Daily Archives: January 19, 2022

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Personal Study – Literary Sources

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Photographer Matt Day’s analysis on Doug Dubois ‘All the Days and Nights’

This analysis gives a second opinion on one of my artist inspirations for my personal Study, Doug Dubois.

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo22al/wp-admin/post.php?post=42398&action=edit

By studying this analysis, it allows a broader scope of interpretation of Doug’s work to be considered rather than my own biased opinion.

Matt Day uses Dubois’ work to talk about the responsibility photographers carry, specifically the role of considering what story you are trying to tell. Matt talks about how the sequence of a foreword from Donald Antrim followed by the photographic progressive arrangement concluded by the afterword by Doug himself created a huge impact and delivered emotion effectively. This is something I want to perfect by including an essay and a sequential photographic arrangement in my personal study to also effectively entice emotion from an audience. Matt talks about the effectiveness of Doug’s method of shooting over a long period of time in terms of bettering a narrative. The introduction talks about the role of a memoirist in terms of documentation and how photo selection, especially when shooting over a long period of time, plays a role in how we understand a story. He talks about the use of light alongside the detail of the subjects facial expression that Doug uses to capture a mood.

NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction – Pg 70 -76 Tzvetan Todarov – Structural analysis of narrative

Tzvetan Todarov was a Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist. He was the author of many books and essays, which have had a significant influence in anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary theory, intellectual history and culture theory. I want to apply his work on narratology to my personal study. His study’s on the structural analysis of narrative would be beneficial to apply to my project as I want to emphasise an impactful narrative through the medium of photography. Todarov states that all effective narratives share a structure that involves movement of one state of equilibrium to another. He describes the notion that two states of equilibrium are separated by a disruption in the narrative. Referencing my photo-shoot-plans I have implemented this idea of disrupted equilibrium – https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo22al/wp-admin/post.php?post=42513&action=edit. This idea is also presented by Kurt Vonnegut – Shape of a story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ

Useful Quote from this piece of literature:

“The object of our study must be narrative mood, or point of view, or sequence, and not this or that story in and for itself. […] The minimal complete plot can be seen as the shift from one equilibrium to another. This term “equilibrium,” which I am borrowing from genetic psychology, means the existence of a stable but not static relation between the members of a society; it is a social law, a rule of the game, a particular system of exchange. The two moments of equilibrium, similar and different, are separated by a period of imbalance, which is composed of a process of degeneration and a process of improvement.”

Judith Butler – Gender trouble

Judith Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory.

Her work on the gender performativity theory is what I am interested in. This theory presents the idea that “identity is performatively constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts)”. This can be applied to my project where I will be documenting an individual struggling with performing identity in different environments, overall aiding in answering: How can the medium of photography interrogate the notion of adopted hypermasculinity by individuals who are part of a sporting community, specifically rugby? Judith describes gender as a social construct – masculine and feminine are created through repetition.

“To operate within the matrix of
power is not the same as to replicate uncritically relations of domination.”
― Judith Butler, Gender Trouble

“As a result, gender is not to culture as sex is to nature; gender is
also the discursive/cultural means by which “sexed nature” or “a natural
sex” is produced and established as “prediscursive,” prior to culture,
a politically neutral surface on which culture acts”
― Judith Butler, Gender Trouble

Other Useful Sources:

Documentary Photography https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/photo17ase/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2017/07/Documentary-Photography.pdf

Ethical questions regarding the photographer’s position of being inside or outside from PhotoPedagogy.

https://www.photopedagogy.com/insideout.html

“On the one hand, we frequently assume authenticity and truth to be located on the inside (the truth of the subject), and, at the same time, we routinely – culturally – locate and define objectivity (as in repertorial, journalistic or juridical objectivity) in conditions of exteriority, of noncomplication.”
​– Abigail Solomon-Godeau

https://www.photopedagogy.com/uploads/5/0/0/9/50097419/week_5_abigail_solomon-godeau_inside_out.pdf

“The whole point of photographing people is that you are not intervening in their lives, only visiting them. The photographer is a supertourist, an extension of the anthropologist.” – Diane Arbus

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Essay

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Requirements taken from blog :

1. Literary Sources
2. Essay Question
3. Essay Plan

  1. Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
  2. Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
  3. It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
  4. Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
  5. Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

Harvard System of Referencing

Bibliography:
Roberts, P. (2007), The genius of colour photography: from the autochrome to the digital age. London: Goodman

List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites/online sources, YouTube/ DVD/TV.

