Martine Gutierrez is an American artist born 1989. She has become a published musician and producer, featured by several fashion houses including Dior and Acne. As a photographer, Martin explores the relationship between gender, identity, and perception, redefining and reshaping boundaries through the staged photograph.
Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 in New Jersey. She is an American photographer. She is best known for her imagery, particularly her “disguised” self-portraits, which generally criticize social role-playing and sexual stereotypes. Sherman presents viewers with an ambiguous portrayal of women as sex objects. Sherman stated that the series was “about the fakeness of role-playing as well as contempt for the domineering ‘male’ audience who would mistakenly read the images as sexy.” She is her own model in her photographs, using wigs and costumes that evoke images from the realms of advertising, television, film, and fashion and that, in turn, challenge the cultural stereotypes supported by these media.
Feminism?
Sherman and Gutierrez both participate in making image which reflects femenism.In 2014 Martine Gutierrez created a series called Girlfriends. Girlfriends is a series of black-and-white images in which Martine Gutierrez poses with a single mannequin, They were composed and taken in upstate New York at Gutierrez’s grandmother’s cabin. It is evident that Gutierrez’s use of mannequins is as girlfriends, as in many of her works of art. But Gutierrez also uses the mannequin to soulign the mannequin’s idealistic appearance. Especially in its artificiality, it is the “perfect” body, comparing with the reality of the imperfect human body. Despite the hundreds of portraits toying with female stereotypes that Cindy Sherman has produced throughout her career, Sherman’s big artistic break came with the “Untitled Film Stills.” To make the series, the artist served as both photographer and subject, transforming herself with makeup, wigs, and elaborate costumes into figures that recalled the movie stars of an earlier generation. With the series Serman explains how ridiculous it is that women in movies are always young, thin and pretty.
Image analysis
Girlfriends anita and marie 7 (2014)
In the image of Gutierrez there are two female characters, the two characters look identical but when you look closely you can realize that one of them is actually a mannequin. The outdoor environment makes me think of a scene in Forest Gump that happens in the southwestern United States. But the sitting seems to be a Mise in Scene, it is clear that this is not reality or the artist is using a background. We can say by the fact that you can see in the background at the top of the sky some undulating parts. Including the mannequin and using a background are the choices the artist made. She make us wonder who or what in this image are real. What are we defining real? Cindy Sherman is also in what we might consider the American Southwest. She’s sitting in a tree, which would be an unusual thing to discover out there, that makes it seem like it could also be taken in a studio. Like in Martine Gutierrez image we wonder what’s real or is the setting real? But this time Cindy Serman chose to just use her as a model in her image.
Robert Darch (1979 – present) is a British artist-photographer based in the South West of England, he studied at Plymouth University and holds an MFA with distinction in Photographic Arts and a MA with distinction in Photography & the Book. He also has a BA with honours in Documentary Photography from Newport, Wales. A quote from Darch’s website about his work reads ‘His practice is motivated by the experience of place, in which the physical geography and material cultures of places merge with impressions from contemporary culture that equally influence perception. From these varied sources, both real and imagined, he constructs narratives that help contextualise a personal response to place.‘ This statement is what initially drew me to Darch’s work, his way of capturing a sense of a person’s identity within a place is something I would really like to respond to and reflect on. In 2018, Darch released his first published photobook titled ‘The Moor’ which depicts a fictionalised dystopian future situated on the bleak moorland landscapes of Dartmoor. Drawing on childhood memories of Dartmoor alongside influences from contemporary culture, the narrative references local and universal mythology to give context but suggests something altogether more unknown. I see Darch’s work as a subtle hint towards romanticism, showing the misty, idyllic and aesthetically pleasing areas of the English countryside while holding deeper meanings surrounding mental health and societal issues.
Vale – By Robert Darch
Darch’s project ‘Vale’ has been the most inspirational source for my personal investigation, at the age of 22 Darch suffered from a minor stroke, followed by a period of ill-health which would affect him for the majority of his twenties. As a coping mechanism during convalescence, he retreated into a world of fictional narratives, of indoor spaces and eventually a physical move back to his familial home of Devon. Slowly, he began to reset his narratives, his place in the world, and the expectations of his youth. An unseen enemy threatening his own body and psyche was mitigated by escapism and wish-fulfilment. They way Darch captures fantasy juxtaposed with realism in his work is something I would really like to replicate during my project. While Darch’s illness had more physical effects on his body, my project will focus on the mental effects of illness – I believe his work still relates to the mind and can be viewed in several ambiguous lights. An extract from Darch’s website on Vale reads; “The fictional worlds into which Darch escaped, exhibited characteristics which were at once benign and threatening. An interest in the English sense of the eerie had been with him since childhood, notably the writings of James Herbert, the Dartmoor of Conan Doyle and such touchstones of ‘coming-of-age’ cinema as Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me. As Darch’s period of retreat from the world lengthened, further influences were incorporated into this mix, from British standouts such as Jonathon Miller’s Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) to the Italian Giallo film movement of the 1970s and the atmospheric and psychological Japanese horror revival of the early 2000s. Vale is a result of this percolation and loss. It is the fictional space where Darch is able to relive and re-imagine a lost period in his life, journeys with friends both through physical spaces and through time. On one level its subjects could act as stand-ins, allowing him to explore winding rivers in late summer evenings, empty country roads and ancient English woodlands. But as the journey continues, multiple readings quickly become apparent. Despite possibly providing a positive escape from Darch’s ‘vale of despond’, it is the sense of the eerie which becomes unavoidable.”
