, prompting and also describing the narrative.

Another theme that I wish to explore in this project is the juxtaposition between moods that these mental health issues can create. As some days may be exactly the same and some days may be durastically different, it is almost impossible to interpret how each one will effect the individual. – Some days are good and some days are bad. I believe that this is an important factor to represent as it shows how significant these small, yet happy moments or days are to a person who is struggling.

In terms of more technical plans, I am going to use my Canon camera for the majority of photoshoots as well as a tripod as this will allow for clear and concise images to be taken, though in order to incorporate multiple perspectives I will use different lenses and angles. My shoots will be taken in many different locations, with more subject-specific ones being centred in a studio like setting in order to enhance shadows, lighting and expression. In terms of medium, my final product will take the form of a photo-book as I feel this will allow viewers to have a more personal relation to/with the images and ideas, though I think that I might make a short-film of some of the key stills or extra images I take.

In relation to love and rebellion –

Mental Health problems such as anxiety and depression, can be explored in terms of love and rebellion due to the internal conflicts that one may struggle with. Although they are surrounded by those who care about them (love) they themselves cannot see this (rebellion).

who?	myself
what?	self portraits of me in clothes i wear for horseriding
where?	at the yard
how?	using my camera with a timer, on a tripod or proped up somewhere
why?	i want to take photos of myself in my horse riding clothes to add context for my book and film i want to take photos at the yard to gain some environmental photos as i would like some in my film and book

For my next project I wish to look at both themes, LOVE AND REBELLION together as I feel they intertwine and but also juxtapose each other. I want my project to display how I have rebelled the stereotypical life a teenage would have, going to parties etc. I have chosen to have a life which is dedicated to horses and my education. Having these focuses has meant that I have not experienced the same life as stereotypical teenager has. I feel I have rebelled, but anyone else looking into my life as an outsider would think that I haven’t, and have played my life safely. In a recent project, What Is Rebellion?, I explored what rebellion was and gave a personal response the question, stating that I haven’t lived at all. On reflection, I displayed this response incorrectly, if I look back now on my life, I haven’t experienced much, but then again I am only 18. My hobby has taken over my life, it is my passion, but it has meant that I have had to sacrifice many things. I also want to link in the idea that in the media are wanted to always be feminine. Although my hobby involves dirt, mud and pure determination, I am still feminine and enjoy dressing up and experimenting with my style. In my project want to further explore with make up and fashion to display my femininity.

I feel I am capable enough to make both a film and a photobook. My reasoning for doing both, is to show that I can make a film, with strong visuals including, landscapes, self portraits and audio that will contain my own thoughts. My photo book is going to contain stills from my film, even though this is very basic I am hoping that it will display my ideas in a simplistic way, which will be easy on the eye and can be interpreted by the viewer.

The photographers I am going to look at are Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, Shannon O’Donnell, Theo Gosselin, Jim Goldberg, Nick Waplington, Corrine Day, Lauren Greenfield, Jen Davis and Lyle Ashton Harris.

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Love

When it came to this half of my project I decided to choose a Love Story to do with my Dad and his love for music. I then made this into a zine to put the narrative together; I decided to lay it out as if the viewer was looking at the past and the present by adding archives from his previous gigs and places he travelled to and to his current position where he has his own music school and studio. I tried to link in the two photographers; Rinko Kawauchi and Francis Foot as my current photographer and archive photographer. I linked them by adding archives to my zine and by trying to represent hidden meaning and representation throughout each page e.g. Wabi Sabi. When I was planning my photoshoots for the zine, I was thinking that the different stages of my photo shoots will relate to different people, as some of the things that my Dad loves, someone else may be able to have the same passion and admiration; someone may be happy with someone they’re with and be happy with the life they’re living; someone may love a certain hobby; someone could be slowly finding a new love in their life, whether it’s a person or they find something they love as a hobby or something that brings them happiness in another way e.g. someone may love being surrounded by nature. These different things in life that my Dad loves will be shown in my photo shoots; music/guitars.

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Rebellion

The filming of certain clips could have gone a lot better as the camera was shaky at times but it added top the effect of how something bad was going to happen. Moreover, some shots were blurry although they didn’t appear blurry until using premier due to having to enlarge the video because it didn’t fit the frame properly. Furthermore, another improvement that could’ve been made is the amount of things we filmed for the life before lock down so the narrative was more clear but we ran out of time. We also went over the time limit of 90 seconds as we already tried to cut the movie down as much as possible but still tried to have a clear narrative at the same time.  Whilst editing I put a lot of small clips together to create a lot of effects and montages. Firstly I cut up my longer videos into shorter ones and put effects such as glitching in between to represent everyday life falling apart. I also faded in certain clips such as the beginning of the film and the beginning of lockdown to represent a change of events. Furthermore, I edited the shadows/saturations/contrast etc to make the film more vibrant and dull the places I wanted it to. I linked the more vibrant shots to the photographer Alex Prager who I mentioned in my film manifesto; he links to my film as he filmed colourful crowds in everyday life, just as I filmed everyday life at school as the more colourful part of the film. On the other hand, Theo McIness relates to the beginning of lockdown as he photographs people in masks and social distancing and edited them to be black and white; my way of linking him was making the sections in between the glitching black and white to show that lockdown was taking over. I also edited the sounds and music to make sure they were the right volume for each scene as certain things became louder, such as the clock, as the film went on. I also edited the videos of the clock as they were originally an hour; I managed to speed up the video to make a time lapse and made the clip around 14 seconds all together.

