Colonialism and its history

“Colonialism is defined as “control by one power over a dependent area or people.” It occurs when one nation subjugates another, conquering its population and exploiting it, often while forcing its own language and cultural values upon its people. By around 1914, a huge majority of the world’s nations had been colonised by Europeans. The concept of colonialism is closely linked to that of imperialism, which is the policy or ethos of using power and influence to control another nation or people that underlies colonialism.” –https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/topics/reference/colonialism/

The Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas, by slave traders. Through the 16th to the 19th centuries, The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, to move the slaves. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported where people from central and West Africa. This global slave trade, which included European countries such as Portugal and Britain, transported between 10 million and 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, to be sold as workers for cotton, Tobacco and sugar farms.

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Probably around a few hundred thousand Africans were transported to the Americas before 1600. however, in the 17th century, demand for slave labour increased sharply with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and tobacco plantations in regions of North America. The largest numbers of slaves were taken to the Americas within the 18th century, when, according to historians’ estimates, almost three-fifths of the total volume of the transatlantic slave trade took place.

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ENSLAVEMENT AND RACISM

The slave trade had an immense effect on the people of Africa, promoting an atmosphere of lawlessness and violence, with many people holding a constant fear of captivity. With that, depopulation made economic and agricultural development almost impossible in western Africa. Africa’s loss of population and potential population was one of the major factors leading to economic underdevelopment. The trade also created conditions for the subsequent colonialism of Africa by the Europeans. Resources that were taken from Africa contributed to the capitalist development as therefor the wealth of Europe and other countries. The unequal relationship between the continents started by the enslavement of africans, was justified by racism and the fact that whites where naturally superior.

Its estimates that just over 11 million people where transported during the transatlantic slave trade, however, of those slaves, fewer than 9.6 million survived the middle passage journey across the Atlantic, due to the unlawful violence suppression of any on-board resistance. As well as this, others who were enslaved in the African interior also died along the journey to the coast. This would be the greatest forced migration of a human population in history.

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Racism; noun

“A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.” –https://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism#:~:text=noun,is%20inferior%20to%20the%20others.

Racism has existed through history, having an effect on different races, skin colours, ethnicities , languages and cultures. Although it isn’t always shown through words and slurs, but also actions too, leaving people feeling helpless. this attitude many people harvest within them has had an effect on many workplaces and industries, such as the fashion, music and beauty industry, as well as many others.

THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT

“I can’t breathe” – George Floyd

Since that day, The black lives matter movement has spread worldwide to make people aware of the injustice of police violence in America, focusing on black Americans brutalised or killed by law enforcement officers, who rarely face consequences for their actions. The death of George Floyd has had a huge impact on the people living in the US, with many people of all races and ethnicities rising up against the police to get justice for the many victims of unnecessary police violence. Many of the riots held in America were peaceful, however, some progressed into more violent ones, leading officers to use tear gas, and rubber bullets to contain the crowds.

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People worldwide have been sharing stories of other people like George Floyd, who have been brutally attacked by police forces for no strong reason. Information and awareness for other people affected have been shared on Social media; instagram, twitter, facebook etc. One hashtag in particular is the #SayTheirNames campaign . It encourages social media users to share the names of victims of police brutality. The campaign includes taking and sharing the incidents that killed them and to focus on their individual humanity and use their names.

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KNOW THEIR NAMES:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj13IqxwKbqAhWQz4UKHfZgD2kQFjAAegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Finteractive.aljazeera.com%2Faje%2F2020%2Fknow-their-names%2Findex.html&usg=AOvVaw3EulPZunMbeZSqtcjnXtHU

EDITING IMAGES:

The high contrast between the black and white I used to edit my photographs was inspired by Ansel Adams. I firstly chose the photo to be black and white on photoshop, then increased the yellow levels on the image, and decreased red. Secondly, I manipulates the levels of the photographs, increasing blacks to 26 and increasing the whites to 205 to create harsher shadows that contrasted the highlights of the models face. This creates depth to the facial features. I continued this process of editing to each image.

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The images below are a selection of photographs for my final piece. After editing them, I think that they all show variety when looking at them as a whole. They show a range of background lighting which means that when images are presented together, they will contrast each other well.

FINAL IMAGES:

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CONTACTS:

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SELECTIONS:

The images below are a selection of photographs for my final piece. I have chosen two photographs for each model, as one of the images will be used for cutting and sticking onto the original one, replicating the style of Rosanna Jones. While the first image of the model, on the left hand side, displays a neutral and forward glance looking directly into the camera, the second image of each model has a slight variation. The change is small, usually the model looking in a different direction. This will give an interesting look after cutting and sticking parts of the face to merge two images.

