Identity politics is a political approach where people of a particular gender, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these identities. This can have some positive impacts on society such as allowing people to express themselves freely and making individuals feel apart of a society. However, there’s also backlash such as ‘culture wars’ which result from a divide in communities.
Culture Wars:
A culture war is when conflict between groups, especially liberal and conservative groups, have different cultural views and, beliefs and philosophies.
Examples of culture wars in the UK
When looking at culture wars, it can be argued that it can cause more conflict and negative behaviour towards the groups affected rather than solving the issue. You could potentially see a bigger divide in the community, or everyone will come together to fight for what they think is right. Culture wars allow less represented communities to express their thoughts and views without being ignored.
A recent example is the debate over abortion law in America which has caused conflict but at the same time, bought the female community together to fight against the government for their rights. However, it has also caused people to get violent and aggressive with the divide in opinions.
Artists and photographers use art express themselves which can include showing the audience their political views. Social media has played a massive role in spreading awareness of the issues in the world through images being shared that ‘front line’ photographers have taken to show the world what is really happening. An earlier example of this is the the Dadaism movement, which is a reaction to the violence to World War 1.
The themes of femininity and masculinity are binary opposite, meaning they are a pair of related terms that have the opposite meaning. When contrasting femininity and masculinity it can create final piece that are left open for the audience to interpret it how they wish.
When exploring what it is to be feminine or masculine there are stereotypical characteristics that make you feminine or masculine , according to society.
Stereotypical mood boards:
The historical views on what it is to be feminine and masculine have changed, and still are changing as society is becoming more acceptable and individuals are being given more freedom to express themselves. However there are still stereotypical views on how feminine and masculine people should act and behave.
There are so called ‘standards’ in society that both women and men should meet, based on their gender. Society expects women to look at certain way; have long hair, be small, dress ‘feminine’ so, they ‘fit in.’ This stereotypical view on women has lead to us living in a patriarchal society where women are seen as subordinate to men, resulting in women having to fight for their rights. This has caused barriers for females are they are prevented from doing certain jobs, playing ‘manly’ sport and wearing that is typically known as masculine. This can been see in everyday life as historically and stereotypically males dominate the jobs that are hard labour. There is an expectation for females to dress up and wear dresses and skirts and present themselves in an orderly manner, not getting dirty or wearing masculine clothing (eg. suits). Through out the years there has been an increase in females wearing suits which can be seen when celebrities go to red carpet events. This links back to Claude Cahun
On the other hand, society portray men as the polar opposite to women and have expectations of them to look ‘manly’, by having short hair, a strong build and dress in a way society would consider acceptable for a man. There is an expectation for males to be strong and show no emotions, which is having a drastic effect on their mental health. This shows us how society views women as weaker than mean because they’re allowed to express how they feel and show their emotions. We are now seeing an breakthrough in males (especially celebrities) braking down the stereotypes of what is is to be masculine by doing photoshoots with big companies wearing more ‘feminine’ outfits such as dresses and skirts.
There are many artists who have explored and experimented with the themes of femininity and masculinity such as Claude Cahun and Frida Kahlo. They both went against the stereotypical norms of how feminine people should appear as they are both pictured with short hair and wearing clothing that society would associate with males.
Frida KahloClaude Cahun
Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer who is best known for their self portraits where they displayed many different varieties of persona.
Frida Kahol was a Mexican painter who took up painting after she was involved in a bus accident. She is most famous for her self-portrait with short hair, seen above, in 1940. Karlo’s work was based on all of the struggles she has had to face in her life and was almost a way of rebelling. Frida Karlo’s story
Claude Cahun was also, amongst changing the views gender stereotypes. Cahun, who was born as Lucy Schwob is best known for their self portraits. Cahun’s self-portraits, portrayed them in many ways, breaking down the stereotypes of how females and feminine people should look.
The Camera Obscura was essentially the first ‘camera’ as it was a room with a hole in it. During the second half of the 16th century it became very popular as it aids drawings and paintings, even though the earliest use of the camera obscura dates back to around 400 BC. The camera obscura worked by blacking out the room, only having a single hole to allow the light through. As the light flowed in to the black-out room, the view from outside was projected on to the walls. However, the image was projected upside-down as there wasn’t a mirror, like in a camera, to flip it around.
The camera obscura aided the creation of pinhole photography and the pinhole camera in 1811. The pinhole camera consisted of a lightproof box, an aperture and light-sensitive material. When the shutter is opened light passes through the pinhole (aperture), projecting an inverted image on to a piece of film or paper which was on the opposite side of the camera. The image produced by the pinhole camera was inverted and smaller but it was real. The pinhole camera relied on light traveling in straight lines, which is why the image projected appeared upside down.
Nicephore Niepce & heliography:
Nicephore Niepce was a French inventor, born in 1765 and died in 1833. He invented heliography (which he called sun drawings) in 1827, this is the first known permanent photograph taken from a nature scene called ‘ View from the Window at Le Gras’. In 1813, lithography became fashionable in France which got Nicephore Niepce to start experimenting with printing techniques. He used many different light sensitive substances to cover pewter in hopes that the sunlight would engrave an image on the light sensitive material. Following his success in 1822 of engraving an mage on glass, Niepce decided he wanted to try and produce a permanent image by using a camera and a metal pewter plate. To produce the permanent image Niepce used a light-tight box with a hole in it (a pinhole camera). He then prepared a polished pewter plate coated with light-sensitive bitumen of Judea because he knew that it hardened when exposed to light, and placed it in the camera obscura. Later on, Niepce created another heliograph which solved the problem of reproducing nature by light and created the first photomechanical reproduction process.
