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.
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
“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”
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.
This is a photo series between 2009 and 2014 from her personal archives. Bénitah was trying to create a dream album where she looks at the idea of the ideal family looking at the themes of memory and loss. The stitches ressemble the conflict, drama and pain of family history that is absent from the images.
The photobook has a mix of black and white images and colour images. Carolle Bénitah worked into the images with stitching which adds texture but not physically because it is her images printed in the book. The book it self is roughly A4 and the images range in size and orientation. The book is a hardcover and has been binded using perfect binding which is when the binding is hidden by the cover using glue and stitching. The cover is made of card and has a single graphic image that wraps around the book and the title of the book is embossed on the front. The title is literal as it is her family’s’ photo souvenirs.
Photos from Photos Souvenirs:
Pomplondin
A la plage, 2009 – at the beach
La Cicatrice – The scar
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
The story seems to be about her family and is told by using old images from her own families’ archive and she has manipulated them by sewing into them, adding a new narrative or adding to the current story/memory told in the image.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
Throughout the book most images are single page images and often there is one image on one page then a blank page next to it. Some pages consist of a double page spread image that has been sliced in half horizontally taking up half the double page or a spilt in colour, for example white at the top and red at the bottom.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
The images follow a journey of her life from daughter to wife to mother, telling the story of Carolle Bénitah.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)
There is no introduction before the images start in the book. Majority of the images in the photobook do not have any texts linked to them but there is a couple which have texts that Carolle Bénitah embroidered into the images (shown below).
il ne dit pas – he doesn’t say
Demeler le faux du vrai – to sort the lies from the truth
At the end of the book there is one final image which consists of a picture of two frames one with her and her son and the other being her parents with the text, “a mon fils” and “a mes parents” which translates to for my son and for my parents which tells us the book is dedicated to them.
The statement at the end of the book is a summary of what Benitah wanted to portray in the photobook.
Carolle Bénitah was born in Casablanca, she now lives and works in Marseille. Bénitah was a fashion designer before becoming a photographer in 2001, she incorporates sewing and beading into her photography. She often explores the themes of memory, family, desire, loss, mourning and time. in her work.
“I started photography when the fragile dimension of life imposed itself on me and functioned as an existential crutch. Faced with a reality difficult to apprehend”
-Carolle Bénitah
The Photobook Photos Souvenirs is based on her memories of her Moroccan childhood, reinterpreting her own history as a daughter, wife and mother by manipulating images from her own personal archives using embroidery to create an album. She uses the slow and precise process of embroidery as a metaphor of time passing by, and to create designs that break the happiness in the images and deconstruct the myth of an ideal family.
“To embroider my photograph, I make holes in the paper. With each stitch, I stick the needle through the paper. Each hole is a putting to death of my demons. It is like an exorcism. I stab the paper until I don’t hurt anymore.”
Write a Statement of Intent that clearly contextualises; What you want to explore? Why it matters to you? How you wish to develop your project? When and where you intend to begin your study? Make sure you describe your chosen theme (IDENTITY & COMMUNITY), subject-matter (topic, issue), artists (inspirations, references) and final outcome (photobook, film).
Statement Of Intent
The discussion of teenager’s mental health is growing in everyday society, some disregard it and some understand it’s increasing prominence; I wish to create a study on the theme ‘Identity’ surrounding the topic of anxiety. I have personally suffered from generalised anxiety disorder from a young age, it has always been a part of my life and I am still learning to deal and live with it, however it is not something I am ashamed of. I am grateful for the knowledge I have that I am not alone on this journey, many of my friends and family are also affected by it so can understand and help each other through any days or moments in life that are particularly difficult. I really want to use photography as a medium to explore how I have coped with anxiety throughout my life, focusing on the idea of finding safety and comfort in certain places around my home, family member’s homes and areas around the island that have always made me feel less anxious. The whole concept of anxiety has been quite normalised in today’s society, having both positive and negative effects, as some feel less alone while others feel less seen. Highlighting this topic, by studying the positive areas of life where I have felt most safe, is very important to me; what matters to me most is creating a truthful display on a personal topic. My ideas for the development of this project are to capture some still life images around my home, using windows in many compositions with reflections of sunlight being a reminder of hope. An artist that has interested me while researching this type of imagery is Daniel Blaufuks, whose are naturalistic yet orchestrated scenes in his images hold questions around memories and nostalgia. Additionally, I have really connected with the work of Robert Darch and his project ‘Vale’, where he documents rooms in and around his home that he has lived in isolation with throughout his struggles with illness. I would really like to develop my project by taking inspiration from Darch’s photography, possibly capturing moments of countryside walks I would go on when feeling anxious during lockdown or visiting the woodlands I would explore as a child – highlighting the idea of ‘escaping reality’ through made up stories and games to keep my mind away from getting worried or scared. I aim for my final outcome to be a photobook that is able to capture and focus on the positive memories dealing with anxiety, where I’ve felt safe and loved by those around me while also showing moments of fear and realism to contrast.