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PHOTOSHOOT PLAN:

WHO

I will be taking photographs of people in Hautlieu school, from age 16-17. they will be both male and female models who will be photographed.

WHAT

I will focus on the faces of the models, specifically on facial features such as nose, eyes, mouth, and collectively together to form facial expressions. I may experiment with emotions, taking photos of one model, with a range of expressions; happy, sad, scared.

WHERE

I will have my photoshoot in the studio, where I can use the black and white curtains to create the backdrop. I will also be able to set up a 2 or 3 point lighting system to illuminate my model.

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WHEN

I will take the photographs on Monday the 13th of January, through the entire day, depending on when the studio is free and when my models are free.

WHY

My idea is to create some sort of montage of a range of peoples faces, to explore idea that ones identity can be aspects of their body (specifically face). It will bring the idea that someone can be identified through their facial features, suggesting that faces can be one of the simplest forms of one’s identity. The concept of using many different people to create the final image is to show that everyone is different due to their face/ facial features, which, make them identifiable to their name.

EDITING TECHNIQUE FOR A RANGE OF FINAL IMAGES INSPIRED BY ROSANNA JONES PHOTOGRAPHY: It alters the facial features by manual manipulation, playing with the idea of identity.

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HOW

I will set up the studio with the camera on a tripod to prevent camera shakes, so the images are in focus, as well as having a two point lighting system with a neutral coloured LED panel illuminating the subject. However, to create softer lighting and decrease shadows, I may use a three point lighting system instead. The camera should be around 200 so that the image isn’t grainy, and the shutter speed should be short to keep the image in focus as the model may move around( 1/250). The aperture should be an average f/4

To create different shades of backgrounds like in the images presented above by Rosanna Jones, I will alter lighting positions during my photoshoot.

For my final photoshoot I have been deeply inspired by the work of Rosanna Jones, who bleaches, burns, and rips up images for a fresh take on fashion photography.

The subjects of Rosanna Jones’s photographs are usually very obscured, with models faces covered by blotches of colour or torn out of the image altogether. The nature of Jones’s images holds personal meaning for herself as a photographer, who uses her work to explore notions of embodiment and visual identity. Some of her work includes:

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During an interview Rosanna states: “It has become a hugely therapeutic process for me,” Jones says of her practice, especially the series Destroy, which prominently features ripped up portraiture. “The images I produce definitely reflect my own personal life. I guess you could say it’s a little sadistic to enjoy bleaching, tearing, scouring, and outright burning away the subject’s eyes, face, or other body parts, but there is definitely a close connection between Destroy and my relationship to my own body and mind.”

PHOTOGRAPH ANALYSIS:

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CONTEXTAL/CONSEPTUAL:

Jones’s work brings attention to portrait photography’s central conflict—the idea that taking a person’s photo can immortalise them, by bestowing fame upon them, but it can also be an act of violence. Fashion photography, which frequently exploits the female body, is perhaps the most clear example of this defiance. The subjects in Jones’s photographs are beautiful, but her interventions make them aggressive in a way that portrays the potential violence of the camera.

TECHNICAL: 

The lighting of this image is generally quite light, clearly taken with a soft studio lighting setup. You can see this orange sepia lighting could have due to a filter over the lights in the studio. The image looks to have been reasonably exposed, with a moderate contrast between the backdrop of the image and the model herself. The shadows in the image seem to be edited wit ha light haze, or as if the highlights and shallows have been edited with an orange hue.

The aperture of the photograph cannot be exactly determined as the background id barely visible, however the model is in focus. The shutter speed seems to be average, maybe 1/125 as the image seems to be regularly exposed, but also quite focused and sharp. The ISO also seems to be low as the image was taken in a studio, so probably around ISO200.

VISUAL:

The image shows woman wearing a black turtleneck with her hair up, looking into the camera. The colour of the image is tinted with a peach/orange filter. There seems to be a fade to the image that has an orange tint, as the shadows and highlights seem to have a sort of sepia glow. There seems to be some form in the photograph as there is some difference in shadows and highlights on the models body. The editing of the photograph is interesting as there seems to be cut outs of different positions of the model (almost same photograph) stuck back onto the original image, altering the composition of facial features. It explores the idea that the visual identity of someone can be altered.

ABOUT HANS-PETER FELDMANN:

 Born on January 17, 1941 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Hans-Peter Feldmann studied painting at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz in Austria. By the late 1960s, he started producing artist books he titled Bilde (Picture), which begin to feature in his work for years to come. 