Louis Daguerre & daguerreotype:
Following on from heliography, Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype in January 1839 as Niepce was unable to reduce the problem of having long exposure times when producing his images. The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process which was mainly used to take portraits but was also used to produce landscape images. Daguerreotypes were only used by the wealthy people as they were able to afford to have their portrait taken. The process of making a daguerreotype was long ,the images were fixed on to a mirrored metal plate that consisted of s copper plated sheet coated with a sheet of silver. The silver plate was polished and cleaned to look like a mirror which is why the Daguerreotype was known as a ‘mirror with a memory.’ Once the plate was exposed to light it was developed over hot mercury, so light was shining back through the plate, until an image appeared. The silver grains would sit up on the surface which, made the image feel ‘alive’. The only problem with the daguerreotype was that you couldn’t reproduce the image.
In 1838, Louis Daguerre took ‘The Boulevard du Temple’ which is one of the very first daguerreotypes. Within the image you can only see two figures. This is because they were the only two subjects who were in the same position, for the seven minutes, while the image was being taken. As a long exposure was needed nothing else appeared on the busy Boulevard du Temple.
‘The Boulevard du Temple’
Henry Fox Talbot & calotype:
Shortly after the daguerreotype, Henry Fox Talbot invented the calotype in the autumn of 1840. Henry Fox Talbot was an English inventor, born in 1800 and died in 1877. The calotype was the first negative to positive photographic technology, where the negatives that were produced are then turned into a positive image. The process involved using a paper negative to make a print with a softer, less sharp image than a daguerreotype. Henry Fox Talbot experimented with silver nitrate and potassium iodine solution on paper, when exposed to light an image was produced. Talbot fixed the problem with the log exposure times needed for an image to be produced as the camera only took two minutes to produce the image. Unlike the daguerreotype you were able to produce a copy of the image this is because negatives were produced.
Robert Cornelius & self portraiture:
In 1939 Robert Cornelius designed the first photographic plate for the first image taken in the United States which was an image of Central High School, taken by Joseph Saxton and his self image taken in 1839 was first photographic portrait taken in the United States. Cornelius stood in front of a makeshift camera with a lens made from an opera glass in his yard. The daylight had been assessed and approved by Cornelius so, that it fulfilled the requirements for his prepared metal plate. As the photo was being taken Robert Cornelius had to be motionless for around ten to fifteen minutes.
Julia Margaret Cameron & Pictorialism:
After Robert Cornelius’ self portrait, portraiture photography started to take off. Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who is considered to be one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. Cameron was a involved in the pictorialism movement as her photos were inspired by the sublime and beauty. Julia Margaret Cameron’s style of photography was taking close-up portraits, with soft focus and dramatic lighting. Most of Cameron’s portraits were of famous Victorian men, she wanted to capture the beauty in men and women. When choosing her female subjects she chose them for their beauty, which links back to pictorialism as she emphasizes the raw and natural beauty of her subjects rather than using them as a form of documentation photography.
Henry Mullins & Carte-de-Visite:
In the 1840’s studio photography was introduced, photography became more about the money, rather than the love of taking photos as people would take photos for commercials. One of the most popular studio photographers in the 1850’s was Henry Mullins. Mullins would take portraits of people based off of their social hierarchy and class in his studio, that he set up when he moved to Jersey in July 1848. His studio was known as the ‘Royal Saloon’. Mullins made four albums from his portraits, ordering them in social hierarchy, with the highest social class being at the start of the album. Henry Mullins specialised in carte-de-visite which was a small photograph on a piece of visit card.
In the early 20th century in Hollywood, spotlights were introduced which created Rembrandt lighting. Rembrandt lighting is named after Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, a Dutch painter.
It lights the face up so an upside down triangle appears under the subjects eye. Rembrandt lighting draws the viewer to the image as the triangle adds emphasis to the subject. It can make the portrait appear more dramatic which will attract the viewer to the portrait.
set up
Above is my attempt at Rembrandt lighting technique. In my opinion this isn’t a bad attempt as you can see the triangle under the subjects eye. However, you can’t really see her left eye. If I angled the reflector in a different way the light would be highlight her eye which would improve the overall outcome.
Butterfly Lighting:
Butterfly lighting was invented by Marlene Dietrich, a German silent film actress, in the 1930’s after it was presented on a film.
Butterfly lighting gets its name from the butterfly-like shadow under the subjects nose. Butterfly lighting makes the model look thinner as it highlights their cheekbones and jaw line.
set up
Above is my attempt at the butterfly lighting technique. Overall I don’t think it’s a bad attempt as you can see the butterfly shadow under her nose and her left cheekbone is defined. However, I think that if the subject was on a straight on angle looking directly at the camera then the final outcome would be superior as the right cheekbone would be more visible.