The whole concept on Darch’s work in ‘Vale’ has inspired me to create images that follow fictional narratives, a story to escape the frantic modern world similar to ones I’d create as a child. Bringing back memories of places I would go to get away from the trivialities of life, woodland walks, rooms around the home, family gardens etc – I would like to revisit these places and create a sequence of fictional realities. The topic of anxiety in children and young people has often had simplified and quite belittling representation, in this project I aim to take inspiration from Darch to show these issues through landscapes and abstraction, provoking thoughts from the observer on the topic.
‘Vale’ Images –
Josef Sudek
Josef Sudek (1896-1976) was a Czech photographer, extremely well-known for his work on still-life photography as well as black and white images of Prague, interiors and landscapes. Prior to taking an interest in photography, Sudek worked as an apprentice bookbinder before serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War, when he was wounded and subsequently lost his right arm to amputation. He was a member of the Prague Club for Amateur Photographers from 1920-24, and studied photography at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague from 1922-1924. Much of Sudek’s early work was inspired by that of Clarence White, who espoused a Pictorialist approach to light and form – something I would like to experiment with during my personal investigation. Many of Sudek’s most memorable images were taken from the window of his small studio, documenting his humble courtyard during changing weather and light conditions. During the 1920s, Sudek created a series of photographs of disabled Czech soldiers; in 1927 he was one of the founding members of the renegade Czech Photographic Society, dedicated to documentary photography. His series of photographs of the renovation of the St. Vitus Cathedral in which he juxtaposed architectural details of the cathedral with the abstract forms of workers’ tools won him the title of official photographer for the city of Prague in 1928. Nevertheless, the area of Sudek’s work that intrigues me the most is his documentation of flowers, usually stood in clear vases near his studio windows. The way Sudek documented changes in weather, atmosphere and seasons in his still-life images portrays to me the idea of as the surroundings change, reality changes too. Sudek once said “Everything around us, dead or alive, in the eyes of a crazy photographer mysteriously takes on many variations,” he explained, “so that a seemingly dead object comes to life through light or by its surroundings.”
Sudek’s Pictorialism Influences
Sudek was influenced by the concerns of Impressionism, Pictorialism, and Czech Poetism, but throughout his life, remained faithful to his own stylistic and emotional proclivities of introspection. His work holds the same dream-like, soft atmospheres that many other Pictorialist photographers captured, for example the work of Alfred Stieglitz and his study of clouds in ‘Equivalents’. Sudek’s use of windows, documenting overcast foggy days through frosted glass, additionally adds to his Pictorialist style – his use of light and aperture settings creates this soft blur around his subject flowers, almost replicating that of an oil painting. As Sudek was creating and photographing during the change of an art movement from Pictorialism to Modernism throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, his work holds an almost vintage feel when compared to those being created during the same time period. I believe his photography has a mystery and ambiguity to it, the images can be observed and analysed in such different ways as his influences at the time were slowly leaving what was ‘in fashion’ or expected during this development in art movements. The soft blurs and focus of Sudek’s still life photography is something I would like to experiment and work with during my personal study, however I have the idea to not use the same sepia tones as Sudek, and instead try editing in a less vibrant, toned down colour to relate and link up more with the work of Robert Darch, representing escapism and realities.
Sudek’s Still Life Images –
Artist’s link to physical illness;
Both chosen artists have gone through difficult points in their lives, with Darch suffering from a stroke at a young age and Sudek losing his arm during the war. In respect to my project, both artists have used photography as a method of escapism from an illness/disorder that had impaired them throughout their life – I would like to explore how elements of their images may have deeper meanings in regards to symbolism of weakness or hope. Although Sudek’s images are not known to have been made with his impairment in mind, I can still recognise themes of optimism in a time of ill-health through his project; as if the flowers are symbols of life continuing, adapting in a new environment after being cut down from their home plant – they are still able to live in a singular glass of water, therefore hinting towards hope. Nevertheless, Darch’s work noticeably conveys a sense of escaping from reality through vibrant colours, dream-like compositions and golden hues that relay this idea of ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’. Though Darch reflects his sickness throughout his project, it is done subtly, with Darch himself stating ‘during the illness I no longer wanted to turn the camera inwards, to linger on the reality of my situation, preferring to lose myself in fictional constructs of the mind’. This fictionality in his work is honest and raw, giving the observer a glimpse into his mind where he would create narratives to escape from his own dismal one, yet still showing his optimistic outlook on life. Though these artists focus on physical illness, I would like to use their style of photography, however looking at the effects of mental illness throughout my life.
As a unit we began to learn about the vast world of animation. This was done by receiving a presentation from an animator from Jersey, Liam Nunn.
