Carolle Benitah

French Moroccan photographer Carolle Bénitah, who worked for ten years as a fashion designer before turning to photography in 2001, explores memory, family and the passage of time.  Often pairing old family snapshots with handmade accents, such as embroidery, beading and ink drawings, Bénitah seeks to reinterpret her own history as daughter, wife, and mother.

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Benitah has a series of photographs called “I Will Never Forget You”

Jamais je ne T’oublierai

She describes her family photographs as “Ghosts who follow me quietly, and I take them over to build an imaginary family album in order to repair oblivion.” …..”I am rebuilding the memory of my family that I missed, I am inventing another one made to measure where I resurrect all the ancestors who have disappeared, the territories that I did not know and that have been praised to me.”

My edits inspired by Benitah

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Benitah repairs old family photos and rebuilds a memory that is missed, in her work she resurrects ancestors who have passed. I took inspiration from her work as I related to her loss of a loved one. Benitah covers the people in the pictures who will never be forgotten. She also covered parts of people related to the passed relatives to resemble that, because they died, they’ve lost a part of themselves as well.

Carolle often pairing old family snapshots with handmade accents, such as embroidery, beading and ink drawings, I took a technological approach when inspired by her work. I had my old family photograph as the background and the yellow background as another layer, used a lasso tool to select the part I wanted textured then replaced it with yellow to represent who had passed and how the family relatives notice they’re missing and the big gap in their family and their heart.

I chose to have my photo in black and white, partly to match Benitah’s work and to give it an old fashioned look, however I also chose to have it greyscale to represent the loss of brightness and colour that the passed relative gave the family’s life. She covers parts of her photos to identify absent memories, the image below was taken before i was born, therefore a time I cannot remember.

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I particularly liked this image of Benitah’s as she creates the sense that all family members of the passed lost their identities when someone significant died, like they’ve lost a part of themselves. Her project “jamais je ne t’oublierai” creates the feeling of despair and sorrow which her viewers can empathise towards. Benitah’s photos are a good way of bringing back happy memories of times when the family was unite. The use of black and white emphasises the way the families life has lost it’s colour now that they’ve lost that one person. The greyscale tones also vary from light to dark and the contrast emphasises the highlights and shadows in the photograph.

The distinguishing character or personality of an individual defines identity.  Identity is who you are, the way you think about yourself, the way you are viewed by the world and the characteristics that define you. How we define ourselves is a self-representation of our culture, interests, relationships and efficacy in doing the things that matter to us. Our sense of identity and belonging is impacted by various factors, including our experiences, community and our physical environment.

Identity also helps us to make decisions and to know how to behave. We’re constantly faced with complex decisions and circumstances. With no prior beliefs about what we should do, weighing all the options and making a decision would be near impossible. Having a sense of what kind of person you are makes it much easier to decide how you should behave, and to have confidence in your choice between options. This makes decisions that would otherwise be agonising virtually effortless. However, strong identities can also be dangerous. The drive to protect your identity can be overpowering. Sometimes we can get so caught up in this that we neglect other important things: like being open-minded, truth-seeking, and kind to others. It’s hard to think clearly and objectively about something that you identify strongly with, it is possible that this is the driving force behind a lot of conflict in the world.

These photos i’m going to take have been self inspired through doing research on several different artist and taking ideas from individual ones. I have decided to take head shot photographs and i’m going to work and edit them in Photoshop to change them and adapt them to the topic of identity. With these images below i’m am going to use Photoshop to disguise the models face to hide their identity.

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Idea 1:

For this idea I decided to open up several of my best images in Photoshop. First of all I started by duplicating the layer then went to the blending options and unticked the green and red colours. Finally I moved one of the layers to a slight angle and it created this effect. I feel that this worked well as it hides the identity of the model as it shows a second picture of the same person creating the thought of mystery

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Idea 2:

For this idea I decided to use Photoshop to crop the photographs to a square. Then I duplicated the layer and converted it to a smart object this therefor this allowed me to use the filters and develop my photos using the mosaic filter.Overall I feel that this worked well however it may have been better if I changed the photos to black and white by desaturating them in Photoshop first before i started to edit the images.

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Idea 3:

For these images below I tried to experiment by using a hand held projector which I feel worked well to a certain extent as they way in which the projected disguises the models face reflects that it could be hiding her identity. However if I was to do this again I would project different images onto the wall as the ones in which I chose were all quite dark making the tones not stand out as well as they could have been.

