Bellow I have created a comparison between mine and Kayla Varley’s images. As I studied and analysed her images earlier, I have been inspired to use aspects that I have learnt in my own photographs.
As the images I put together on the left have a bigger variety as they are of different people and different photoshoots, this is what creates a big difference between the single photoshoot I have done and different photographs that Kayla Varley produced. The similarities are that many of both mine and her images are that most of the outcomes are posed, meaning they are aimed and not “accidental” photographs, rather then capturing the moment, they are more constructed and planed. although her photographs are quite fun and usually of moving image, like the portrait of a woman with sand falling through her fingers, in the bottom right corner, or the moving photographs where women are laughing or you can see the movement in their hair, some of my images show that, especially the ones against the light. Describing mbellow my image with one of Kayla’s :
although aesthetically these images have a big difference between them, Like the colours, tones, pose, location, focus, other camera setting and editing, I want to include this relationship between her outcome of this specific photoshoot , and my outcome. this is because the following images of hers inspired me the most:
John E.Millais
Doing further artist research I’ve discovered John E.Millais’s artwork which links very well with the idea behind my images.
What I wanted to achieve with my final images is to represent a body of work that relates to performative arts, performative photography. I didn’t want ordinary photographs which are just a portraits created in the studio , where the model is serious and looking straight at the camera. I wanted to show a meaning of femininity in my final photographs, therefore I thought including an aspect of performative photography, regarding the posing, would write more of an interesting story.
Comparing my phot graph with a painting of Millais, there’s a bigger similarity between them rather then Kayla Varley’s work. As I got influenced but not one but many other artists, my photographs include a variations of different aspects that relate to different artists, for example what I have taken from Varley’s photographs, is the idea of movement, fun and femininity. This is why a series of images look more like hers. Although it was the same photoshoot, I have many outcomes that differ from each other, this is why the above image would link more to Millais artwork.
What is so similar between the artists is the idea of drawing inspiration from women. Millais artwork mainly includes women an children, and this is why I decided to model for this photoshoot so that I can have a female, not only representing women, and definition of femininity, but also a link to typical view of tableau artwork, where women would be the main inspiration used. Since I was producing a photograph that was influenced by historic realistic art, there’s a lot of element, especially in that photograph that show that, like the element of nature, the photograph is in fact in nature, performative art, dress, and a female model. another aspect that I regret not including is flowers, maybe holding flowers or having them in a photograph, this is because flowers are seen as a very feminine signature item, because of their beauty and history.
Overall I think I have shown aspect of both artist in different outcomes, however still including aspects of my own work into them, like the editing, composition, and framing. I like how well many link to a historical realistic artworks, but are more “modernised”. What I could improve is the outcomes that related more to Varley’s work, as these have less similarities.
Message From the Sea John Everett MillaisThe Nest John Everett MillaisThe Blind Girl John Everett Millais
Millais actually spent most of his early childhood was spent in Jersey, to which he retained a strong devotion throughout his life. Millais was originally born in Southampton, England, in 1829, but was of a prominent Jersey-based family. Most of his early childhood was spent in Jersey and he grew up here. even at a young age he started becoming successful, because of his passionate mother, when he was eleven he became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools.
The Bridesmaid John Everett MillaisThe Honourable John Nevile Manners John Everett MillaisLittle Speedwell’s Darling Blue John Everett Millais
Another thing that is very important to mention is that he was a part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites), this was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848. The Brotherhood believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular, this had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name “Pre-Raphaelite”. The group continued to accept the concepts of history painting and mimesis, imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. The group sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art
Millais produced a picture that could serve as the embodiment of the historical and naturalist focus of the group, Ophelia, in 1851–52.
Ophelia John Everett Millais Around 1851
His later works were enormously successful, making Millais one of the wealthiest artists of his day. He achieved popular success with A Huguenot (1851–52),which depicts a young couple about to be separated because of religious conflicts. He repeated this theme in many later works. All these early works were painted with great attention to detail, often concentrating on the beauty and complexity of the natural world.