Liam Nunn has spent over a decade smashing the creative industry with precision, energy and finesse. Working with many brilliant people on oodles of ravishing campaigns – including multiple locally and nationally award-winning ones. A multi-disciplined media monster, Liam was once described by a colleague as “quite good but sometimes a bit bizarre.” Wait…
Fact #1 Liam once illustrated an award-winning dog poo.
Fact #2 Liam is a three-time professional wrestling tag team champion of the world and he probably owns more spandex than you do. Gosh!
Fact #3 Liam produced a whopping 52 weekly self-portraits over the course of a year just for larks. You can see them here.
He began by giving an in-depth power-point regarding the basics of what animation is. From this I learnt about the intrecacies of animation in as a carreer in the industry and the different types of animators, for example;
2D animator.
3D animator.
Background artist.
Character animator.
Clean-up artist.
Digital ink and paint artist.
Image editor.
Key frame animator.
I gained a unique point of knowledge regarding the nature of how something can be made to look natural when being animated
Liam then proceeded to further my knowledge on Adobe After Effects, an important piece of software for any kind of animation.
He created a template for us to start experimenting with called a rig. I then learnt how to keyframe an animation together using the stopwatch tool
And the rig controls Liam set up for us
The following is my experiment with this animation template:
Cindy Sherman (1954-present) is an American filmmaker and photographer who focuses her work on critiquing themes of gender and identity. In her early years Sherman created fine art, however abandoned painting for photography while attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, and in 1976, moved to New York to pursue a career as a photographer. Her work has been the subject of many museum exhibitions, including those at The Museum of Modern Art in 2019, and at the National Portrait Gallery, in London during 2019. Sherman captures self portraits, her most notable body of work are her ‘Untitled Film Stills’ which feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses, and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising – all captured in black and white. In the film stills, rather than quoting from recognizable movies, Sherman suggests genres, resulting in characters that emerge as personality types instead of specific actresses. The first six images of the series depict the same blonde actress at various stages of her career. Later, the character appears as a seductress, waiting at home for her lover – then afterwards Sherman might be seen as the trope of the diligent, stay-at-home wife who remains attractive and available to her husband.
Sherman’s Film Stills have been described as “a hybrid of photography and performance art that reveals femininity to be an effect of representation.”. Sherman states “I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite,” she reflected. “It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side.” Sherman on being a female photographer; “There’s a theory that there were so many women photographers at the time because we felt nobody else was doing it. We couldn’t or didn’t really want to go into the male-dominated painting world, so since there weren’t any artists who were using photographs, we thought, ‘well, yeah, let’s just play with that.’ “
I love the way Sherman can create such a strong narrative in her images, each one tells a story and forms some sort of message towards the representation of women. Her style of photography is so interesting to me, her images are intimate and close, allowing the observer to feel connected to her scene. The black and white filter also evokes a sense of melancholy in her work, and her exaggerated ‘feminine poses’ seem to mock the portrayal of women in a patriarchal society. Her work holds strong links to feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, and her ideas on ‘The Male Gaze’ stating; visual media that respond to masculine voyeurism tends to sexualise women for a male viewer. This sexism within the film industry is what Sherman has captured in her Untitled Film Stills, shedding light on the negativity of some feminine stereotypes.
In our project, we really want to take inspiration from Sherman’s series of images by replicating her stereotypical style and narratives. The ‘house-wife’ character is one we wish to represent in our NFT film, using ideas surrounding what stereotypically ‘should be a woman’s place’ and filming in the setting of a kitchen. We plan on our images holding hints towards a woman’s innocence eg, wearing white flowing dresses etc to show her purity and goodness. As we plan on using these shots in the early stages of our project, the timeline will begin in the first wave of feminism and will hold reference to the suffragette/suffragist movement of the late 1800’s – mid 1900’s.
Clare Rae – Never Standing On Two Feet
Clare Rae is an artist and photographer from Melbourne Australia, in her photographic practice Clare explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is informed by the feminist theory, and presents an alternate and often awkward experience of subjectivity and the female body, usually the artists’ own. In 2017, Rae undertook an artist’s residency with Archisle: the Jersey Contemporary Photography Programme to research the archive of Claude Cahun works held by Jersey Heritage. It was during this time that she created the photographic series ‘Never Standing on Two Feet’, paying a homage to avant-garde artist Claude Cahun (1894-1954), drawing upon Cahun’s photographic archive to explore the female body, self-hood, ritual and the male gaze in cultural and geographical landscapes.
A quote from Clare Rae, on ‘Never Standing on Two Feet’ – “My series, Never standing on two feet, considers Cahun’s engagement with the physical and cultural landscapes of Jersey, an aspect of her work that has received little analysis to date. The photographs Cahun produced in Jersey are intimate. They explore an idea of self within the immediate environment and were produced in collaboration with her lover, Marcel Moore. Many threads of inquiry emerged for me while viewing the archive: Cahun’s performative photographic gestures; the nature of photographic performance for a lover; and the repercussions of imaging a woman’s body aging over time, to name a few.”