Have a look at some these questions listed below from the book Photography Decoded authored by curator and writer Susan Bright and curator, writer and photo-historian Hedy van Erp.
How is narrative constructed in the work of Shipla Grupta and Umberto Verdoliva?
Opening quote
Introduction (250-500 words):
I am going to look at the theme of identity within family heritage, childhood, and location, focusing on how photographers create narrative with images. I find this interesting because it adds more depth to an image and creates more meaning. Narrative in photography also creates questions for the viewer and a sense of nostalgia or sentimentality which connects to the viewer, adding more value to a piece. The two photographers I will be looking at are Shilpa Gupta Umberto Verdoliva, I have chosen these two photographers because in their works they both explore storytelling and narrative in their own distinctive ways, looking at unique topics and different photographic processes.
In my current project for Identity, I am looking at location and upbringing by going through my own families archive of images and taking new images from the same locations of the old images around Jersey, focusing on a more photographic approach instead of a casual snapshot. I will take inspiration from both photographers mentioned and create double exposers and split my images in half to create a more interesting set of images.
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.
Looking at both photographers I am studying, realism and pictorialism seem to have an influence on their photographic styles. Pictorialism is an art movement that started in 1880 and came from photographers who wanted to prove photography as an art form. They were heavily influenced by artist of the time and would manipulate their images to make them look more like art. Pictorialists would use techniques like Vaseline on a camera lens to get a blurrier effect, scratching negatives to create a brush stroke effect and mixing chemicals. Realism is an art movement that started in 1915 as a reaction to pictorialism, certain people did not like the manipulation that would go into the pictorialst photographs and wanted to take pictures as they were, providing records of the world.
Alfred Stiegltiz, The Asphalt Paver, NY, 1892, printed 1913.
Edward Weston, Dunes, Oceano, 1936.
Both have abstract approaches to taking photos and often find themselves focusing on shapes and forms. Umberto Verdoliva’s images in his project What is a dream? have a more pictorialist approach to them because they are artier in nature and have been manipulated to create his final outcomes.
Storytelling is something that has been around for a while, since humans could speak and before through cave drawings, in forms of myths, legends, fables, anecdotes, or ballads. A story is a series of related events or experiences which unfold over time, likely to follow the structure of exposition, conflict, climax, resolution. Narrative is not necessarily a story it is also the way a story is told and interpreted. David Campell, professor, and political scientist says that ‘in telling visual stories about the world, photography is narrating the world’ which suggests that narrative aids photography and is more than photography alone which is often linked to context. A photograph is non-verbal in nature and captures a moment in time removed from a timeline, a singular image can tell a story individually, also images put together in a certain way can tell a story through sequencing.
Interpretations of narratives in photography can change the way a viewer looks at an image, whether this be clear with context behind an image, or something left to the viewer to analyse inside their own mind. Photographers developing a visual story should focus on what story they are going to tell and how they are going to communicate this to the viewer.
Narrative in photography can be shown in various ways such as photo collage where each photo represents different events and the contrast between these images creates a relationship to the viewer. Photobooks are also a way of conveying a narrative through photography even though they would not be thought to have a narrative in the sense of a sequence of events unfolding over time. Photobooks concentrate on an overall theme, concept, or idea. This is done by the way they are presented on a page and throughout the book.
Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
My first photographer I will be looking at is Shilpa Gupta who is an Indian artist who uses a broad range of mediums to create her images and artworks, often interactive typically using sculpture, installation, text, photography and audio and visual technology. She creates artworks that focus on human relations, subjectivity, and themes such as desire, conflict, security, technology, borders, and censorship.
I will be looking at her project Altered Inheritances- 100 (Last Name) Stories focusing on the key themes of narrative and family. In this project she looks at family heritage through family names where she presents her images split in half and reassembles them to form a misaligned set of images which she exhibits in a room and the different sets are presented next to one another in a long strip.
Gallery view from Shilpa Gupta, Altered Inheritances- 100 (Last Name) Stories, Pigmented inkjet prints in split frames, 2012-2014.
She takes historical photographs, snapshots, and scans of abstract drawings. The text on the images tells the story from hundreds of different people who had to abandon their last names after crossing boarders and migrating somewhere new. The abstract geometric shapes of the split images with the line split in the middle works as both a divider and connector with framing the isolation from identification and belonging.
This story is similar to what was seen in the Jewish Evacuation during World War 2, migrations of Bengalis from East Bengal to India, or from one place to another. Gupta says this act is ‘a crucial step towards sacrificing your tribe, ancestor, family, parent’ by her misaligned images because if we change our story, we complete something better, inspiring, and practical but we also lose ourselves.
In the exhibition where Shilpa Guptas’ Altered Inheritances is exhibited and Zarina the walls of the gallery and work is installed in the Tyler of a house plan. Divided into different parts of the gallery both artists artworks complement each other and conversing with each other as well as the people who view them.
The house in Zarina’s work turns into the form of the presentation itself in the gallery. Shilpa Gupta looks at the divide in people sharing common culture and the deportation of these people within state boundaries like West Bengal and Bangladesh. These two regions are similar but are part of two countries meaning they attract and repel each other. Gupta looks at the political divide and takes this as the crucial matter that splits communities turning them alien to the other half which can be seen further in her work by the physical divide of her images.
Shilpa Gupta, Altered Inheritances- 100 (Last Name) Stories, Pigmented inkjet prints in split frames, 2012-2014
Shilpa Gupta’s work is inspired by the issues with how south Asians are treated in the gulf and how they survived by changing their names, changing their identity. In the above sequence there is seven split images including images of surfaces, landscapes, and a portrait image.
In the middle of the sequence there is an image of a coastal scene where there is people stood next to a beach with rocks and the sea. Under the image there is a quote that reads, ‘In 1970’s, when he boarded the overnight train to the dream city, he left his surname behind. He chose a new one, something sounding ‘more local’, more Maharashtrian, something that could effectively camouflage his Gujrati back ground. He had been told he would be dealing with several who resisted new entrants into Mumbai. Vaishav Rathore Panchal’ typed in a type-writer front.
Image from above sequence
The image is muted in colour and has a warm tone to it. The texture in the waves, people and rocks creates a high tonal range and makes the overall feel of the image gritty. As this is in the middle of the sequence, the rough texture could indicate the middle of a story where there is usually a turning point in the plot. This could relate to this image as there is a lot of grain which implies that there is more character, something is happening.
The contrast between the people and the sea creates a diagonal divide, cutting the people from the sea, this could link to the cutting of their freedom as the people who were forced to change their names to fit in with a new society lost that freedom of expression and perhaps lost themselves. The image is taken from above looking down which gives the image a different perspective and creates a more interesting point of view.
The quote suggests that there is a serious divide in Mumbai between people who are fleeing to safety and people who already live there which is reflected in the image by the divide between the light and dark from the people and the sea.
At the end of the sequence there is an image of the sky, with the quote, ‘When he was getting married, he wanted him and his wife to have the same name, but felt it was unfair to ask her to take his surname. So they both changed their surnames to something new ‘, handwritten under the image.
Image from above sequence
The image is quite monochrome and only has two colours, being white and blue. There is not much tonal range in the image creating a low contrasting image which is soft in colour. The image is taken from eye-level, in level with the horizon capturing the whole sky as the sole image. The natural daylight from the sky adds to the soft, bright atmosphere, this could be a metaphor because the image is at the end of the sequence and could symbolise a happy, peaceful ending.
