Shannon O’Donnell was born in Jersey. She has completed her BA(Hons) degree in documentary photography at the University of South Wales.

She looks at the theme of gender, focussing on femininity and masculinity as gender traits. She aims to question and challenge society and the traditional views of gender using her work. Lots of her work is influenced by artists such as: Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, Casa Susanna and Clare Rae. Shannon has done a range of projects, including: That’s Not The Way The River Flows, a film on identity. Here They Stood, focussing on the Suffragettes. Susan’s Sleep, about Shannon’s personal experiences and By Your Bedside, a series of images complimenting Susan’s Sleep.

Claude Cahun, who was born as Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob on October 25, 1894  was a French lesbian photographer, sculptor and writer. In 1917 Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun, inytentionally selecting a sexually ambiguuous name. Cahun is best known for self portraits. Cahun was a surrealist photographer whose work explored gender identity and the subconcious mind. She is considered a ground-breaking artist who fully embraced her gender fluidity long before the term came into use. Cahun settled in Jersey in 1937 after the fall of the France and German occupation of the Channel Islands. Cahun and her lifelong partner and stepsister Suzanne Malherbe used their creative talents to manipulate to manipulate and undermine the authority. Cahun and Malherbe were members of a wealthy publishing family from Nantes in France. They became propagandists, producing anti-german fliers. In 1944 they were arressted and sentenced to death however their sentences were not carried out as Jersey was liberated in 1945. Cahun died December 8, 1954 as her health never recovered from her treatment in jail. Her work left a huge impression on photography and directly inspired contemporary photographers, including Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.

A similarity between Shannon O’Donnell and Claude Cahun’s work is their ideas linking to gender. They do not conform to the stereotypes of society. Both artists use identity politics as part of their work, promoting their views on gender and how you can be whoever you choose. Gender should not define how you live in life. Both use self-portraiture to express their views in order to re-conceptualise gender.

‘Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie a Nigerian novelist is critical of modern masculinity, calling it a “hard, small cage” that forces men to hide emotion. “We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability,” she writes. “We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be, in Nigerian-speak – a hard man.”’ This supports Cahun and O’Donnel’s views on gender labels and shows how change is needed.

Shannon O’Donnell’s image above represents the struggles a woman faces. The position of the model in the center of the photo creates a focal point, with her stretched out trying to hold everything up. The stereotypes of women staying home and cleaning are represented with the heals symbolising how society perceive women. The use of black and white creates a serious tone, as it portrays a serious message. Similarly in Claude Cahun’s image below the use of black and white creates a serious tone. The mask represents society, hiding the true self. The mask being removed shows the break through as the model is not hiding behind it, but rather showing themself for who they are and being proud. This signifies the change being made, highlighting to society the importance of the ideas.

What I learnt from Personal Investigation

The first part of the ‘Personal Investigation’ we focused around Art and Activism. A majority of the study I did was centred around the Black Lives Matter movement and the Pandemic. I heavily explored restriction and repression which both events had a heavy influence in, the Black lives matter topic being centred towards abolshing the african amercian repression in the US, and the pandemic topic showing the impact of new restrictions and, essentially the new way of life we have all experinced this year. I finalised this series of work by exploring the question of ‘What makes an image iconic’, answering with my own attempt at creating an iconic image with the phrase ‘The New Normal’ in mind. The image I captured portarys a person standing in the centre of a busy street wearing a mask as everyone else walks on by.

Interpreting Love

On the topic of love, I produced a zine (a 16 page booklet) about my father, giving a brief insight into his life, both from the perspective of the last and the present, allowing for a comparison over the years whereby I took photos of archival imagery, (old photos of him as a toddler from the family album) and also taking photos of him in the present day, as well as objects (books/stamps etc) and places (houses where he grew up) all that have great significance to his personal story which is completely unique to him. The final product had an abstract feel as one the most important points I considered when producing the zine. This concluded to be quite effective as different people interpret the zine in different ways without an obvious and clear cut story line, A theme throughout was the idea that everyones relationship is different and that is what makes them special asking the question about what truly is love and what makes a relationship so unique.

Interpreting Rebellion

For the rebellion portion of the first part of the ‘Personal Study’ I focused the project around the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on teenagers, presenting the final project as a film. With the main focus on ‘Rebellion’ I took a stance representative of the rebellious nature of teenagers during the pandemic and the natural disregard for rules all of us have had to abide by the whole year. The film was set up into three sections, the first showing the ‘first lockdown’, the second showing the easing of restrictions over the summer and peoples want to socialise and party, then finishing off the film on a cliff hangar as it is announced once again we are going into a lockdown. The film was filmed from a U.K perspective not a Jersey one. I think the film is very effective as it shows a clear message about rebellion and how people as a whole struggle to follow rules, especially life changing ones. Additonally the audio in the film allowed me to create lots of subtle messages and really emphasize certain political and personal beliefs and opinions about events this year.

