Francesca Woodman was born in Denver, Colorado in 1958. She first started taking photos in her early teens while at boarding school, during her short career she took over 800 pictures. Her father was a painter and photographer and also lectured in photography at the University of Boulder in Colorado and Her mother was a ceramicist and sculptor so art became a big part of her everyday life. Her family spent their summers at her parents’ farmhouse in the countryside in Italy where many of her photographs were taken, she was inspired by Man Ray and Claude Cahun which can be seen in themes and style of her work mixed with the influence of surrealist art and the European culture. She developed her ideas and skills as a student at Rhode Island School of Design but suffered from depression after a move to New York in 1979 and in 1981, she then sadly took her own life at the age of 22.
Francesca Woodman
I find this image very effective as it uses a slow shutter speed and has a tripod set up to take this photo. The blurry person I find is effective as everything is perfectly still and then yet there is just one singular person moving. The use of rustic building falling apart is effective as it could reflect how she feels and yet cannot show which she does try to through her photography.
Edward Honaker was diagnosed with a mood disorder at the age of 19. He was experiencing depression which created an overwhelming obstacle in his day-to-day life. He documents his own depression through the use of self portraits, the black and white harrowing images illustrates the photographer’s experience with depression and anxiety. The photography shows his helplessness he feels while trying to battle this depressive disorder, he focuses on blurring his face and use of water in his photos to symbolise how he feels like he’s suffocating and drowning. In an attempt to raise awareness of the topic, Honaker says about the project: “Mental health disorders are such a taboo topic. If you ever bring it up in conversation, people awkwardly get silent, or try to tell you why it’s not a real problem. When I was in the worst parts of depression, the most helpful thing anyone could have done was to just listen to me – not judging, not trying to find a solution, just listen. I’m hoping that these images will help open up conversation about mental health issues. Everyone is or will be affected by them one way or another, and ignoring them doesn’t make things better.”
Edward Honaker
In this image effective as it is the use of three images put together to create one image, the images show a man falling from a building into water then onto his bed. This could show how he feels like he is falling and drowning in his depression which makes him feel exhausted. Even if the images may not intend to show him struggling I still find it enticing on lying in the similar positions in different places yet it shows different outcomes.
