Claude Cahun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Cahun
Claude Cahun’s real name is Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, she was born in the 25th of October in 1894 and died 8th of December 1954. she was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor and writer. Cahun is best known for her self portraits which are highly staged, they are generally only headshots from the shoulder up. Her shots always removed all gender indicators such as hair by shaving her head and eyebrows. A great belief of Cahun was gender neutrality meaning people should not have a specific gender rather a neutral gender that suits the needs of the moment. During WWII Cahan and her step sister Marcel Moore settled in Jersey during the Germans occupation of the island. The two became activists against wars. They worked exclusively creating anti German flyers and pamphlets. they would go on to spread these throughout the island placing them in specific locations to ensure they got the attention of the people and more importantly the Germans. they would attend German military events all dressed up and place their flyers in the pockets of German solider, on seats and in cigarette boxes to ensure they Germans saw them. Lastly they would crumple their papers into a ball and throw them into cars and windows. “Masculine? Feminine?” she wrote in her book “Aveux non Avenus,” published in English as “Disavowals.” “It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.” – New York Times
Image Analysis
This image was taken by Claude Cahun in the early 1900. It uses multi exposure to create an image where the model was photographed twice and layered over one another to give the effect of multiple people. Due to the image being in black and white the colour pallet is very small. However there is a high contrast between the model’s heads which have been made to look very pale and the darker background.
Kensuke Koike
Kensuke Koike is a Japanese visual artist who’s photographs relate to Cahun’s with the idea of uncertainty in identity. Koike creates his work by cutting, ripping, jumbling, disassembling then reassembling photographs. This gives the impression of mixed identity and undecided identity. Koike takes images and uses them to create photographs with their own lives and meanings with no relation to the stories of the previous images. During an interview on Instagram Koike said “Everything I touch is transformed therefore I think of myself as an alchemist.” i think this is a really powerful statement as it seems to be very accurate to his style of work and presents him not as a photographer but as a editor. Koike is not known for his photographs in fact he doesn’t even take them but rather takes other peoples photographs and edits them for his final pieces.
Image Analysis
This Image was created by Kensuke Koike however like all of his pieces of work the photograph was not taken by him but rather found by him online and manipulated. This image is one of Kensuke Koike’s more complex creations. Koike created this image using a physical copy of the image and editing and manipulating it by cutting as sticking the image back together rather than using photoshop or other editing software. As the images is on black and white the contrast is quite low between each section of the image.
Statement of intent
My intentions for the controlled condition are to explore the theme of identity using my heritage to discover how it has shaped who I am today. As I am on the theme of heritage I am going to explore my ancestry on jersey going back to my great grandad on my mums side. I am going to base my posts on a family tree. This links well into my reference photographers, It links to Claude Cahun because she worked during the first and second world wars in jersey which is where my great grandfather worked his farm during WWII and the German Occupation along side his wife while raising three kids. It also links to my other reference photographer Kensuke Koike. His Photography represents how two people from two different upbringings are brought together to continue a family. I intend to take pictures of old photographs I have of my ancestors to allow me to edit and manipulate them. I will create images in the style of Kensuke Koike. i will create some using printed pictures and using a knife to keep to the old fashion techniques of Kensuke Koike.