Gupta has added a white geometric circle into the centre of the very organic image creating a contrast between them. This creates a divide between the calm and soft background and the harsh crisp circle.
The quote under the image and the blank circle could suggest an empty space, a new beginning for the people who changed their names or could be symbolising heaven where everything is pure and tranquil.
Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
My second photographer I will be looking at is Umberto Verdoliva and his project What is a dream? Focusing on how he has created a narrative through layering images/ multiple exposures. He takes two real moments captured over time and merges them to create a new meaningful and unique image. Recreating a scene, an atmosphere, short reality/snapshot from something that existed in different times and places.
Image from What is a dream?
Image from What is a dream?
He currently lives in Treviso, Italy and produces most his work from the streets of his whereabouts. Umberto Verdoliva’s images are part of street photography which is a genre of photography that records everyday life in public places. Being in the public setting enables the photographer to take candid picturesof strangers, sometimes without them knowing. Street photography does not have to be taken on the streets, the aim of it is to capture culture and lifestyle. Images should tell a story or document a moment. Some street photography is created to make the viewer pause and question themselves.
Verdoliva likes street photography because it has helped him think about his daily routines and life, constantly looking for poetry and beauty in his surroundings and street life around him.
In 2013 he founded ‘SPONTANEA’ which was an Italian group dedicated to street photography, but this ended in 2019. Verdoliva has presented workshops, exhibitions, portfolio readings, presentations and writes articles on photography, showing his passion for the subject.
Verdoliva takes an interesting approach to street photography, looking at angles and geometric, his style being sensitive. Taking ordinary moments and transforming them into something extraordinary to focus on the poetry and significance. All his photographs are made on film and are double exposed to create the effect of two images one which means that preparation is important for his images. Always out and about looking for connections between things and people and the atmosphere/feeling in each place. He creates new realities by merging, mixing element from completely different places. By his precision and careful planning, we learn how attentive he is as a photographer as well as his sure sense of composition and in showing a story in a short fragment in time.
Image from What is a dream?
The image includes a man walking on a pavement into what looks like a plastered picture of a close up shot of a woman, like he is walking into a new world. The street picture is taken at eye level from a slight distance so he could get the man and the pavement in the picture. Verdoliva takes his pictures at random when he is out but plans for possible outcomes. The image has no specific name but is part of his ‘What is a dream?’ series which is about getting the viewer to use their imagination.
The image is in black and white which creates a high tonal range throughout the image emphasising the contrast between light and dark. The lighting would have been from the natural daylight which translates to the images’ softness, it is not harsh and bold, which creates a ghostly feeling as it is light and empty. even though the image has layers to it, it still has a short depth of field and feels 2D. There is a lot of textures in the outcome from the wall in the background, the peeling plaster sheet and the close-up portrait adds to the textures. These create quite harsh lines, like dry brush strokes in a painting, adding depth and grain to the image.
The background image with the man walking follows the rule of third as the horizon is in the bottom third and the main subjects are off centre, creating the perfect composition. The Woman also looks like she is looking over her shoulder as if the man is following her which creates an atmospheric feeling.
The image contains a mixture of geometric and organic shapes like the hair in the portrait of the girl and the run-down wall in the background and geometric shapes like the pavement lines which also is a form of repetition. The white solid line which is the edge of the paper that the man is walking into, could link to the idea of walking into a new world using the Solid white line as a divide between the two places, acting as a door. This creates a dark and eerie mood overall in the image. Verdoliva would have planned this as likes to get people to question themselves and their imaginations while looking at his images especially for this project.
Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
Both artists approach narrative in photography differently but still tell the story they want to be told. They use multiple images to tell a story, Umberto Verdoliva uses double exposures and Gupta uses sequencing. When it comes to the stories themselves that each photographer is trying to portray they are different. Gupta focuses on the history of people migrating to India for safety whereas Verdoliva does not base his narratives on anything, he looks for opportunities around him and tells the story he wants in that moment.
Umberto Verdoliva, Image from What is dream?