In-text referencing:

In The genius of colour photography it states that Vogue ‘had determinedly set publishing trends before and after that date [1932]’ (Roberts 2007,126)

  1. Use quotes to support or disprove your argument
  2. Use quotes to show evidence of reading
  3. Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

Given Plan:

  1. Essay question:
  2. Opening quote
  3. Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
  4. Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. Link to powerpoints and resources above about art movements and isms.
  5. Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  6. Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  7. Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  8. Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

My Plan:

Essay Question:

Explain how the photographers Mary Ellen Mark and Laia Abril portray women’s mental and physical health.

Sources of information:

  • Mary Ellen Mark Sources:
  • British Journal of Photography
  • https://www.vogue.com/article/mary-ellen-mark-the-book-of-everything
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFY8ygQjd60
  • Mary Ellen Mark Quotes:
  • “Your subjects will trust you only if you’re confident about what you’re doing. They can sense that immediately.”
  • Laia Abril sources :
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wk39lsWQlQ
  • https://www.theglassmagazine.com/glass-interviews-spanish-photographer-laia-abril/ (Emma Hart 25/03/2019)
  • https://www.laiaabril.com/
  • Laia Abril Quotes:
  •  “the repercussions are most of the time psychological, so it’s very difficult to visualise it.” In response to how rape is a tricky thing to capture due to it being stigmatised
  • “Countries which restrict contraception, what about rape, what about accidents, what about whatever? What when people have problems and cannot even have abortions when they have problems with the foetus, it is connected, being able to choose when you are able to be a mother or not. “- in response to abortion.
  • “I remember learning that society had mandated that getting my period should remain a secret. The same ritual that was supposed to symbolize that I had “become a woman,”“- Menstruation myths (2021)

My Introduction

  1. What topic I am focusing (women’s mental and physical health)
  2. Introduction to photographers
  3. Include quotes from both photographers

Paragraph 1

  1. History on using photography as therapy as well as a documentary
  2. link to the feminist movement and #me-too movement. E.g Emmeline Pankhurst and Tarana Burke. Link to how they could have inspired other women in the world.

Paragraph 2

  1. Analyse Mary Ellen Mark’s Ward 81 as well as her work from Streetwise.
  2. Emphasise the fact that she was unable to control what she took images of as she was in a ward full of women who were only there due to the fact that they are unpredictable.
  3. Mention the fact that the women in streetwise look slightly unphased by everything that has happened to them.

Paragraph 3

  1. Analyse the work of Laia Abril (on rape, thinspiration and menstruation myths )
  2. List similarities between both artists even though Laia mainly used images of objects and not as much of people.

Conclusion

  1. Explain own images and how they link to both artists
  2. Bibliography

PLAN TAKEN FROM BLOG

  1. Open a new Word document > SAVE AS: Essay draft
  2. Copy essay question into Essay title: Hypothesis > if you don’t have one yet, make one!
  3. Copy your essay introduction (from Essay Plan) which will give you a framework to build upon and also copy your Statement of Intent.
  4. Identify 2 quotes from sources identified in an earlier task using Harvard System of Referencing.
  5. Use one quote as an opening quote: Choose a quote from either one of your photographers or critics. It has to be something that relates to your investigation.
  6. Add sources to Bibliograpphy > if by now you don’t have any sources, use  S. Sontag. On Photography Ch1
  7. Begin to write a paragraph (250-500 words) answering the following questions below.
  8. You got 45 mins to write and upload to the blog!
  • Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. Or think more philosophically about the nature of photography and and feeble relationship with reality.
  • You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g.
  • What are you going to investigate.
  • How does this area/ work interest you?
  • What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument?
  • Whose work (artists/photographers) are you analysing and why?
  • What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against.
  • What links are there with your previous studies?
  • What have you explored so far in your Coursework or what are you going to photograph?
  • How did or will your work develop.
  • What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?
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Art movements and Isms

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Pictorialism (1880s-1920s)

It was created because many people at the time believed that photography was not classed as art. This led to people manipulating their images to make their work look more like paintings/drawings. They did this by spreading Vaseline on the lens of their camera and also scratching the negatives of their images.