I really enjoy the way Rae’s self-portraits explore the coastal geography and Neolithic monuments of Jersey, relating body to place and creating a sense of mystery. Similar to how Cahun used self-portraiture to subvert the dominance of the male gaze, Rae has created a series of images that tease at the idea of women’s bodies being objectified, and women fighting back against this. As her portraits show parts of her body hidden away by the landscape, it conveys the ideas of 3rd Wave Feminism and the fighting women did for equal rights (including pay, reproductive rights, the ERA etc) during the early 90’s and 2000’s. The monochrome filter on these photographs creates an interesting atmosphere of mystery and sadness, representing the oppression of women still holding significance in society as time moves on.
For our community NFT project, we wish to take inspiration from Clare Rae’s ideas on women standing up for what they believe in and taking action towards their oppression. We have the idea to represent Women’s Rights Activism throughout the late 20th Century, using Rae’s technique of hiding parts of a woman’s body to make a statement on its constant sexualisation. We wish to do this by using a woman’s rights poster in shot, which will be lifted to hide our models torso as she walks past the camera – demonstrating activism, and hinting towards the exploitation of women.
Lissa Rivera – Beautiful Boy
Lissa Rivera is a photographer based in New York, she received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, where she became fascinated with the social history of photography and the evolution of identity, sexuality and gender in relationship to material culture. Rivera grew up in a small town, without much excitement or things to do, therefore she had to create this excitement and wonder herself in order to capture images of meaning and significance. Most of Rivera’s images are staged and hold an almost regal atmosphere to them – her style of photography is expressive and vibrant, something our group wants to portray during our NFT film. Our group discovered Rivera from her project ‘Beautiful Boy’, where Rivera and her domestic partner use staged portraiture as an expressive way to explore male/female identity and reclaim a personal definition of beauty.
A statement Lissa Rivera made about her project in ‘Metal Magazine’; “Beautiful boy was born out of a series of conversations between my friend BJ and I about femininity, fantasy and gender. At the time we were not in a romantic relationship and had no idea of the future. On a subway ride home from a queer film screening, BJ (who is now my sweetheart) confessed that they preferred to be feminine and often wore dresses. In college he was able to be open about his gender expression, but since moving to the city and taking on a new job, it had become more complicated. We spoke about the struggles that we both felt with femininity, how femininity is still considered weaker and less valuable in our culture. I offered to take BJ’s portrait, so that he could see himself.” Additionally, Rivera states “It is important to show his femininity as strength. I want to feel empowered as well, and to have an intimate muse. Together we investigate feminine fantasies presented throughout the history of photography and cinema. The project is a way to “step inside” images that we have found alluring and examine what it is like to live each scenario out. We explore both our captivation and our ambivalence towards these depictions of femininity. By presenting my partner within the lineage of great beauties and populating the media with our images, we are reclaiming in our voice what is attractive and beautiful.”
I love the way that Rivera can capture such innocence and bravery in these images – they inspire and break gender norms that societies have created over the years. The compositions of her photographs hold symmetry and leading lines which draw the observers view towards the main subject. I really enjoy Rivera’s use of monochrome colours in her images, the blocky pinks, blues and browns hint at ideas of simplicity in a world of chaos – where one can truly be themselves without judgement or oppression. This theme is one we wish to take from Rivera’s work, the idea of being free as yourself, feeling comfortable in your femininity and allowing yourself to feel confident without the need for it to be sexualised.
For our NFT project, we are aiming to take inspiration from Rivera’s regal setting and style of photography. The curtains, chandeliers and extravagant wallpapers are all aspects we wish to replicate during our photoshoot due to their link with confidence, power and authority – all of which a woman must fight hard to have. We have the idea to use Rivera-style videos/images at the end of our community project, representing the timeline of women’s rights with this ending demonstrating empowerment and luxury.
For our NFT shoot video we want to represent feminism in each decade. We choose those feminist artists because their work express the same way we want to demonstrate our statement. Will use this artist in the same order.
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman wanted to expose the image of women in society and the media. For this she experienced with photography and cinema. The artist’s goal was to create a more critical viewing, She involves her art to show social criticism hoping to sensitize subsequent generations of viewers. She began by painting in a super-realistic style in an art school in the aftermath of American feminism and in the 70s Sherman turned to photography in order to expand his exploration of women’s roles in society. Sherman sought to question the seductive and often oppressive influence of women in the media. Turning the camera on herself in an extensive fantasy Hollywood role-playing game, fashion, mass advertising, and “girl next door” roles and poses, Sherman finally drew her audience’s attention to the powerful machines and makeup behind the countless images circulating in an ever-public and “hip” culture. Sexual desire and domination, the creation of self-identity are hidden behind Sherman’s vast series of self-portraits in various forms. Sherman’s work is central to the era of intense consumerism and image proliferation in the late 20th century.
Clare Rae
In her photographic practice, Clare Rae explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is informed by feminist theory, and presents an alternate and often awkward experience of the female body. Known for her engagement with domestic and institutional spaces, Rae’s work has recently been captured and exhibited in locations such as the National Gallery of Victoria, Monash University, the Abbotsford Convent, Sutton Project Space and the Substation, Melbourne.