Shipla Gupta, Image from Altered Inheritances
Both of their photographic styles also contrast each other, Verdoliva clearly takes his images in a street photography style, capturing things in the moment. In contrast Gupta’s images seem to be more pre meditated in the way that her images are structured. She also includes a lot of objects in her sequences which is very different to street photography that focuses on scenes and people.
My own outcome
When creating my own responses using old family photos and new images I took inspiration from Gupta’s sequences and split my images like she has. In my opinion this links to the divide in time because the old family images are from around 15 years ago and the new images are taken in the present day.
My own outcome
This idea of merging two different moments in time and creating a new outcome also links to Verdoliva’s work because that is what he does with his images and is his main principle behind taking them.
Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
Elena Martinique 2016, Reading the Narrative Photography
Hone in on the identity of a rugby player a part of a team and explore more intimate sides of his life overall telling the story of how identity shifts and how true personality is hard to find.
Begins with introducing a rugby team and sets the scene in terms of the aesthetic qualities of the individuals that belong to this community. The narrative then begins to explore one person in this community acting as a part of this setting. After the introduction of this character the story begins to reveal more about this character such as what car he drives, where he lives, and his other interests. It then begins to tell the story about an emotional side of the character. This will begin by delving into the idea of a façade that the character has adopted. It will break into ideas of a hidden sadness and forced masculinity. The story will conclude with this façade being emphasised as the character is seen back in the original setting.
The story will be told through sequentially ordered and aesthetically thought out images along with the addition of captions and an essay that responds to a question this narrative poses.
Shoot 1:
What – Rugby team, individual player as pert of a team environment
Where – Jersey Reds Rugby Club
Why – To introduce the main subject of the project and give vewier insight into his identity as a part of a rugby team
How – Close focus, high detail, fast shutter speed
When – at a evening training session
Shoot 2 :
What – Shoot the subject in a more intimate way to explore his individual identity away from other people. Shoot his house, his car, his family etc
When – During the whole day, a Sunday where he is at home
How – interrogate the subject by his use of central framing and and neutrally arranged compositions. crisp detail while laying down a blanket of warm hues used to accentuate gestural echoes, emotion, plays of light and texture.
Why – It then begins to tell the story about an emotional side of the character. This will begin by delving into the idea of a façade that the character has adopted.
Where – Subject house
Shoot 3
What – The subject back in a social environment at the pub with his teammates
When – during a social event
Why – façade being emphasised as the character is seen back in the original setting.
How – interrogate the subject by his use of central framing and and neutrally arranged compositions. crisp detail while laying down a blanket of warm hues used to accentuate gestural echoes, emotion, plays of light and texture.
Doug DuBois (born 1960) is an American photographer living in Syracuse, New York.
Most of DuBois’s photographs are portraits, and he is best known for his intimate family shots. He is part of a group of contemporary American photographers, including Philip Lorca diCorcia, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman and Tina Barney, who have depicted domestic spaces predicting transformations of family life in a “tide wave of individualism and late capitalist aspirations”.
During Doug’s tertiary education studying a Bachelor of Arts, his father experienced a near fatal accident and spent several years recuperating at home. Dubois noted the process as a “Kind of emotional protection”. His mother was the primary caregiver of his father and during this time Doug experienced the decent of his mother into a deep depression resulting in subsequent decay of his parents marriage as well as the maturation of his siblings. family portraits formed the basis for a group of works around his family that would continue for twenty-four years and eventually be published by Aperture as a picture book titled All the Days and Nights. DuBois’ concern for his family, both himself and others, was also evident in a later set of photographs, “Avella”, which presented life in the mining town Avella, where his father grew up. Themes of economic turmoil and provincial life are also central to a recent series of photographs by DuBois, published under the title My Last Day at Seventeen. This is the project I want will be taking inspiration from for my project. This is because Doug is able to unveil the true identity of the subjects in this project. He does this by capturing the scene in which they live and their personal styles that give us great personal insight into the subjects he shoots. His work forces the viewer to interrogate the subject by his use of central framing and and neutrally arranged compositions. His images are usually taken with a 4 x 5 large format camera which allow his to capture great amounts of crisp detail while laying down a blanket of warm hues used to accentuate gestural echoes, emotion, plays of light and texture.