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MODERNISM

Key works:

Time period:

First half of 20th century

Key characteristics/ conventions :

• form, composition, medium, material, skills, techniques, process
• a desire for originality
• with object rather than subject and form rather than content

Artists associated:

• Ansel Adams
• Hannah Höch (1889-1978)
• Salvatore Dali (1904-1989)
• Man Ray (1890-1976)
• Maurice Tabard
• Claude Cahun (1894-1954)
• Pierre Molinier (1900-76)
• Gary Winogrand (1928-84)
• Andre Kertezh (1894-1985
• Franz Roh (1890-1965)
• Otto Steinart (1915-1978)
• Harry Callahan (1912-99)

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

• Fauvism, Primitivism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Neo-Plasticism, Surrealism, Spatialism, Abstract Expressionism, Social Realism, Straight Photography, Formalism

POST-MODERNISM

Key works:

Time period:

1970+

Key characteristics/ conventions :

• References to things outside of art e.g. political, cultural, social, historical, psychological issues
• make people aware of previously hidden agendas
• Works

Artists associated:

• Cindy Sherman
• Tom Hunter
• John Everett Millais
• Sam Taylor-Wood
• Jeff Wall
• Hannah Starkey
• Anna Gaskell
• David LaChapelle
• Thomas Demand
• Anne Hardy
• James Casebere
• Diane Arbus
• Gillian Wearing

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

• eclecticism, intertextuality, collaboration, pastiche, parody, recycling, reconfiguration, bricolage

Designing News Paper Spreads

Firstly to take stills of our movie we used the feature shown in the screen shot down below to select specific and key frames and save the stills.

I then was able to select this series of images to create a sequence, showing a simple over view of all the scenes and the general run of the film.

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Ryan Mcginley: The Kids were Alright

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Ryan McGinley is an American photographer, renowned for his self-published book ‘The Kids were Alright’, which depicts his hedonistic teenage years. It was published in 2017 and focuses on youth in the 90s and, more specifically, documenting himself and his group of friends as they explored themselves through experimentation with sexuality, drugs and other physical pleasures. The images were taken between 1998 and 2003, consisting of portraits, old polaroids and portraits of his group.

Mcginley was declared “the most important photographer in America.” in a 2014 GQ article. His work is applauded due to its themes of emancipation and indulgence. His images dissolve the anxiety surrounding adolescents’ consumption of illicit drugs and risky sex by presenting it as a vision of a free and rebellious alternative life. Mcginley achieved this by documenting his group’s debauched lifestyle. They were presented as grating and fearless individuals, hyper-focused on moments of pleasure. Their main focus was to carry out self-indulgence.

You can read more about Ryan Mcginley here

Photo Analysis

In Ryan Mcginley’s ‘Tree #3’, he presents how a group of people have embraced nature as a site of freedom, and in this particular piece, he captures a sense of gaiety and freedom. The individuals are completely nude and exposed, showcasing the vitality and vulnerability of humans in regards to nature’s grandeur and sublimity. It presents an expression of liberation and bliss in connection with nature, which is often an experience missed out on by many due to social expectations and the shame/embarrassment regarding nudity and public displays of bareness, despite it being our most natural form.

The raw setting of this image is highly impactful. The photo depicts a massive tree, which McGinley claims one of his subjects scaled during the process of the shoot. This inspired him, but he didn’t photograph it, however, as he felt that one person in a tree wasn’t an effective enough image. He returned the next day to clear out the branches in the tree, allowing for it to accommodate a larger group of individuals, which he felt would create a beautiful image. The photo has been taken from a low angle, with no visible ground within the frame. The effect of this gives an aspect of danger and recklessness, amplifying this sense of vulnerability. Additionally, the lack of placement and reasoning behind the nudity suggests a larger narrative, one which creates ambiguity and leaves the imagination up to the viewer.

Though Mcginley altered the tree and expressed what he wanted for the shoot, it is an arguably informal image. McGinley states that he cannot pose people for pictures, that ‘Everything has to be free…. I like to think of my photo shoots as happenings.’. He’s created a suitable environment for his subjects to experiment with. His image shows, in essence, the concept of the decisive moment, with the event itself being fleeting and spontaneous.