Lissa Rivera
Lissa Rivera challenge the standard, expected norms of what identity and gender are in the medias. Lissa Rivera’s photographie is reliant to her personal history, she always felt unconmfortable by the expectations that were put on her to be feminine in a certain way. She feels that part of your identity had to do with what you see: by looking at pictures, movies or even videos online. People to adapt themselves to culture. Her photographies are a way to feel like home. She takes pictures of her partner BJ. Together they explore identity in relionships. Bj being an art historian, Lissa Rivera’s photographies are inpired of art history. In these collection Rivera takes pictures of the vulnerability and emotions of her partner she find beauty in it.
Davy Evans is an award winning multi-disciplinary artist and designer based in Brighton. With a background in graphic design, Evans fuses practical effects and digital techniques to create ethereal abstract imagery. He often manipulates light and liquid to replicate colour, form, and distortions inspired by natural phenomena. His work is combined into beautiful still, eyewatering creations:
And also animated distortive art visuals:
His works combine real life natural elements such as flowers with hyper realistic and futuristic astrophysical elements into one hypnotic visual. His work makes me use big words like I just did; to describe what is to be seen in Davy’s work is quite a challenge as it is so out of this world. Davys work sets a bar for what is possible for the future of digital art and the world of NFT’s.
His work inspires th efuture of art, not only for how evolutianary and digitaly advanced it is but also for how he creates it, remembering the basics of the creative process.
“I try to play with new materials and photography techniques whenever I can, allowing for happy accidents to form organically,” he says. “I like the challenge of making something out of nothing; for example, I’ll often try to use everyday household items to create effects.”
I want to include the digital design and colourful abstract elements of Davy’s work into my NFT project.
The above image is from Evans latest series during the UK’s lockdown from the Covid Pandemic. He created this work using the simplicity of flowers, water and glass. The simplicity of the arrangement adds to the absurdity of the artwork. Turning simple elements into such a complex looking, hypnotic piece.
The composition of the piece is chaotic with many elements for the eye to take in. The water droplets forming perfect cell like structure in the foreground combined with the colour they adapt taken from the flower in the background, make for a staggering piece. The image looks like a digital artwork with how supernatural it looks. Colour leaks into every corner of the composition, leaving no pixel monochrome. For how abstract the image is, Davy still manages to include tonal elements, some of the pink/salmon areas of the flower are bright and highlighted, while in the centre of the composition and the frames of the waterdrops, we see shading. I also like the blend of cool and warm temperatures in the same composition.
William is an artist from my hometown Johannesburg, South Africa. Unlike the majority of successful white South Africans, he still lives there, and operates out of the heart of ‘Jozi’. He makes drawings which he often turns into animated films. Sometimes there are also performers in front of the animated film and his work integrates into a theatrical piece. He describes this as a ‘drawing in four dimensions’. His process all starts from charcoal drawings. He uses charcoal for a varied number of reasons but mainly its flexibility, room for change and experimentation in the animation process. “You can change charcoal as quickly as you can change your mind”.
Charcoal is easy to erase and it has an abundant granularity to it. Its tonal range is good for photographing. It is also not as meticulous as other art mediums and has a speed and flow that the artist can adopt. William creates his animations frame by frame. This means his process involves making slight adjustments, step by step, and making photographs in between each adjustment. This proves to be a timely method and therefore the speed the charcoal adapts it important.
Williams normal animation setup in his studios include a physical walk from the camera to the canvas where his drawings are made. His frame by frame process involves his walking between the camera and the canvas hundreds of times. He describes this process as a physical but also mental process when new ideas are suggested.
William believes that art needs an initial impulse which has to be enough to get the first drawing done and then in the physical activity of making the drawings, new ideas emerge and new possibilities engaged with until the piece takes shape.
Williams position as an artist is one of self awareness, this is prevalent in every piece from start to finish. Williams art holds political and polemic weight. He describes himself as a child of privilege – he grew up a white middle-class South African who had the first 40 years of his life under the white privileging apartheid regime and the other 20 living in the South African democracy. He is highly aware of his privilege and also the lack of privilege the majority of South Africans experience. His work highlights both his insider and outsider aspects. This is why he choses to stay in South Africa and not flee the madness of it, is envelopes him in his work focusing on the community.
These two artists have two different takes on digital art. Davy’s work encapsulates a movement of new ideas and forward thinking. This is represented in his very colourful and digitally advanced work. His work is much more futuristic and out of this world. His work is very much a part of the metaphysical and futuristic aesthetic that is emerging in modern times. Williams work, however, uses a much more tactile form of art, and one that is very much a classic method of expression dating back to when cavemen would draw on walls. He uses this dated method and gives it new life by going through a digitisation process and animating it. Unlike Davy, his art reflects on events that have already, or are currently raking place, instead of focusing on movement into the future. His work is a lot less colourful; for the most part William only works black on white.