The above image is part of Doug’s collection; “My Last Day at Seventeen”. This collection was published in 2015 and was a project to highlight themes of economic turmoil and provincial life as well as the idea of teenagers coming of age in these conditions. “Doug DuBois was first introduced to a group of teenagers from the Russell Heights housing estate while he was an artist-in-residence at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, on the southwest coast of Ireland. He was fascinated by the insular neighbourhood, in which “everyone seems to be someone’s cousin, former girlfriend, or spouse.” Little can happen there that isn’t seen, discussed, distorted beyond all reason, and fiercely defended against any disapprobation from the outside. DuBois gained entry when Kevin and Eirn (two participants of a workshop he taught) took him to a local hangout spot, opening his eyes to a world of not-quite-adults struggling — publicly and privately — through the last days of their childhood. Over the course of five years, DuBois returned to Russell Heights. People came and left, relationships formed and dissolved, and babies were born. Combining portraits, spontaneous encounters, and collaborative performances, the images in My Last Day at Seventeen exist in a delicate balance between documentary and fiction. A powerful follow-up to DuBois’ acclaimed first book, All the Days and Nights, this volume provides an incisive examination of the uncertainties of growing up in Ireland today, while highlighting the unique relationship sustained between artist and subject” .
The image features a natural lighting scheme which brings authenticity to the idea of capturing the true nature of the location as well as the subject. This allows the image to be consistently exposed with no artistic efforts to create a darker mood but rather to capture detail from the scene. The image has a warm hue which accentuates a homely mood and the orange hair and warm skin of the Irish teenager. This hue helps achieve a smooth glow over the whole image.
Doug uses a narrow aperture to ensure both the Irish boy as well as the whole kitchen is in focus, this allows the viewer to see the coffee cups and the curtains and the syrup which gives insight into the subject and the themes of economic turmoil and provincial life.
The subject is positioned slightly left of centre frame, this allows focus to be placed equally on the subject and the scene around him to place focus on the aesthetic of provincial housing. It also gives the image a unique shape.
The subject is seen to have his head resting on his hand with his facial expressions signalling he is unimpressed or bored. This presents ideas of growing up in an impoverished neighbourhood as an Irish teenager that Dubois was trying to capture.
Tom Jenkins
To develop my project I have researched the field of of sport photography and take inspiration from proficient artists in this field. Tom Jenkins is a sports photographer who has been shooting sports for over 3 decades and has recieved a number of awards for his work across many different sports. I want to analyse his work regarding rugby.
Canon Ambassador Tom Jenkins attached his Canon camera and L-series lens to a stadium lighting rig over the rugby pitch to take this aerial shot. It gave him a unique perspective of a dramatic moment just short of the try line in a Rugby World Cup 2015 match between Wales and Fiji in Cardiff.
“A passion for sport and an understanding of it, the ability to perform under pressure, fast reflexes and physical fitness: the skillset required of a professional sports photographer isn’t dissimilar to that required of an athlete.“
The sport of rugby is a physically demanding sport which can be compared to that of a violent war between two teams, Tom takes this element of chaotic rampage and captures a dramatic point in time emphasising the beauty of the sport which can be related to a dance troupe rather than a war. He uses close focus and crisp detail to capture the intense emotions of individual players rather than the whole picture of what is happening in the rugby game.
The above image was taken by Tom in 2016. It is of a rugby game between two local English town clubs. What is pictured is a part of the game of rugby called a ‘line out’ where a player throws the ball from the touch line/border of the field to his team mates who are hoisted into the air and have to take control of the ball while their opponents try to do the same. The image is given its highly theatrical and dramatic feel from the way Tom uses natural light. The image is back lit meaning the light is shining from behind the players making them look like silhouettes which adds a romanticised aesthetic to the image. The natural light gives the image a warm hue and further adds to the romanticised sky in the background. This warm dramatic aesthetic presents the theme of rugby being more than just an aggressive, hyper-masculine sport but rather a thing of beauty.
