Carolle Benitah is a French Moroccan photographer whose work focuses primarily on family, memories, and the passing of time. She often adds hand embellishment to old family snapshots such as embroidery, beading, and ink.
“Bénitah seeks to reinterpret her own history as daughter, wife, and mother.” (Sous Les Etoiles Gallery. Carolle Benitah. Biography)
Carolle Benitah’s portraits often obscures the faces of figures featured – she uses this to suggest estrangement and distance which she uses to reclaim her history and past. She works into very old photos of her which I think adds an sense of reflection to her work and growing older.
Carolle Benitah uses photomanipulation to distort the figures in her images and add things previously not there. “Through the trivial objects that I create and embroider, I overthrow the hierarchy of the arts.” Benitah uses the common domestic practice of embroidery to combat how family and her individual experience should be looked at. Benitah’s use of domestic practices to show estrangement instead of close familial relationships that are often associated with embroidery and the passing down of such practice through generations – her use of photomanipulation is a mirror of her family life and isolation. She uses thread to represent her feelings on her childhood and complicated family relations rejecting expectations pushed on to her specifically from being a young girl in the 1970’s –
Evidenced by the way figures that have been cut out of some images, Benitah often focuses on problems of alienation and displacement. In a la plage– at the beach (2009) two figures have been excised from a group of six children, both placed horizontally in the margin under the border of the picture. Red thread conceals a third. The bright red thread contrasts against a black and white background making to use of thread as an exclusion from the photographs seem almost violent.
I want to use archive images in this same way to reflect on my past now with the hindsight of having grown older and moving away.
A large amount of my work for this project is taken from archive images with the intent of manipulating them with the same approach as Carolle Benitah, However I plan on creating new images of landscapes and portraits.
explain what your story is in 3 words, a sentence and a paragraph:
Relationships, Loss, Reflection
Reflecting on loss of familiarity and people.
I want to explore how moving from where i have grown up has impacted my life, whilst also adjusting to and finding beauty in a new place. I want this book to primarily focus on family and my relationships with them whilst growing up.
Design: Overveiw
I want the book to follow at least one primary colour throughout in this case I think blue as i want the ocean to be representative of the physical divide between me and where I was from
I want standard glossy paper and all images will be printed on and i want them to look best
The photobook will be fairly small as i think smaller items lend better to the feeling of sentimentality i also think this project is ‘quiet’ whilst still being interesting it doesn’t need to be large and ‘ in your face’
I’m going to use a hard back cover as I much prefer the quality and it will better preserve the smaller book.
‘When we meet again’ is the title of my photobook i wanted to choose something sentimental that also invokes this feeling of longing for the past
I do not want the images to be accompanied by any text I’d much prefer to keep it simple.
I decided to do a small square book – I preferred the square format to others as it made 2 page spreads easier.
Opening pages – with bird illustration.
I used the double page spreads to display my edited landscape images as they had smaller details that I wanted to be visible.
For these double pages I wanted to follow a pattern of Woodman inspired black and white portraits juxtaposed by blue. – blue being a main colour present throughout this project.
I decided to use these squares only from my images of boatsto create a pattern throughout my book. I used the single pages only for my stitched archive images with the intent of the sole focus being on the and making them feel isolated.
How does the work of Francesca Woodman and Carolle Benitah explore isolation through self-portraiture?
Introduction
Isolation is something that we have all experienced in our lifetimes, whether from acquaintances or environments, we have all lived estranged; the work of Francesca Woodman and Carolle Benitah perfectly explores this relationship with loneliness in how they present themselves through self–portraiture. Much of Woodman’s work can be seen as surrealist and unconventional for 1970s photography. “Even when wholly present in the picture as the subject of her self-portraits, Woodman is never quite with us, never quite with herself.” She often uses this Surrealist landscape she has created to maintain a sense of escapism throughout her work. Similarly, Benitah uses Photomanipulation to change the outward appearance of herself in relation to family and heritage. When looking at these two photographers it is important to consider that they are both women photographing themselves, and how the perceptions of their work may be skewed as a result. “In the past, photographs of women were made by men for a capitalist economy to favour the male gaze and feed female competitiveness.” When viewing Woodman and Benitah’s work it is apparent it was not made with the objectification of their bodies in mind but made with the intent of reflecting on their experiences as people and women specifically the isolation that may come from that.