Hans-Peter Feldmann is a German conceptual artist who has worked in multiple formats, from drawings and sculptures to artistic books and photographic essays. Feldmann is a figure in the conceptual art movement, collecting, producing, and exhibiting photographs Since the sixties.

HIS WORK INCLUDES:

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The photographer seems to use a very unique style of manipulation when editing. His photos seem to be in black-and-white however faces or even whole bodies can be cut from the image. This may represent a lack of identity as recognizable aspects of one’s identity such as clothing and facial features, are completely cut from the final image leaving a block color background

ANALYSIS OF PIECE:

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CRITICAL/ CONTEXTUAL:

One of his most famous works is his 1973 piece “All the Clothes of a Woman“. It features 70 pieces of one woman’s wardrobe, photographed one by one, then arranged into a grid of small black and white photo. The woman who the clothes belong to is veiled and she is rather an enigma (possibly presenting the idea that they could belong to anyone). She is shown only through her clothing, converted into a range of the parts of a woman, that make her, herself. The concept of the work is to use objects to represent somebody, create g the idea that one’s belongings, such as clothing, can be an aspect in one’s identity.

VISUAL:

The image shows a range of small black and white photos, arranged of 70 garments worn by a woman. The colour of the images are clearly in black-and-white with A clear use of tone being used between light backgrounds and dark clothing, and dark backgrounds with light clothing. There seems to be a little form in each individual photograph as they are usually placed on flat backgrounds allowing for no shadows, however with each piece of clothing texture can be seen through the shadows and highlights. The image shows a high level of repetition as the images are placed in a patern, in a grid like composition, leaving a very aesthetically pleasing final image. Line is also clearly shown as there are equal gaps (spaces of white background)  between each photograph.

The composition is very aesthetically pleasing as the 70 images are arranged in an organized fashion with 10 photos going down in columns and seven rows going across. There seems to be balance in the colour range of photographs as they are randomly placed (not all black backgrounds are grouped, vice verse with white backgrounds).

TECHNICAL:

The type of lighting used to photograph each individual piece of clothing seems to be either daylight or studio. I think this because the light used is very soft (as daylight/ natural light can be) however the background seems to show it was taken in the studio setting (shown by backdrops of photographs). The lighting doesn’t seem to be too intense, however images with a black background seem to look slightly over exposed. There seems to be a large depth of field because the backdrop is also in focus. The shutter speed seems to be average as the images look, overall, well exposed. The ISO seems to be around 200 due to images being taken inside, and there doesn’t seem to be any colour cast in the images as the white shades do not seem to be either warm or cold (average white- no blue/ yellow tones).

For my final piece linking to identity, my main aim is to create a link of identity between a large group of people, maybe even strangers, to show that we all have different things about ourselves (such as facial features) that make us distinguishable from each other, identifiable.

PHOTOGRAPHERS THAT HAVE INSPIRED ME ARE:

• Bernd and Hilla Becher – The New Topographics
• Rosanna Jones – altering identity
• Hans Peter Feldman – ‘All the Clothes of a Woman 1970‘ womans’ identity

IDEAS:

hj

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EDIT 1:

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As well as this I completed the final product by adding a grain to the image to create an authentic feel. The final result of the editing process was this image below, I think that it mimicked Grav’s work almost exactly. I like that the high contrast of the models facial features and clothes with the background create a strong and defined final image.

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This was my initial setup of the studio, with a spotlight illuminating one side of the model and another secondary LED panel light illuminating the model from the other angle. Later on through the photoshoot I added a third ring light to balance the images. All lights where set at a neutral colour ( not tinted warm or cold colour), accept for the spotlight which was slightly yellow. I tried to cancel tis out later with the ring light. With the set up I had a white background.

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CONTACTS:

I think that my photoshoot was successful as I managed to produce many usable photos. My model was easy to communicate with and allowed me to capture a range of photographs with expressions and poses that wanted. The camera setting where every accurate in helping me get the images I wanted, with the right exposure as well as being focused. one problem I encountered was the shadows made by the model on the backdrop. I could have achieved better photographs by adding a third light to the setup (a background light to illuminate the backdrop and eliminate shadows). however the shadows can be easily cleared with tools in photoshop during the editing process. The images I marked in green are my favourite images, which are most in focus and display the model best, they are; 0141, 0147, 0152, 1060, 1063, 0175, 0183, 0191, 0195, 0207. however I will re-select a smaller range of images to be edited and experimented with.

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SELECTED IMAGES:

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