Tom uses a narrow aperture and a low ISO to add the dramatic, underexposed composition as well as get the background as well as the foreground in focus. Tom used a very fast shutter speed in this image to capture a fast moving scene with little motion blur, this is something common amongst most sports photography, however, many sports photographers have experimented with a slower shutter speed to emphasise and capture the speed of rugby.
Mark Kolbe
Other considerable artist inspirations for this project
How does Cindy Sherman or Martine Gutierrez represent and mimic stereotypes in their photography?
Introduction
“The artist disappears, no one knows where he went, he leaves his signs here and there he is seen in this part of town and, the next moment, miraculously, on the other side of town. One sense him rather than sees him- A Lounger, a drunkard, a tennis-player, a bicycle rider, always violent denying that he did. Everyone gives a different description of the criminal.”– Ray Gun
Cindy Sherman is well known for her different costumes interpretations and her masquerades, in fact when Cindy Sherman was just a child, she loved to play dress up and she would create elaborate costumes out of a trunk of old clothes, many of which belonged to her great grandmother. As her career in photography blossomed, she would search flea markets to uncover old clothes, where she began to be inspired by the people surrounding her. Within her photography, she played a distinctive character in each of her shoots, creating identities much like Hitchcock’s heroes, a busty Monroe, an abused victim, a corpse, a cowgirl, a desperate clown and more on. Was her dressing up an escape? ” If you don’t like me this way, how about you like me this way?” “Or maybe you like this version of me.” (Cindy Sherman in Reilly, 2018) This reinforces the symbolism. She uses multiple characters in her photography to show a sense of diversity and mimic the numerous stereotypes that she came across. It is amazing how many characters Cindy Sherman can play at once. It is not just the way she poses. The style, the clothes, the accessories, the make-up, the decorations, the light, the gestures of expression, the framing are as important to create the ”Mise-en-scene”. Martine Gutierrez is the artist with whom I can identify with the most. In her photos, fashion is especially important. They help to represent stereotypes of indigenous women. Her images have an eccentric style, common gold, a mixture of pop and Indigenous culture. The colours and details in some of her images are fascinating and she uses Guatemalan textiles from her family’s collection styled with jewellery, bananas, high heels, and other accessories. She illustrates a contemporary living history, not one that is just buried and dismantles the tropes of nostalgia and poverty that are stereotypically associated with indigenous identity, to quote the artist. Her photos also confront the message of the long and harmful history of the fashion industry and how they appropriate of the Indigenous culture. “ Fashion is a good veneer for making people to look at what otherwise might make them feel uncomfortable”(Martine Gutierrez, 2018, artist magazine) For my own photographic responses I am intending to address Mexican stereotypes using masquerade. The name “Masquerade” takes up the theme of the “mask”. It is an intriguing subject to perform in photography since it hides the real face and therefore allows you to change your appearance without changing your identity. I will explore fashion and elements of clothing and how both males and females’ dress. The styling of the images that I make in response will reference a fashion shoot but also include parody.
In 1977 Cindy Sherman began a series named Untitled Film Stills. I find this series very captivating since she exposes the stereotype of women in classic movies from the 50’s /60’s that we feel we must have seen. Sherman usually dresses very feminine, using make-up, wigs, and different poses to mimic the portrayal of women who are passive and sexualised conforming to male fantasies. Sherman always uses the male gaze by representing women in underwear, heavy make-up, or typically feminine costumes, to criticise this stereotype. She is disguising herself in different female roles like a sex object, career girl, housewife. Between 1970 and 1980 a debate emerged in photography by feminist. Criticizing Hollywood classics Laura Mulvey argued how women were portrayed in these films, they are only there for the pleasure of male viewers. In his seminal book Ways of Seeing (1972), art critic John Berger wrote, ”men look at women. Women watched themselves being looked at. This determined not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves” (Berger in Wells 2003: 324). Mulvey also noted that between the camera framing the woman and the point of view of the male character looking at the woman’s character attract the audience. Reinforces the objectification of women in media. But the debate does not stop there since women in addition to being objected they have to have a specific appearance often young, slim and light-skinned. Latinos in the western media are the same, they have a specific physique. Latinas are exotic, seen with tanned brown hair and luscious lips. Men have long black mustacho, black hair, taint, small. Feminists also have argued that nudity in photography or in art is masquerade, it is an excuse to contemplate nudity, even if it is depicted in an abstract or pleasing way.