Nighttime and darkness often symbolise an absence of God’s presence and faith plays a huge part in McGinley’s work. Having studied religious art, Mcginley claims that Michelangelo’s ‘The creation of Adam’ had a huge impact on his photography. He states it was the first sighting he’d had of a naked man’s body. Michelangelo’s worship of the human body is reflected in McGinley’s portraits and particularly in this image. The juxtaposition between the deprivation of God (photographing at night), and this imagery of Adam (presented through nudity) creates a strong, almost ethereal image.

https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-ryan-mcginley/

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/21/ryan-mcginley-photographer-satan-brad-pitt-beyonce

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Jen Davis produced a body of work portraying issues surrounding beauty, identity and body image, by creating these beautiful images, using natural light and strong compositions. Davis, in an article states that photography is “the medium that I use to tell my story through life, an outlet for revealing my struggles”. her work is mainly based off of her own experiences and portrays these by reconstructing them. some of her other work consists of made up fantisies that she has relating to love, relationships and desires. jen davis describes the idea of ‘eleven years’ was to ” invite the viewer into the past eleven years of my private life, exploring the vulnerabilities that I carry associated with a life-long struggle with my body, feelings of isolation, the battle to recognize beauty, a quest for intimacy, and sense of acceptance through the camera’s eye. ‘eleven years’ was started in order for davis to reflect on her life and to tell her story of how she overcame her insecurities.

The light in this image is natural, which seeps through a gap and allows some light to shine on the face, illuminating the features. This aspect is truly beautiful and idyllic. It contrasts with the way that davis feels about herself and how society might view her. The colours are very subtle and plain. The image is framed nicely, and the face is just off centre which draws the viewers eye towards it. A question that is created by this image is one of, what is she thinking about? What is running through her mind during this image was being taken? Is she thinking about how she feels about herself? Is she reflecting on how she felt during a part of her life? This aspect is unknown to the viewer but is what makes the image so powerful. This aspect is under the interpretation of the viewer and the viewer only.

links

https://www.lightwork.org/archive/jen-davis/

https://clampart.com/2014/04/eleven-years/#thumbnails

https://clampart.com/2013/07/self-portraiture/#thumbnails

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lauren greenfield was a documentary photographer and filmmaker who explores the themes of self-esteem, lifestyles of teenagers, power of money and fame and plutocracy. in her project, girl culture, she photographed girls to “explore girls’ relationships to their bodies and the ways in which they use body projects to establish their identities.”. the photographs themselves were taken to investigate modern femininity. in, girl culture, she reveals the insecurities of the girls she is photographing by adding snippets of statements they have said relating to self-esteem. lauren greenfield describes herself as being interested in “sociological issues” and with each photograph she aims to” speak for the culture we live in.”. an article described greenfields topics as “very identifiable and relatable”, even though the photos were taken way before the author were born.

The colours in this image are bright and garish and relate to childhood, in the sense that children like to dress up in vivid colours. This links to greenfields subject matter in the sense that she is taking essentially taking pictures of young girls, however they feel they should act older to be liked. Overall the composition of the image is strong and the girls in the background frame the girl in the foreground, that greenfield has decided to focus more on. The question is why is this girl the focus of the image? is she in any way different to the others? On the face of it she looks the same, just a girl in her swimming costume? But maybe she has more insecurties than the rest? Or maybe she is fearless, unlike the rest? This aspect is under the interpretation of the viewer. In ‘girl culture’ lauren greenfield aimed to explore girls relationships with their bodies and this image shows just this. On observation you can see that some of the girls are wearing shorts over their swimming costumes, this connotates to a bad relationship with their body. However these girls look no older than 12, and this image creates the question of why the girls feel self conscious? Has society molded their brain into thinking this?

what?	portraits self portraits
who?	sister- in her gym kit myself- in my show gear
where?	at the gym at the yard
how?	camera on a tripod
why?	to show how society has made us dress a certain way in order to feel better about ourselves

Raised by Wolves

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Jim Goldberg is an American documentary photographer, who creates long-term and heavily weighted collaborations with overlooked, neglected or underground/outcasted populations. His work is politically charged, often questioning and investigating the “American Dream” and other relevant myths about class, status, and happiness.

Goldberg’s ‘Raised by wolves’ both documents and follows the lives of adolescent runaways living on the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles between 1987 and 1993. In creation of the project, Goldberg photographed and interviewed his teenage subjects, their social workers and the police. This adds dimension to the troubling picture of American street life and, adversely, Goldberg’s approach dives into the institutional culture surrounding street life.

Raised by Wolves’ narrative also highlights love and friendship as a key theme. The compassion Goldberg approached his subjects with revealed and reflected the kindness they showed each other, which is often overlooked and blocked out in the average person’s encounter with the destitute. The narrative is gripping, encouraging the reader to question, rather than to judge the lives of the homeless. It challenges the generalisations previously made about these homeless groups in America, in turn leaving the reader with questions about the survival of these teenagers, and what they might be motivated to survive for. This response leads to the questioning of the faults within America’s institutional society that resulted in the fateful lives of these adolescents.

http://cargocollective.com/danielshires/Reflections-on-Raised-by-Wolves