Blizzy is a digital artist from the USA, he got into the digital art movement by creating game art for the popular video game Fortnite. His designs stared to gain interest on social media getting him 80,000 followers across all social media platforms. Now he works with huge content creators such as Faze Clan, Tfue, Mongraal, etc, his clients have an accumulate social network of 15+ million.
Blizzy has created many pieces of digital art, which he posted mainly on Behance and his Instagram account. However, Blizzy does have a wallet on Foundation (an NFT market place), although he has only brought NFT’s from other users, and not minted any, as of 13/09/2021.
The characters in this are called Glee and Gloom, the main focus in the image is on Glee, which is the happy character. This is why the scene is full of vibrant colours, as it helps portrays the happy, joyful atmosphere. The colour combination of white and purple suggests royalty, nobility, luxury, power, and ambition, contrasts to the colour palette black and orange which is commonly associated with a gloomy, eerie, spooky atmosphere. The use of depth of field draws attention to the foreground character and the smaller details such as the grass and flowers.
BORED APE YACHT CLUB NFTS
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs— unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits, the first of which is access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board. Future areas and perks can be unlocked by the community through roadmap activation. Visit www.BoredApeYachtClub.com for more details.
The NFT market place Yuga Labs(the artist) sold their NFT’s on is Opensea, here. The main reason they are very popular, is not because of there design but their utility. Everyone that buys a Bored Ape NFT, gets access to future events and are then able to meet important people.
The Bored Ape NFT collection consists of 10,000 apes generated at random. That means trait assignment, including eyes, fur, and clothes, varies wildly from ape to ape.
Other artists that I think are interesting and good:
Percival Dunham worked for Jersey Illustrated Weekly and The Morning News for a brief period in 1913 and 1914 – he is known as Jersey’s very first photojournalist. Dunham had been in business as a photographer at 57 Bath Street since 1911, and had already been taking photographs of the Jersey Battle of Flowers and events such as the grounding of the Roebuck in St Brelade’s Bay in 1911. Dunham found great success while with the Illustrated Weekly and Morning News, as they were the pioneers of photojournalism, allowing Dunham to capture candid shots of the streets of Jersey in a new and upcoming style of photography. Percival Dunham presents a remarkable picture of life in Jersey before and just after the outbreak of World War One which, although it had nowhere near as dramatic impact on the island as the second global conflict which would follow 25 years later, nevertheless marked the end of an era in Jersey. More of Dunham’s images can be found here (search Dunham under ‘photographers’). His work was ahead of its time, as the term ‘photojournalist’ hadn’t even been coined yet – the images he captured relate to the modern term ‘street photography’ and show the public living their everyday lives, uninterrupted or disturbed by the camera, demonstrating sincerity in each scene.
Moodboard Of Images
George Georgiou
Overview –
George Georgiou (1961 -) is a British photographer and Photo Journalist who studied photography at The University of Westminster. After working for six years in Serbia, Greece and eastern Europe, he was recently based for four years in Istanbul. His work in Turkey led to a series of photographs titled ‘Fault Lines/Turkey/East/West’, which has led to several exhibitions and a book. Georgiou has also taught photography at Barnet College in London and a number of workshops in Europe. Georgiou’s work mostly focuses on communities of people that are split up between different cultures. An article on Georgiou’s career wrote ‘Arriving somewhere new, Georgiou’s approach is first to unburden himself of pre-existing images of the place and to try to see through superficial differences with places he knows; he then looks for commonalities and actual differences. He starts by himself and only when well underway hopes to attract commissions and make sales.’
Last Stop –
‘Last Stop’ is a series of images shot through the windows of London’s double decker buses, published as a double sided concertina book by George Georgiou in 2015. Georgiou wrote ‘The essence of Last Stop is that you might take the same route everyday but what you see, the ebb and flow on the street takes on a random nature, like a series of fleeting mini soap operas. The concertina book format reflects and mimics the flow of a bus journey, but more importantly it gives the viewer the opportunity to create their own journeys by spreading the book out and combining different images together. This moves the book away from an author-led linear narrative to one of multiple possibilities.’ Georgiou would ‘take random buses and get lost across the city’ in hopes of capturing street photography images and candid portraits from the windows of people living their everyday lives, allowing the observer to make up their story and scenario. In a video on the creation of ‘Last Stop’, Georgiou said ‘as a photographer I wanted the challenge of not having full control, taking whatever free seat there was next to the window only being able to photograph what was in reach of my static position in front of me’. I really love how he can still capture these moments without truly being involved in them, only seeing them at a glance, but portraying an entirety of different stories. When researching for my street photography photoshoot on ‘identity and community’ I wanted to take inspiration from Georgiou’s presentation of images, capturing ambiguity and mystery along with familiarity and warmth. Several of ‘Last Stop’s’ images were featured in the book Unseen London, more info can be found here.