In her photography, Martine Gutierrez produces narrative scenes that use elements of pop culture to play with personal and collective identity in terms of race, gender, class, and culture. Indigenous woman is a fictional fashion magazine that features editorials detailed through Gutierrez’s work controlling her own identity. She is her own editor, model, photographer, stylist make-up, designer, and author. Gutierrez wonders how identity is formed, how it expresses itself, values itself and weighted. The magazine is a celebration of Mayan Indian heritage, it is constantly evolving, the magazine investigates the ways in which our sense of self is socially constructed and makes us ask more questions that we do not have the answers to. Throughout the indigenous woman, Gutiérrez challenges the stereotypes and the limitation that one can have in their identity that is imposed by white supremacy and colonialism. In her exhibition she reconstructs certain advertisements with a touch of parody. These skits explicitly illustrate these themes and allow you to express yourself more openly. Like on the tagline that appears on the cover girl’s mascara ad ”maybe she is born with it maybe it’s white supremacy”(Martine Gutierrez, cover girl ad, Indigenous Woman p43) and another advertisement for whitening soap features on the label is written ”keep out of eyes, keep away from children, animals, natural resources and indigenous cultures. Destroys everything on contact”(Martine Gutierrez, white wash ad, Indigenous Woman p13) .As the magazine letter to the editor states ” Indigenous woman marries the traditional to the contemporary, the native to the postcolonial and marginalized to the mainstream. In the pursuit of genuine selfhood revealing cultural inequities along the way’‘ Another interesting series she has is her series of demons called Deities of the ancient world resurrected in hair. She use element of masquerade to represent Aztec Gods. Gutiérrez is dressed in gold jewellery, masks, and a crown made of braided hair. They are Aztec gods that manifest concepts of love, duality, wealth… The artist said: “I was looking for an iconography that would celebrate the bodies of the binary deities even larger than the bodies because, in general, we tend to see ourselves in the image of a god, whatever that god is”.(Martine Gutierrez, 2018 Indigenous woman p92)
I have used this essay to investigate how Cindy Sherman and Martine Gutierrez use elements of mimic and stereotypes in their photographs to express what they see in their surroundings and the media (such as films, advertising, etc.) Thanks to these artists, I learned how to express my feelings with a touch of humour in relation to the stereotypes of Latinos in my photography. They each adopt the same approach for different battles, Martine Gutierrez wants to show the beauty of indigenous culture while Cindy Sherman wants to fight for the women’s paper in Hollywood classics. I learned about the feminists like Laura Mulvey that fought for women’s role in the media during the 70s. Which led to artist like Cindy Sherman to mock those stereotypes. After doing research for the essay I discovered more personal matter about both artists, Since a little kid Cindy Sherman love the idea of costumes and imitate people she saw on the streets. For Martine Gutiérrez it is important to demonstrate her culture, Indigenous Woman is a resource to reflect on heritage and narrative.
Bibliography:
Wells, L. (ed), (2003), The Photographer Reader. London: Routledge
Reilly, M. (ed), (2018), Courtesy the artist and Metro pictures. New York
My area of study is going to be how the bible and how it can be expressed through photography.
The artists I will be studying is going to be Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. This is because they have used bible quotes and incorporated an image corresponding to that quote. In a similar way I will do the same; choose a bible quote that I relate to and make an image corresponding to it.
I will also look into David LaChapelle because he has made interesting photographs that successfully relate to the bible
Pg 1.
surreal photography
what is it
when did it occur
biblical renaissance paintings
Pg 2.
Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin
who are they
what do they do
a famous project that relates to the bible and photography
image analysis
Pg 3.
David LaChappela
biography
Jesus My homeboy project
image analysis
Conclusion
similarities and differences between the artists
how their projects relate to each other
different ism both explored
how successful I find that the bible has been portrayed through photography – is it blasphemous is it simply a way to visualise the bible, etc.
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