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Claude Cahuns work can be seen as political as she typically investigates and questions gender norms, both in her work and in her personal life. A quote from an article states that she ‘defied conventional ideals of beauty and femininity with her shaven head and male attire’, which would have been unheard of during the time period she had lived through and the household she was brought up in. During her life Cahun rebelled what was supposed to be normal, as women were told to dress like women in dresses and wear makeup, to look feminine, whereas she went against this and was different. I feel Claude Cahun is the epitome of rebellion. During WWII she and her lover, Moore, produced anti-German fliers and had placed them in soldiers’ pockets, on their chairs and in cigarette boxes for the soldiers to find. Their work was not only a political act but an act of their artistic views, to manipulate and undermine the authorities they hated. They were active resistance worker and propagandists. What they did was dangerous. Maybe Cahun actively rebelled to express her inner feelings and to make her feel free.  Another quote from another article describes Cahun perfectly, ‘actively working against suppression of liberty and freedom’.  

The lighting within this photograph is natural, as when this image was produced artificial lighting wasn’t very popular so wasn’t used often. However, the natural lighting has been carefully placed, in front of the face, so that it is illuminated. There is also light coming from above, which creates this glare over the mirror. This image is in black and white to allow for strong contrasts to be created. In the image there is also a strong tonal range, as it has dark blacks and bright whites. Some elements such as, the background and the table the mirror is on, looks 2D and flat, due to a lack of texture and shadowing. Whereas some elements such as, the mirror and the face, look 3D, due to intense shadowing and the glare from the lighting. The face is placed within the centre of the image, making the viewers eyes be instantly attracted to it. During the time this image was taken Cahun was living in Jersey, which was under occupation from the Germans. This image links to this time period as the face looks trapped within the mirror, similar to how people would have been feeling living in Jersey. This image also reflects how Cahun may have felt as a child growing up in a Judaism household and believing the things she did. 

Shannon O’Donnels work can be seen as political as she mainly centres her work around taboo subjects, such as gender norms, abortion, and women’s rights. In one of her films, which comprises of strong visuals, a spoken poem and interesting ambient sounds, That’s Not the Way the River Flows, O’Donnel investigates gender constructs, and what it is meant to be feminine, masculine and non-binary. This subject matter is not mention regularly in the media or in art as it sparks controversy and criticism, however O’Donnel still questions these themes and it almost as if she wants to start up controversy as then the matter will then be discussed. In a recent piece of work, The Cat and the Mice, Shannon O’Donnel investigates an all women political movement called the suffragettes and how they protested in order to gain the vote for women. To do this she went back to places of significance and photographed these places. She also took photographs of contemporary activists. In another piece of work, Abort Mission, O’Donnel, investigated abortion and how the church views this act. For this photobook, she took lots of images of women and those who protest for and against abortion.  

The lighting in this photograph is natural/daylight. It is very bright and allows all the aspects of the photograph to be seen clearly and with clarity. The white balance is natural, and there are no weird tinges of unnatural colours. The colours within this image are very basic and plain, which relates to the nature of the picture from SHANNON O’DONNELL from her series of photos from a period of time when her mum was in hospital. There is a lack of tonal range in this image, as there are mainly just white and light tones. This lightness relates to the clinical feeling within the hospital. The lack of dark tones may also connotate to how O’DONNELL felt during the time her mum was in hospital, positive and hopeful. Overall, the image is full, the layout however is simple and looks very aesthetically pleasing. All the objects are mainly centred around the middle of the image, which leads the eye towards the centre of the image. The shadow of light on the fall contrasts heavily with the solid bed photographed adjacent to it. 

Cahun and O’Donnels subject matter is fairly similar as they both look great detail into gender stereotypes and make interesting and eye catching images that make the viewer think and ponder their own feelings on the ideas the photos have displayed. Although Cahun lived and produced her work during the 1900’s she still creates very similar work with almost identical intentions to O’Donnel who is living in the 2000’s.  

In what way can the work of Claude Cahun and Shannon O’Donnell be considered political? 

Shannon O’Donnell is a young developing photographer who produces work based on gender roles. She believes that the way people dress, work and act should not be determined by their sex. Shannon explores this by producing photography to capture her views. This is seen in her photographic series “that’s not the way the river flows”. Shannon explores the idea that gender is at a turning point and is being re-conceptualised. She quotes “our experience of gender is changing, transforming from solely male and female to a multitude of subcategories”. The use of this phrase from Shannon is agreeing with the idea that Shannon’s work is political. She’s suggesting that the basic gender roles are changing. How is this political? Gender has been used by the government to decide who goes to war, who gets to retire at what age and who can work certain jobs! Although with great achievement from woman over the years battling for equal rights the government have more of an equal outlook, society still favours men. Men are seen to be big and strong and women are seen to be gentle caring souls. This idea that a man must act like a man and a woman must act like a woman just because of the genetics they were born with are absurd and Shannon explores this idea greatly. 