Significance of self-portraiture
The first known self-portrait photograph was taken in 1939 by Robert Cornielius using a camera obscura, later this was developed into a daguerreotype invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre that greatly increased detail captured and reduced the time needed for a subject to sit. Previously photographic portraits were only made by those with wealth and the correct equipment. As photography became more accessible as did the practice of self-portraiture. Self Portraits especially photographic are often viewed with the assumption of being an act of self-indulgence and vanity but when viewing the work of Woodman and Benitah it is apparent that this is not always the case. “The reality is that any attempt at critically examining a concept of self in a wider social context is treated as taboo, as self-indulgence. We may look in the mirror only to check our appearance, not to see through it.” Woodman’s photographs whilst they do have an aesthetic quality are less about her participation within them and instead the overall atmosphere created by the presence of her body, she is consistently unaccompanied in her photographs however she successfully obscures her face and figure through low exposures disconnecting herself as the subject creating an isolating image of pure escapism, Woodman explains her place within her images “Am I in the picture? Am I getting in or out of it? I could be a ghost, an animal or a dead body, not just this girl standing in the corner?” Whilst Woodman explains her occupancy in many of her photographs as “A matter of convenience” Putting yourself in front of a camera is mental decision and an inherent expression of vulnerability and therefore self – showing that Woodman perhaps feels isolated from her own body and experiences.
Carolle Benitah’s use of herself within her work is to observe her past and combat her history. “The photos reawakened an anguish of something both familiar and totally unknown … I decided to explore the memories of my childhood to help me understand who I am and to define my current identity.” She manipulates archive images of herself with family, however many of her family photographs contain large groups of people and it is never made apparent where and who Benitah is in each image – this works to express her theme of finding herself whilst simultaneously being unable to move away from her ‘roots’ and expected family dynamics. Benitah’s most well-known work ‘Photo Souvenirs’ is made up of three parts that correspond with three stages of life: “Enfance,”“Adolescence,” and “Adulte” compiling images of herself and family at all stages using self-portraiture as a form of documentation. The nature of the images are unsettling, family often being something we think of fondly she uses a harsh black and white when contrasted with the red of her threads to show that something is off creating a sense of dread and discomfort instead of nostalgia – The overcrowding of the pictures no longer feels homely and instead claustrophobic.
How can their work be seen a surrealist?
Surrealism as an art and cultural movement emerged in 1920s Paris around the theories of André Breton in the aftermath of World War One as a rejection of seeing the world rationally; it originally grew out of the earlier Dada movement that was characterised by its ‘anti-art’ a nihilistic approach to creating an ‘anti-aesthetic’ that defied all earlier art focusing on darker more taboo topics such as dreams, desires, and death. Surrealism focused on expressing the shifted perceptions of sanity and reality after the violence of the war. Photography came with a new challenge to the surrealist movement whilst painters could pull straight from imagination Photographers found new ways of manipulating images to achieve this aesthetic. Woodman’s work can now be called surrealist with the benefit of hindsight, in trying to appraise her work and fit it into the vast history of artistic practice it is easy to forget that woodman was a young not yet fully realised artist having committed suicide at the age of twenty-two. “We should never let go of the fact that these pictures were first created by a schoolgirl, then a student and in the end a young woman.” Woodman was still absorbing the influences around her, and we often make the mistake of viewing her work as fully complete, meaning that we ignore the raw experimentation of her photographs. Whilst her images are uniquely her own, through her use of objects inspirations such as Man Ray can be seen mimicking his use of props to create narrative. Woodman came from a family full of artists and was consistently encouraged to create, later developing an interest in mythology, you can see this fantastical element in images such as her creation of imagined landscapes places her as the main subject out of any clear time period, making her images confusing and alienating. Woodman uses commonplace domestic objects in bizarre ways to obscure herself and create uncanny haunting images.
Carolle Benitah similarly can have her work applied to the conventions of surrealism with her use of photomanipulation to distort the figures in her images and add things previously not there. “Through the trivial objects that I create and embroider, I overthrow the hierarchy of the arts.” Benitah uses the common domestic practice of embroidery to combat how family and her individual experience should be looked at. Themes throughout her work could also be called surrealist focusing on the rejection and estrangement from family an often taboo topic that is not explored in conventional art.
Representation of Women within their work
Throughout history women have been given a very specific way they should be perceived and fit into art – often something to look at instead of understand. It is recent that there has been an acknowledgement of this place women occupy within visual media. “We see photographs of women everyday, but we are used to looking at them in a few specific contexts: on products and billboards, in shop windows and magazine covers, in erotica and pornography.” Women’s bodies have now become a representation of consumerism – something to be looked at and associated with pleasure but never attached to human emotion. Most portraits of women were exclusively made by men until recently when many female photographers have become more present in mainstream media and photographs of women taken by women are now commonplace with the accessibility of modern photography. There is sentiment pushed onto many images of women created by women that it is an act of feminism, that these images are made to directly disobey the notion of the patriarchy and male dominated spaces, this in turn highlights societies issues with viewing women in art – as soon as a depiction of a women does not adhere to the preconceived ‘rules’ of how women have been depicted in media throughout history, the image is labelled as ‘feminist’ and is then often written off by the male consumerist gaze refusing to understand the image as an depiction of humanity instead of a display of ‘femininity’. “If we aren’t able to see more than an expression of feminism or femininity in a photograph of a female figure, how can we expect to see more than this when we encounter women elsewhere?”.