Vaseline on the camera’s lens meant that the image looked blurred creating a stroked effect. This blurred image mimicked the brush strokes of a paintbrush and therefore allowed people to see it as art.

Scratching the negatives gave the images more texture. This meant that the images looked a lot like drawings, the scratches mimicked pencil lines and made the images look like someone sat for hours on end perfecting this image when it was actually created by light and shadows.

Pictorialism was heavily inspired by romanticism. This meant that pictorial images were often made showing love, femininity or elegance.

Romanticism (noun)

  1. A movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879):

  • “Sadness” 1864
  • “The Echo” 1868
  • “Ellen Terry at age 16”

Julia’s photography has a running theme of showing women’s feelings and looks. She used Vaseline on the camera lens to give the women that she was photographing a more innocent look. She took images of women to show how sensitive they can be with their long hair and sullen facial expressions. The facial expressions make the viewer feel as though the women in the images are frail and vulnerable. This was a common thought towards women in England, during the 19th century.

As well as focusing on the beauty of women, she liked illustrating her views on religion and different literary works. This is shown with images such as “I Wait (R. Gurney), 1872” and “Beatrice, 1866“

  • Beatrice, 1866

The image above has been captured to make the model look like Mary, the mother of Jesus. There are many statues of our lady, yet it seems every single statue manages to capture the same gaze. The model in the image looks as though she is looking for hope just like the statues of our lady. Mary is looking to the sky for hope that God has kept her Son safe. Whereas the model seems as though she is looking for help from those on the earth.

This image is inspired by Beatrice Cenci:

“Beatrice Cenci was the daughter of Count Francesco Cenci, a tyrant who terrorized his wife and children. In retaliation for his abuse, Beatrice plotted with her stepmother and older brother to kill him. Though it’s not completely clear who committed the actual murder, an investigation uncovered the involvement of two men along with the three Cenci family members. The two men died before being brought to the gallows. Beatrice, her stepmother, and older brother Giacomo were all executed on the tenth of September 1599. Only Beatrice’s younger brother Bernardo was spared execution.”

Paragraph above taken from:

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/58856/julia-margaret-cameron-beatrice-british-1866/

The images back story works well with the theme of women’s mental health. It highlights the fact that women have faced domesticated violence and rape for centuries.

Quotes by Julia Margaret Cameron:

“I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied.”–Julia Margaret Cameron

“When I have had such men before my camera my whole soul has endeavoured to do its duty towards them in recording faithfully the greatness of the inner as well as the features of the outer man. The photograph thus taken has been almost the embodiment of a prayer.” – Julia Margaret Cameron

My Research:

Feminism

The feminist movement has been around for hundreds of years.

The movement however took off when the Suffragettes began to fight for women being able too vote in the UK in the 1870s, this was known as first wave feminism. Once the First World War began, the men went off to war and the women had to stay behind and help work in factories and build bombs rather than staying in the house doing domestic work. This meant that when the war was over women wanted to have more independence and get their own job away from the house and their husbands. This became an popular opinion, the fact that women over the age of 30 in the UK in 1918 may have had a part in it also.

Both images taken by Christina Broom

The second wave in the feminist movement began in the 1960s and led to the 1990s during the anti-war protests. Instead of focusing purely on the gender inequalities, the second wave of feminists broadened those ideas onto sexuality, reproductive rights, domestic violence, marital rape etc. This was a huge deal as this time it was not only women protesting, men joined in as they saw the injustice in the world . This wave helped enforce the criminalisation of marital rape in 1994 (UK), in 1965 (USA) the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling of 1965 prevented anyone from limiting a woman’s access to contraception or other methods of birth control.