Shannon’s work portrays the same themes are the artist Claude Cahun. Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob in Nantes, she was the niece of an avant-garde writer Marcel Schwob and the great-niece of Orientalist David Léon Cahun. Her mother’s mental problems meant that she was brought up by her paternal grandmother, Mathilde Cahun. She began making photographic self-portraits as early as 1912, when she was 18 years old, and she continued taking images of herself through the 1930s. Around 1919 she settled on the pseudonym Claude Cahun, intentionally selecting a sexually ambiguous name. During the early 20s she settled in Paris with her lifelong partner and stepsister Suzanne Malherbe. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Malherbe (who adopted the pseudonym Marcel Moore) collaborated on various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages. She published articles and novels, notably in the periodical Mercure de France. Around 1922 she and Malherbe began holding artists’ salons at their home. Among the regulars who would attend were artists Henri Michaux and André Breton and literary entrepreneurs Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier. Cahun’s work encompassed writing, photography, and theatre. She is most remembered for her highly staged self-portraits and tableaux that incorporated the visual aesthetics of Surrealism. In 1937 Cahun settled in Jersey. Following the fall of France and the German occupation of Jersey and the other Channel Islands, they became active as propagandists. Fervently against war, the two worked extensively in producing anti-German fliers. Many were snippets from English-to-German translations of BBC reports on the Nazis’ crimes and insolence, which were pasted together to create rhythmic poems and harsh criticism. The couple then dressed up and attended many German military events in Jersey, strategically placing them in soldier’s pockets, on their chairs, etc. Also, fliers were inconspicuously crumpled up and thrown into cars and windows. Cahuns resistance efforts were not only political but artistic actions, using their creative talents to manipulate and undermine the authority which they despised. In many ways, Cahun’s life’s work was focused on undermining a certain authority, however her specific resistance fighting targeted a physically dangerous threat. In 1944 she was arrested and sentenced to death, but the sentences were never carried out. However, Cahun’s health never recovered from her treatment in jail, and she died in 1954. She is buried in St Brelade’s Church with Malherbe. Cahuns work is extremely political as it was breaking the law to entice soldiers to disobey the powerful figures in war. 

Although Shannon O’donnel used very different methods of spreading their views in photography their work can both be viewed as political. In some respects, Shannon and Claude can both be similar as they both published works as young adults and both challenged the roles of gender and emphasised the fact that society should not choose who can be who or who can wear what simply because of their sex. 

George Waller 

shannon o’donnel

claude cahun

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claude cahun was a french photographer, writer, and sculpture. cahun was born into a jewish family in 1894 and was called lucy renee mathlide schwob before taking on the pseudonym claude cahun in 1917. by the age of 4 cahuns mother was placed in a psychiatric ward, due to mental health issues and was taken care of by her grandmother. cahun began taking photographs in 1912. in 1912 cahun and partner, suzanne malherbe who was also known as marcel moore. both of them collaborated artistically and created many sculptures, photomontages and collages. cahuns work incorporates the aesthetic of surrealism and can be considered to be tableaux. they were best known for their self portraits. cahuns work is based around politics and personal issues and aimed to break the sterotypical views of gender roles. In their autobiography they wrote,  “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”. just before WWII, in 1937, both moore and cahun moved to jersey. during the WWII, claude cahun was an active resistance worker and propagdist, and did this by producing anti-german fliers. the couple even dressed up and attended german military events and placed their fliers in the soliders pockets. in 1944, both were arrested and sentenced to death, but due to the surrender of the war in 1945 this never took place.

analysis

The lighting within this photograph is natural, as when this image was produced artificial lighting wasn’t very popular so wasn’t used often. However the natural lighting has been carefully placed, in front of the face, so that it is illuminated. There is also light coming from above, which creates this glare over the mirror. This image is in black and white to allow for strong contrasts to be created. In the image there is also a strong tonal range, as it has dark blacks and bright whites. Some elements such as, the background and the table the mirror is on, looks 2D and flat, due to a lack of texture and shadowing. Whereas some elements such as, the mirror and the face, look 3D, due to intense shadowing and the glare from the lighting. The face is placed within the center of the image, making the viewers eyes be instantly attracted to it. During the time this image was taken Cahun was living in Jersey, which was under occupation from the Germans. This image links to this time period as the face looks trapped within the mirror, similar to how people would have been feeling living in Jersey. This image also reflects how Cahun may have felt as a child growing up in a Judaism household and believing the things she did.

points of comparison

• both investigate gender stereotypes
• both take interesting images that make the viewer think in detail and ponder their feelings
• both explore new ideas, eg gender
• cahun was living the 1930’s
• o’donnell is living in the 2000’s
• o’donnell also makes films
• cahun was an activist
• cahun also wrote and collaged