Naomi White

In my opinion, I think I was successful in creating work influenced by Naomi White for the theme of Anthropocene because although my work is not a complete recreation of Naomi White’s work, I feel like they have distinct similarities such as the use of plastic bags and contrasting colours, and the influence of White’s work can be reflected through my work. I decided instead of using the same, blinding white background to contrast a coloured plastic bag, to use coloured acetate over the studio lighting in order to achieve the same juxtaposing tones seen in White’s work. This is partly due to the lack of resources I had as I could not find a coloured plastic bag so instead I improvised and used a clear plastic bag and projected the colours using light. Furthermore, my work focuses more on taking photographs of the inside of the bag rather than the outside. I believe this decision allows for the abstraction of the images to be enhanced, as the photo is more ambiguous and the object cannot be recognised straight away.

If I was to have another attempt at creating my own work with the influence of Naomi White, I would prepare more in advanced to find a coloured plastic bag or use the same blinding background as seen in White’s work in order to achieve a clearer contrast of colours, rather than the opposing colours blending together. Also, I would take more images so I had a wider choice of photographs to choose from for my final pieces.

In terms of the theme of Anthropocene, I feel like Naomi White’s work has a distinct relation to aspects of Anthropocene as she uses a man-made and artificial material that is a crucial cause of both air and sea pollution to create art, this is why I chose her to influence my work as I also feel like she takes a more abstract approach to the idea of Anthropocene and how humans have made a negative impact on the environment.

Darian Mederos

I believe that I was also successful in my attempt to produce my own photographs with the influence of Darian Mederos, as they both produce a similar message in terms of Anthropocene, although it is done in a more subtle way compared to Naomi White’s work. I think there is visible similarities between my work and the work of Darian Mederos, the most obvious being the use of bubble wrap in order to disguise sections of the face or body. Both my work and Mederos’ work have the same, cool-toned hues which I think assists to enhance the deeper message of the images. To add my own influence into my work I decided to rip holes in the bubble wrap to disguise only parts of the face rather than the entire body, aswell as using the bubble wrap in more of a physical way by wrapping sections of the face and body in the plastic material. I did this because I felt like by simply covering the lens in a layer of bubble wrap, my images would be too similar and when I use the plastic in a more invasive method, it allows for the theme of Anthropocene to be more distinct and spreads a message that because of humans mass-producing artificial materials such as plastic, we are simply harming ourselves aswell as our environment.

If I were to use Darian Mederos as an influence for my work again, I would maybe take a more personal approach to the photographs by adding more emotion to the images through the face of the model, rather than the blank expression on the models in the majority of my photos. I could also use an alternate background or setting in order to further the personal aspect of the images.

Although Darian Mederos’ work consists of paintings rather than photographs, I still think he is a suitable reference in terms of Anthropocene because Mederos also uses plastic within his art, which can be interpreted into alternate messages in relation to Anthropocene. I chose Darian Mederos as an influence for my work as his work focuses on portraiture, which I believe would give a wider variety to my final images overall. Anthropocene can also be seen in his work in a more subtle way than Naomi White’s work and his images are a lot more personal, and I think this furthers the idea of humans destroying themselves with their own creations.

Final Images

Image Gallery

Ideas for displaying

To display these photographs, I can also use the idea of burning the edges of the paper to create an intense contrast between the muted tones of the photograph and the intense black of the burnt edges.

Alternatively, I could incorporate juxtaposing textures in my display by using real bubble wrap over sections of the photograph. I can also use this idea as a form of physical editing rather than editing my images purely using photoshop.

Final Images

Image Gallery

Ideas for displaying

To display these images I could print them onto clear or coloured acetate, which is similar to the material taken in the original image. I think clear acetate would keep the colours in the similar tones as they are in my final edits, whereas coloured acetate may alter the colours and tones of the final displayed image.

I could also print the images out onto printing paper and burn the edges of the paper. I feel like this would reinforce the original idea of Anthropocene, with humans causing more harm to the environment rather than helping it.

Comparison between Naomi White’s work and my own

The prominent similarities between my work and the work of Naomi White and my work is the use of plastic in order to create art. Furthermore, the colours in both photographs are vibrant and the tones are very contrasting within both images. Finally, there is a strong sense of contrasting shadows and highlights due to the use of studio lighting.

On the other hand, there is also visible differences between the image created by White and my own work. For example, White only uses one colour in her photos, which creates a jarring contrast against the white background. However, because I used coloured acetate over the studio lights, multiple tones and colours are projected onto the plastic. Furthermore, my image lacks the blinding, white background that White uses in order to create an intense juxtaposition between the coloured plastic.

Overall, I believe my recreation of Naomi White’s work was successful because they carry similar ideas and messages, however I altered specific aspects of Naomi White’s work in order to make my images more unique and prove that White’s work is an ideal influence in terms of Anthropocene.