Moodboard Of Images
Analysis – Dunham
Percival Dunham | Soldiers at Town Arsenal | 1914
I made the decision to analyse this image by Percival Dunham due to it’s wide range of techniques used from ‘The Formal Elements’, yet also its ability to foreshadow and story tell. The black and white filter on the photograph shows the time period it was taken, pre-World War 1 when Dunham’s images first caught the public’s eye. From this era, we can make an assumption to which camera was used at the time; possibly the Moy & Bastie cine camera, made of wood and metal, which was the type used by British Official cinematographers working with the armed forces during the First World War. The geometric shapes on the wall behind the soldiers show defined and consistent rectangles, possibly reflecting the systematic job and duties that these men carry out. The repetition of these symmetrical shapes could link to the soldiers having to repeat the same tasks daily on the battlefield, symbolizing the methodical planning and strictness of their life. Additionally, the uniformity of straight lines created by these rectangles relates to the respect a soldier gains from his uniform.
Dunham had the ability to capture such raw moments in time, parts of history that would otherwise be imagined instead of seen. During an exhibition on Dunham’s photography at The Jersey Arts Centre in 2014 Gareth Syvret, from the Societe Jersiase, said “he really had a natural affinity for what is later called ‘the decisive moment’ in all the photographs you see around here, there are figures; he was clearly interested in the social life of the town of St Helier and Jersey and its a really powerful documentary he’s left us.” I really enjoyed this quote from Syvret as I believe it sums up Dunham’s work perfectly, with such monumental history as WWI as his setting and still creating such intimate and warm images is inspiring.
The lighting in this photograph tells such a tragic and true story, with the darkest point of the image in the background through a door behind the men- leading to a sort-of abyss of darkness and mystery. Contrastingly, the lightest point falls on the floor where the soldiers stand, creating the impression of these men starting their journey with peace and security; however lurking in the background is a foreshadowing darkness reflecting the horrors of war to come in their future. Similarly, there is a leading line created from the outline of the canon to the right of the soldiers, drawing the observers focus again to the background of the image. Here we can see a juxtaposition between the consistent pattern of ordered bricks, to the damaged building and rubble to it’s left, further in the distance. This, along with the brooding darkness behind the men, suggests Dunham wanted to capture a composition with more ambiguity and ruin further back into the image to symbolize and foreshadow how much death and destruction this war would bring.
Analysis – Georgiou
George Georgiou | Last Stop | 2015
I chose to analyse this image, taken by George Georgiou in 2015, as I really enjoyed how well it told a story, a story that would be different to anyone else who saw the image. From my perspective, considering the formal elements, the reflection of the woman in the shop window on the right of the image represents how this route she walks is one taken daily – possibly taking her son to school, or going to work; the possibilities are limitless. This reflection is like a reflection of time, showing the repetition and never ending cycle she may endure while on this journey. Additionally, there are several geometric shapes in this Georgiou image, in particular the repetition of rectangles in shop windows, signs and tile flooring. The echo of this rectangular shape throughout the photo could represent uniformity and hint towards a homogeneous society where nothing is different or unique. While this series of Georgiou’s images demonstrates ‘that you might take the same route everyday but what you see, the ebb and flow on the street takes on a random nature, like a series of fleeting mini soap operas’ this one image could show a counterargument to this statement or may indicate that while the people and stories may be ever changing, the locations and surroundings witness all and stay the same. Furthermore, the range of colours in this image are limited and dull, with only brief pops of brightness of bold red, yellow, green and blue. With the only source of bright colour coming from these primary shades it reflects the child-like nature of having daily routines and set ways to live each day, as if teaching a child – Georgiou’s image may represent how each day can hold new possibilities and adventures, and that people are allowing dull ideas to overwhelm their (what should be) adventurous life.
In addition, the repetition of blue from the child’s clothing and rectangular structure on the left of the image could represent the feeling of security, as blue symbolizes trust and safety. Georgiou could be pointing out how society feels safe in their own little bubbles, isolating themselves with their own stories secret to the world around them – the child feels safe in his mother’s company, yet the story could be so different for the mother, it is for the observer to decide. A quote from Georgiou says “surveillance in the city is all around us but on the flip side of this is also our sense of invisibility, how we allow ourselves to express very private behaviour in public space, like a family argument. I see the photography as straddling, street photography, surveillance, landscape and documentary fiction.” In terms of light, the natural lighting shows it was probably mid-day as there are little shadows in the image, also hinting the weather was cloudy as there are no major reflections or highlights created by the sun. Lastly, there are many straight lines in the image, for example the straight thin lines of the shopping baskets on the right of the photo – the metallic shine on these lines is modern and mechanic, possibly portraying the idea of mass industrialization and overconsumption (also linking to this image being photographed outside a food shop). In my opinion, Georgiou capturing this repetition of a mundane, everyday object in quite a stylistic way really sums up what I have taken away from this series of images; that while everyday can be draining, similar and sometimes dull, the smallest things can make differences – life doesn’t have to be ‘an author-led linear narrative’ in the words of George Georgiou, it can ‘move to one of multiple possibilities.’
Francis Foot was born in 1885, he is from Jersey, he was the son of Francois Foot (1847-1918) and Louisa Hunt (1843-1934). His father Francois was a china and Glass dealer in Dumaresq Street, at a time when the area was one of the more affluent in St Helier.