When looking at the work of Francesca Woodman and Carolle Benitah its important to acknowledge that they are both women using themselves as primary subject. Much of Woodman’s photographs are of herself nude however often her face is obscured by an object or blurred by low exposure and slow shutter speed creating a representation of detachment between mind and body. Woodman drew large amounts of inspiration from gothic literature and art, this influence can be seen in how she posed and used her body to imitate women within the gothic genre – Famously being filled with tropes of damsels in distress. “Feminist scholars scrutinizing nineteenth- century Gothic texts could see within their representations of femininity the effects of patriarchal structures.” Looking at works such as ‘The Nightmare’ by Henri Fuseli we can see how Woodman takes inspiration and recreates the poses of women that can be seen as vulnerable using them instead to represent herself and her mind in strange and uncanny ways. Woodman’s use of her body is outside of gender she often uses her figure to put space into perspective within her work – using her body more as a tool to take up space- young women are often taught to avoid ‘taking up space’ Woodman’s work would not exist without her physical body and is therefore in direct defiance with the notion of women being ‘seen and not heard’ which was a strong push back to the feminist movement in the 1970’s.
Carolle Beitah’s work reflects on her experiences as a young girl, a young woman, and then a fully-fledged adult. Many details within her work “echo the tense social and gender relationships of Benitah’s childhood and reflect the cultural expectations for young women in the 1960’s and ‘70s.” Benitah’s use of embroidery and commonly domestic objects reflect these expected gender roles whilst being used as defiance to these expectations from her family. “I use the falsely decorative function of embroidery to give it a different meaning than it had in family mythology.”
Benitah’s ‘Chez le photographe / at the photographer (2009)’ depicts a happy family portrait of Benitah and her siblings. She has almost completely covered her older brothers face with red dots – leaving only his mouth and chin, whilst her and her sisters are uncovered apart from their mouths sew shut with the same red thread. Benitah does this to represent the silence that is often expected of young women whilst young men can take up space and conversation without scrutiny.
Conclusion
In conclusion Both the work of Francesca Woodman and Carolle Benitah explore Isolation in different ways. Woodman uses self-portraiture to highlight that she is the sole person within the image reflecting herself and her inner state. Whilst Benitah’s crowded family photographs use subject matter and photomanipulation to invoke a feeling of solidarity. Woodman uses objects to make the viewer question the narrative behind the image and look closer to understand Woodman’s inspirations, Woodman is always with an object but never with another person within her images adding to the growing sense of loneliness throughout her work. Like woodman Carolle Benitah takes commonplace household objects and practices and use them within a new context to directly defy their preconceived connotations. Benitah’s use of domestic practices to show estrangement instead of close familial relationships that are often associated with embroidery and the passing down of such practice through generations – her use of photomanipulation is a mirror of her family life and isolation. Both Woodman’s and Benitah’s do not adhere to the male gaze and instead explore their experiences as young women often discussing topics outside of gender focusing on human experience with isolation. Woodman treats her gender as irrelevant within her work focusing purely on the existence of a body within her created spaces attempting to transcend societies notions of what she should be. Benitah instead focuses on the often toxic expectations of her as a young woman growing up in her household and the shared experience of many young girls and children isolated from their family.
Bibliography
Jansen. C Girl On Girl : Art And Photography In The Age Of The Female Gaze (2017)
Healy. C . M Girlhood (2023)
Townstead. C Francesca Woodman (2006)
Kelly. A Self Image in Wells . L The Photographic Reader
I used archive images I found from my childhood in Scotland; In response to the work of Carolle Benitah I used a needle and thick embroidery thread to add designs to the photos. I chose to use a thicker thread as too stand out more.
I tried to keep the following motifs present throughout the entire project : Birds, rabbits, and the ocean. I tried to keep the red and blue colour coding consistent throughout as I wanted red to represent distance both physical and within relationships.
Carolle Benitah A La Plage ,At the BeachStitched waves
For this project I went in with the idea of identity devoid of gender and also beauty standards and the subsequent insecurity that comes with living in a society with such high standards.
initial exploration of theme
I knew from the start that I wanted to mainly photograph my friends who are all more typically feminine and have experienced insecurities of some kind. Along with taking to photos to then be painted over I wanted to take photos that made my friends feel beautiful in the process and how I see them externally outside of their own criticism of themselves.
First Photoshoot
The first Photoshoot was inspired by Sian Davey’s ‘Martha’ work. Davey focuses mainly on her daughter in her life and out with her friends I wanted to do the same when taking pictures on a day out at the beach mainly focusing on my friend Keira.