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In this photo shoot I was highly inspired by the photographer Lissa Rivera’s as I like the way in which she made a males femininity to a strength rather than a weakness, whereas other people look at people wearing women’s clothing a negative attribute. I’m going to try and recreate some photographs similar to her work by asking a male model to wear feminine clothing as well as add my own idea of switching it to the other way round so that a female is wearing male clothing.

Later on once I have gathered the best selection of images I have i am going to use photo shop and desaturate some of the photographs. Once I have done that i’m going to use the blur tool to disguise the faces so it shadows and disguises there identity to a further extent. Furthermore i’m also going to leave several of the photos in colour and experiment with the saturation and contrast. After that I am going to use the eyedropper tool to get the exact colour of the models skin colour to then use the paintbrush to yet again disguise their identity.

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Best Images:

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I personally feel that these images worked best as they clearly show how clothes should not define your identity relating to the series called ‘beautiful boy’ by Lissa Rivera’s. Additionally I also believe that these photos may have worked better if I used natural lighting instead of artificial as it may of added depth to my work. However I do think that they still have a good reflection to identity and I like the way the black and white photos adds more contrast to the original shadows.

Claude Cahun was a french photographer whose work was both personal and political and often undermined traditional concepts of static gender roles. The majority of her photographs were self portraits which helped Claude Cahun develop her ideas of masculinity as well as femininity, and how she felt that it depends on the situation. She believed that Neuter is the only gender that always suited Claude Cahun, meaning that she did not believe in specific genders.

Originally her name was Lucy Schwob however she decided she would rather be called Claude Cahun as the name is more gender neutral. In French the name Claude could either refer to a man or woman which she was ambitious about. Additionally she also took her surname from her grandmother Mathilda Cahun.

In 1937 Claude Cahun moved to jersey along with her stepsister and lover Marcel Moore. They were imprisoned for activities in the resistance during the occupation, and decided to stay in jersey after the world war.

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Lissa Rivera’s is a fine art photographer based in New York City who released a series of photographs called ‘Beautiful Boy’.

This involved the same male featuring in a variety of photos. This series shows the male dressed up in female clothes; this attire implies that the clothes and accessories do not define the identity of a person. The flowy garments assign a female label to them, with skirts and dresses being the main focus on what gender you are.

Lissa Rivera’s found that while taking her first photographs of her series ‘beautiful boy’ she found it very emotional as she could clearly tell how vulnerable her model was; who eventually became her romantic partner. Furthermore the model and Lissa Rivera’s began taking photos every weekend to continue her series, which lead to her winning the magnum photography award for several of her pictures in 2017.

She felt that it was of importance to show his femininity as a strength rather than a weakness, which helps the message across that the clothes you wear do not identify who you are as a person.

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Image Analysis

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Claude Cahun used black and white tones in his photograph which creates a dark environment adding several tones as well as depth. Additionally the background of her photos appear to be simple and empty, which creates more tension and focus to the model.

Lissa Rivera’s photograph is very different in comparison to Claude Cahun’s work as she has chosen to use colour within her photographs creating them to become eye catching and empowering. The way in which she has chosen to use feminine clothes and accessories on the model creates the idea that femininity shouldn’t be seen as a weakness and should be seen as a strength. Furthermore the background of her photographs are busy which may take the focus of the model itself.

A similarity which both artist have taken into account is the way in which both of the models faces are disguised in certain ways as, Claude Cahun has used a cut-out of someone’s chin and asked the model to place it other hers which helps the idea of identity as it hides the models face. Lissa Rivera’s used a similar idea of disguising a section of the models face with a blindfold covering the eyes hiding a key feature of the models face, which impacts the way you view the photograph.

However the artists also have multiple differences in these two photos in particular as Claude Cahun’s photography was taken in the 1900s where as Lissa Rivera’s photography was taken in more recent years, therefore you can see a clear difference in where technology has adapted to have better quality photographs. Additionally Claude Cahun has chosen to take his photos in black and white creating harsh and dark tones whereas Lissa Rivera’s has chosen to use colour. However they both equally have a different selections of details in several ways.

Identity:

The distinguishing character or personality of an individual : individuality.

The relation established by psychological identification.