Foot started his working life as a gas fitter. However, he soon became fascinated by photography and the early phonographs and gramophone records and realised that he could earn a living from them.
So the family took on a second shop in Pitt Street, where Francis worked as a photographer, while his father and mother sold gramophones, records and other wares in Dumaresq Street. After his father’s death, Francis concentrated his photography business in Pitt Street.
Mood Board
I found the images from Google and Jerripedia. As you can see Foot is focused on event photography and portrait and photographing people.
Analyse – Margaret with Dora and George
This photo was taken by Francis Foot at 13:25, its called Margaret with Dora and George and it was taken in 1920. Foot has taken an image of what looks to be a mum with her two children. Foot used the background of a forest to contrast the white clothing of the children. To make them stand out, perhaps this shows how important the children are to the mother. The simple pattern of the clothes, juxtaposes the texture of the leaves and the trees, which reflects on how simple life used to be in the 20th century. Other than that, it is a basic family portrait.
A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.
Why Photographers Should Create Zines
Digital marketing isn’t always the most effective method of marketing your photography. That’s why photographers have been creating zines for years.
James Moreton is a photographer who is experienced in the art of zine making.
James Moreton
He is an artist who enjoys the tactile approach to photography. “I believe the photographic book is the best medium for photography. The ability to create impact by pairing, juxtaposing and sorting pictures into a flow in order to tell a story or instil an emotion in the viewer is unsurpassed by any other photographic medium” This is why zine making is an important element of a narrative project, therefore, I will incorporate it in mine.
Craig Atkinson is the founder of weekly publications, focussing on post-war documentary photography linked to Britain and Ireland called Café Royal Books.
This is an example of valuable photographic works being collected into the tactile and aesthetically sequential format of a zine. “The publications are bought as gifts, as nostalgic reminders. They’re used as reference for film makers, producers, screen writers and costumes designers. Universities collect the books to allow students access to the large collected history of this genre of photography, which hasn’t existed to this extent, in print, before Café Royal Books.” This shows the importance of having a tactile form of work to inspire and reference, which zines seem to capture very well.
Atkinsons zines have an aesthetic formality and consistency which I want to replicate in my zine in some form.
This video by an independent artist encapsulates the zine making process
I want my design to look like a romantisized interpretation of the buildings and communities in St Helier, I want the viewer to feel like they are walking through the town and meeting the people in my compositions when they flip through the zine.
My Format, size and orientation will be as follows:
The Title for my project is ‘Rank’. This plays on the difference in class the migrants withhold, it also plays on the common feature of most towns – a taxi rank, finally it plays on the slang word for something that is disgusting – this disgust refers to the vast difference in class. I also want to caption each image with a vague subtitle allowing the viewer to think about the images in different ways.
I began by setting up my page colour to be a grey shade. I made sure I added this colour all the way to the bleed line to make sure it printed in full grey without a border. I made my page colour grey to add additional dark colour to the urbanism in my images.
During experimenting, I decided that to enhance my narrative sequence I would rather have a different page colour for each page to enhance and compliment the aesthetic of each image individually. Following on from this I decided that every two parallel pages will have correlation and therefore share the same themes including page colour.
I then decided I want a more abstract look to my front cover as I wanted my zine to entice the viewer and have a more experimental theme. I did this by using the scissors tool to displace images and create different proportions and borders.
I then started adding a theme to each spread. As you can see below I introduced visual elements from my images into the rest of the spread to further develop the narrative and aesthetic of the zine.
I did this by using the eyedropper tool to select a colour from the image to use as the page colour of the spread.
I also decided to experiment with how the page splits my images over the spread by applying some images over two pages like the image below.
I then designed a back page that correlated with the front page by using the same colours and themes.
I then scrolled through my zine adding vague image captions to further the narrative and encourage more thought about the purpose of the project.
Final Evaluation
Throughout the project I was able to endeavour into a pit of knowledge with two territories. The first being the historical and cultural contexts of Jersey and learning more about the rich cultural history the island holds. This led to understanding more about migrant communities which was the predominant theme I was exploring. The second territory of knowledge I gained was that of myself awareness. I was able to learn more about my position in Jersey’s community and my similarities and differences to others in my communities. This identity discovery waws fuelled by experiencing new people and cultures while exploring this topic and learning about the history of the place I call home. I also gained insight into an entirely different scope of art, this being the history of architecture in St Helier. I gained knowledge from an experienced historian and architect from a walk examining the wealth of historic buildings and attractive townscapes that characterise Jersey’s capital. He walked through the history of specific areas through archival records. I was also able to explore the beautifully restored Victorian House and enter the drama of a Victorian family in crisis which developed my insight into the history of how Jersey’s economy and infrastructure came to be.
I was additionally able to apply and channel my knowledge of zine making into a tangible project. I learnt about new software – Adobe InDesign and its useful qualities in terms of creating professional print works. I learnt about other significant zine publishers in Jersey – ED.EM. and others like Café Royal Books and apply them to my project. I was able to turn an idea into a tangible and aesthetically planned narrative which matched my intentions of this project sufficiently.