I think when looking at my images compared to Davey’s work they effectively convey the intimate feel and exploring the personality of my friends, however I do wish I could’ve also taken more images in different situations to further explore my friends interaction with the world.
Second Photoshoot
The second photoshoot was by far my favourite and I think the most effective inspired by Sian Davey’s the garden and Tom Hunters work recreating classic paintings. It was taken in the grass land at Gorey
I used Charles Edward Perugini’s – ‘Pandoras box’ as a vague reference for the photo which I then painted trying to keep the image softer with pastel colours to replicate Sian Davey’s work but also using a palette knife to apply paint thickly creating a visually interesting texture I added small details to the paint such as circles and following lines to add even more texture. For the second image I used Thomas Francis Dicksee’s 1895 ‘Miranda’ Tom Hunter and Sain Davey’s ‘The Garden’ inspired
First photoshoot taken on the west side of the island with the intent of getting pictures of the ocean and grounding a general aesthetic that I like for my images, I wanted to focus on isolating and empty spaces- empty pebble beaches / large stretches of ocean / stranded boats. All to create an alienating atmosphere.
Photoshoot 2
A continuation of the first photoshoot getting pictures of open space + old boats.
Photoshoot 3
Focusing on making images relating to Francesca Woodman. with varying backgrounds.
Photoshoot 4
Images of my face made in studio to be used for photo manipulation.
Editing
When editing I had a particular pastel blue value I wanted to achieve throughout the images – very much inspired by the aesthetic values of Laura Letinski.
Laura Letinski’s colour values
Changing the boat photos from colour to black and white. I did this mainly as I think it would flow better within the photobook I wanted the colour images to be very blue toned to contrast a lot of the red I am using. I also think the black and white better brings out the cold nature of the metal.
For the Francesca woodman inspired Images I switched them all to black and white to better mirror her work, I think it made the blurring from the slow shutter speed more obvious without getting lost in colour.
“I was inventing a language for people to see the everyday things that I also see, and show them something different” Francesca Woodman
Francesca woodman was an American Photographer born 1958 best known for her surrealist portraits of herself and other women. She committed suicide at 22 but made around 800 images in her lifetime that now are exhibited by her parents. Her figures are often semi nude and obscured, either by furniture, object or blurred in motion by low exposure creating a haunting effect. Most of her images are taken in decaying empty rooms with minimal furniture or carefully selected props. Woodman had a particular interest in mythology and the idea of transformation – there is a constant through theme of escapism within her work. Large amounts of her work are centered around her body using objects such as pegs and glass panes to press and distort her flesh in grotesque and exaggerated.
“Even when wholly present in the pictures as the subject of her self-portraits, Woodman is never quite with us, never quite with herself.“
(Townstead. C (2006). Francesca Woodman. London: Phaidon Press Limited.)
Her ability to create unconventional self portraits is an interesting way to present identity, whilst photographs are taken as a direct representation the truth, She often finds ways to obscure her face and body staging her photos to create imagined realities. The nature of her death also changes the way we view her work with suicide being both a taboo subject but also one that draws fascination, whilst the intention of many images she made may have been different they have become an insight into her mind becoming both disturbing but also intimate as an exploration of human fragility.
Influences + Themes
In 1975 Francesca attended to Rhode Island School of Design. She was particularly interested in Fashion Photography, idolizing the work of photographers such as Guy Bourdin and Deborah Tuberville. The influence is notable in how Woodman uses clothing throughout her works.
Deborah TubervilleGuy Bourdin
Many of the characteristics of surrealism can be seen in Woodman’s work with possible influences such as Man Ray. Woodman uses unusual objects to create unfamiliar and dreamlike environments, she puts familiar items in strange contexts to evoke an uncanny feeling.
As Woodman was a student at the time masses of her work is purely experimental and were made to push the boundaries of conventional photography. Themes within her practice follow closely to how she viewed herself and her body with it being the main subject of many of her photos, the distortion of herself often makes her photos alienating and possibly addressing issues such as body image and confusion.
Analysis
The background is a decaying interior of a house creating an almost gothic atmosphere with a blurred figure near a brightly over exposed window blending into the dilapidated textures of the wallpaper, the texture initially making the figure hard to see creating an isolating feeling. Woodman uses long shutter speed and double exposures so she could actively feature in her work and create the blurry distortion she is known for. The ruble around the figure is layed in an organized semi circle making you question how the image is staged adding to the dreamy quality of her work. The texture of the floor boards create leading lines towards the figure as the main focal point of the image.
Most of Woodman’s work are very small scale forcing viewer to look closer at her work in an even more intimate proximity. The small scale details also makes you spend longer viewing her and her work suggesting that they were not meant to be just skimmed over quickly.