All images by Catherine Allport

Independent

deconstructing photobook

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  • Book in hand: Raised by Wolves – Jim Goldberg
  • Paper and ink: a bit bigger than an A4
  • Format, size and orientation: Portraiture with 315 pages
  • Binding: hard cover: image wrap with PUR binding
  • Cover: graphic – outline of a woman’s head with a red background and a black and white image of a man – the woman’s head appears to be the main focal point of this book since it is quite a big outline compared to the rest of the images. This suggests how this book might be talking about how when women are raised by men it feels as though they’re being raised by wolves since they’re quite more violent than women.
  • Title: Raised by wolves – enforces the idea of youthful sin
  • Narrative: The Narrative appears to be about a series of mistreated children telling their testimonies / story of how they’re parents treated them. For example, the most impactful image to me in the book was of this woman’s torso with a healed gunshot wound and, the writing next to it says, “My mom was a 15 ye old junkie s**t who i ain’t never seen – My old man is a biker from hell – the f****ed up a**hole shot me in the gut when i was 10 yrs old – aint gone home since or had one.” This powerfully shows how this woman did not have a pleasant father which clearly enforces the theme of the title, “Raised by Wolves.” This being said, the purpose of the book seems to make sure that people are not alone, to give hope to people who are going through similar events.
  • The artists has successfully done this by making the book a sort of anecdote. It begins with childhood pictures, and a bit of narrative text suggesting that parents were arguing and/or that the child didn’t feel like she had a family. This is because, when in the book she recalls a journey where she climbed a tree and her parents were spectating, she says that “that was the only time I can remember us being a real family.” Having done this, the artist is sharing their story causing the reader and viewer to feel sympathy because we are seeing the artists in a different way and feeling sorry for the artist and if the story sounds familiar to some, it will make the viewer feel hopeful because the artist has gone through stressful, upsetting events but managed to get past them.
  • The book then moves on to show, what looks like the same or similar girl grownup, but the images make the viewer feel protective this time. For example, one image is of an old man behind a gate, just staring at us causing fear since we are thinking, “What’s going to happen?” and then it moves to a picture of a man neck kissing a blonde girl who looks quite uncomfortable. These images being portrayed in the way they are, one after the other, may produce the idea that women are being taken advantage of by creepy men at times and the artists has produced this book to raise awareness.
  • Design and layout: images vary as there are a few polaroids
  • Editing and sequencing: he juxtaposes raw black-and-white images of diurnal life in harbours, on the thoroughfares, in conventions, and in sleazy hospices with rosy filmland from their nonwage, filmland that frequently disguise the brutality numerous of these teens endured at home. Goldberg portrays with shocking candour the varied aspects of the runaways’ actuality IV medicine use, teen gestation, battle scars ( similar as rotting teeth, lesions, the disfiguring scar that covers Dave’s stomach, or another boy’s vacant eye socket), and death. Eventually, there seems to be little stopgap for these kids, although Goldberg does them a great service then by fastening on their plight and giving them voice.
Independent, Task

Essay Plan

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Essay Question

In what way does Carole Benitah explore family archives through her work as a method of understanding identity and self expression?

Introduction Draft

“Photographs thus are not just manufactured memories, they are also expressions of our desire to hold on to something.” (Colberg, J, May 28, 2012) 

This extract from the thoughts of Jörg Colberg highlights the topics in which I will discuss in this essay; questioning also how Carole Benitah in particular, explores these past memories in attempt to gain a wider knowledge of her identity. This investigation of identity through archival images resonates with myself, as within this personal study I wish to revisit past memories of the senior generation in my family, in attempt to argue that these depictions often do not recount the whole truth of the past and are in fact a method of regaining control of our identity. Carolle Benitah is an archetype for reshaping the past through the manipulation and reworking of archival materials, due to her emotional attachment to the images and people within them. Furthermore, I am also choosing to look at Bentiah’s work in detail as a result of her multi-media methods she undertakes, in order to create her contemporary commentary of the idealistic family in contrast with reality, using stitching, gold leaf, ink drawings and beading to achieve this. This utilisation of mulit-medias by Benitah can be linked with my previous work throughout the course, such as my use of maps in digital collages for an identity project and recent experimentations with embroidery. I intend to respond to this unique style again, in regard to my personal study by producing reworked images of my family, that centre around my maternal grandparents and the life they have built, that have been both archived and recently captured. The style in which these new photographs will be created, will be mostly staged tableau pieces, with some candid images also. I will achieve this also by using multiple medias, similar to Benitah, such as stitching as well as digital collage.  