Luke Gram

Luke Gram is a Canadian Photographer who creates serene images by combining landscape imagery with silhouettes. His technique of editing his photographs is known as double exposure. Gram travels the world to take photos of landscape and portrait imagery and shares his story on Instagram.

Picasso

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker and theatre designer who spent most of his life in France. He is most famous as a painter because of his paintings such as the Weeping Woman, The Old Guitarist and Girl Before a Mirror.

Pablo Picasso began to experiment with new things such as light painting as you can see below which began in 1949.

Kensuke Koike

Kensuke Koike is a Japanese contemporary visual artist who buys images and then distorts them by cutting out sections and replacing, rotating and cutting our sections of the images.

My Ideas

I really like the idea of replacing the silhouette of a person with an image linking to personal identity. I also like the idea of Picasso’s light painting because it can be used to present personal identity using words or drawings that could be completely planned or random. Lastly, Kensuke Koike’s method of showing identity is very interesting and I want to attempt to recreate this using the images I will edit from Luke Gram.

Comparison

Luke Gram’s way of expressing identity is through linking people back to nature. He removes their features and replaces it with a scene that everyone can relate to and enjoy. However, Pablo Picasso shows his personal identity by drawing images with light which would not have been seen if he had not been using his camera. I also believe that Kensuke Koike’s method of representing identity is very unique and interesting because it shows a false identity and different emotions and ‘people’ in one persons identity. I believe Luke Gram is expressing the general link of humanity to nature but Picasso and Koike express personal identity and how it differs with everyone.

Who Was Claude Cahun?

Claude Cahun was a French, Lesbian Photographer who was born in 1894 and died in 1954. Cahun was born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob and was famous for her self portraits that showcased a variety of personalities and identities. Cahun moved to Jersey in 1937 with her partner and was on the island during the German Occupation when she and her partner produced anti-German propaganda.

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PERSONAL RESPONSES TO FINAL IMAGES

My final images link to the concept of body image. These photographs act out what the typical stereotype teenage girl should be wearing. The baggy clothes express what the girl wants to look like, who she wants to show her identity as and what she wants to wear. But in todays society , people are so hung up on appearance and looks, outfits can define someone as a person. Wearing tight underwear and bras that fill out ladies breasts is what they are expected to wear , that’s what people (men or women) are happy and excited to see. There’s barely nothing on personality anymore. These problems all over the world lead to many issues such as eating disorders, anxiety, depression.

My images in colour represent anger, fear, hate as for the colour theme being red. My final image, a collab of three images, are changed to black and white to express the dullness and fear that this girl feels in herself for wearing somethings that she is tricked into having to wear by society. Her hands placed around her waist as if she isn’t happy with her body indicates that wearing this sort of clothing makes her unhappy.

Linking To A Photographer

Laia Abril’s photography links to my photo-shoot as part of her work she bases around body image and eating disorders. These people that are either underweight or have eating disorders reflects on their identity and how they see themselves differently to others. This image below I tried to recreate with my own photography…

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Laia’s work being very colourless made me change my image into black and white for them to relate to each other better. A white background in both images and an unseen face of a figure of a lady makes the image more effective as we as viewers can only guess what the model feels judging off body gestures and colour.

Evaluate and Critique

If I was to do this photo-shoot again , I would firstly present my final outcome with a better presentation, for example … Laia Abril has shown her work in a book. If I had more time I would have taken images of a mirror and presented my images onto mirrors to replicate the unhappy body image of my models self.

Photo-Shoot Plan

Who – My female friend

What – Images of a girls body with underwear worn on the outside of clothing such as joggers and a jumper with pants and bra worn on top of them.

Why – This photo-shoot i took is to capture a female expressing her feelings about her body image to others. It also taken to show what society expect females should be wearing , how others (men or women) foresee what females look good in.

Where – In the schools photography studio.

How was the photo taken – A set up in the studio with two spot lights either side of my model , one slightly in front of the other and a main light 45 degrees from my model. The back drop was a white infinity backdrop. Camera settings were ….. 400 ISO…. 1/100 and 1/125 Exposure….. White balance – incandescent.

When – during school time (Thursday 21st January)

Contact Sheet

Editing Techniques Shown

To get rid of the logo that clearly stands out in the image , i used the spot healing brush tool, as well as turning the image into black and white in my final outcome. (Image , adjustments , black and white)

Most of my images had little editing such as changing the brightness and contrast levels. This gives a more effective glow to the highlights of the photograph.