Paragraph 1

  • 500 words
  • Historical context of family photography and its development
  • Photography in relation to memory and identity
  • Link to contemporary art movement and influence from movements such as Dadaism

Paragraph 2

  • 500 words
  • Analysis of an image from Carolle Benitah’s photobook ‘Photo Souvenirs’ in relation to identity, self-expression and memory
  • Explain the significance of the use of red stitching and beading in her work

Paragraph 3

  • 500 words
  • Analysis of an image from Carolle Benitah’s photo series ‘Jamais je ne t’oubliera’ (I Will Never Forget You) in comparison to the previous image, and in relation to to identity, self-expression and memory
  • Explain the significance of the use of gold leaf in her work

Conclusion

  • 500 words
  • Link similarities between Carolle Bentiah and my own work
  • Explain also how my work differs from Benitah

Literary Sources

Carolle Benitah

  1. https://www.carolle-benitah.com/bio
  • “I decided to explore the memory of childhood through my family photographs, because it allows me to understand who I am and to define my identity today.”
  • “The past of a human being, unlike the remains of some ancient temple, is neither fixed nor reconstituted but finished by this”
  • “It’s like an exorcism. I pierce the paper until I have no more evil.
  •  “I transform my traces of the past.”
  • “I’m building a fantasy album like a crossing of appearances where I enjoy demolish the myth of the ideal family to let emerge a more nuanced picture”
  • “The past of a human being, unlike the remains of some ancient temple, is neither fixed nor reconstituted but finished by this”

2. https://lecube-art.com/artiste/carolle-benitah/?lang=en

I use the falsely decorative function of embroidery to create designs that break the images of happiness and deconstruct the myth of the ideal family.

Colberg, J (May 28, 2012) Photography and Memory
blogger on Conscientious

  • “To look at a photograph is to look at the past”
  • “photographs are more perfect memories, because we are given more power to control our past”
  • “photographs are manufactured memories”
  • “Photographs thus are not just manufactured memories, they are also expressions of our desire to hold on to something.”

Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory Marianne Hirsch (Harvard University Press 1997)

  • “Barhes connects photography not just to life but to life-giving” (p20)

On Photography, Susan Sontag (Penguin Books, London, 1977)

  • “Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait chronicle of itself – a portable kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness.” (p8)
  • “photography came along to memorialize, to restate symbolically, the imperilled continuity and vanishing extendednedd of family life.” (p9)
  • “A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it” (p9)
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Photobook Understanding

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Beyond Here Is Nothing

by Laura El-Tantawy

https://www.lauraeltantawy.com/books/beyond-here-is-nothing

The photo book Beyond Here Is Nothing is focused on the home life. Through the book it shows El-Tantawy’s journey to reach a tranquil state of mind and her personal experience growing up in contrasting cultures. Her photos explores the unsettling feeling of rootlessness, the mental burden of loneliness and the constant search for belonging in unfamiliar places. The use of words and images the book reveals itself “a living object harmonising with time.” With the over laying photos it displays a mirror of dispositions.

The photobook is a mixed of colourful images with black and white ones too in an A5 square shape book and overlapping pages from the top, left and right. It has a hard cover swiss with an image wrap on the cover and different images on each side of the cover. Throughout the book there are different sentences on plain pages such as “I am lonely sounds like the most sinful confession to make.” Or paragraphs discussing her childhood. All images are full size on single pages that don’t overlap onto other pages.

Beyond Here Is Nothing book — LAURA EL-TANTAWY
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