A Huguenot (A Huguenot on St Bartholomew’s Day) 1852
the image above “Mariana” presents a woman isolated in a remote farmhouse, waiting for her lover. Like other Pre-Raphaelite artists, Millais drew inspiration from earlier works of literature, particularly those with a focus on female beauty and sexual yearning.
Millais’s painting ‘Mariana
What I most like about Millais’ work is the story telling behind his paintings, every painting has a purpose and meaning, his attention to detail and cooperating it into the painting is also another reason why his work inspires me. as he draws his inspiration from literature, theatre and other forms of stories that were already published, the narrative of the painting flows without knowing the full story behind the artwork.
Although Jhon E.Millais is a painter, rather then a photographer, his painting are like photographs in the 18th century. They a closely related to performative arts, that later turned into performative photographs, they are now a modern body of work.
Another artist, photographer that follows a similar style of tableau, however showing this in a modern form through photography, is Tom Hunter.
What makes his photographs so similar to Millais’ is that Hunter explores drawing on art historical references. He reconstructs stories, memories and myths to paint a psycho-geographical landscape.
There is a huge link between the artists, regarding the fact they are 2 different body’s of art, where one is a painting and another is a photograph. Hunter draws inspiration from paintings such as Millais’ artwork, therefore this is a similarity between them. They are centuries apart, Hunter is a contemporary artist, it’s interesting how the world, especially the art world changed, when cameras were not invented yet, painting and drawing was the only picture that could be produced, and as this changed to after cameras, this realistic artist style slowly dies as there’s not a big request for paintings as such, because a camera can do just that, quicker and more efficiently. This is why I am so interested in performative photography as, regarding now, photography is usually used as documentative purposes, photography that is for artistic purposes , to me should do what artworks do , as they are a form of artworks. This is to question a persons views, opinions and existence, so that a person is moved by a picture as they are fascinated by the meaning of it. That’s why photographs that “tell a story” are so meaningful to me, they show that even though the world changes, story telling through, painting, drawing, photographs, didn’t change.
These images would spark my intention toward them, as anyone can write a story to an image, however Hunter helps the viewer to do that, the photograph is interesting as every detain in the photograph seems important.
For the final photographs I have produced out of the portraiture topic, I have mounted some outcomes on black board , creating a window mount, and some on white foam board.
With the top 3 photographs, I had previously planed to arrange them as a grouped sequence of images. I wanted them to be right next to one another as they are all taken perpendicular, in portrait. Since they were shot one after another, the images look very similar to each other. I had also ensured this with the editing I chose for them. because I essentially chose 2 actual portraits, and one not, I wanted to desperate the portraits with the picture of the landscape and dress. by aligning the images in this sequence I noticed they sort of tell a story. this story could of been interpreted differently is the order of these photographs was different. Regarding having to physically having to do the window mount, it was definitely trickier then a single or even a double window mount. this was because I had to do much more measuring and remember to leave space for the middle, separating space. other then that this window mount was quite successful and I didn’t make any mistakes.
Because this picture wouldn’t fit with any other ones I decided to do a single window mound for it, this makes the photograph feel more professional and the black suits the tones in the shadows of the picture more than if I decided to do it on white foam board.
I firstly stuck the images using spray glue onto a white foam board, then cut them out and using double sided tape, I stuck them onto black board that was previously measured and cut. what I should have done is to measure where exactly I would have to place the images, as when it came to sticking them down I had a hard time figuring out where they needed to be in order for them to be straight and proportional.
With the above image, after sticking it down onto foam board, l had a hard time deciding if l should place it onto a white foam, to create a white boarder or onto black board, for a black frame. Because the image is black and white, any of those would suit it, complimenting the colours in different ways. However the black to me looked much more mature and serious, contrasting with the image itself .
As I haven’t produce a white boarder yet l felt like for this image above it was perfect for it. The tones on the photograph are soft, therefore having a lighter shade around it would fit to the image. I simply stuck the image on foam board, cut it out, and stuck it again onto another white foam board.
For the above image l tried to change something. l coloured in with a black permanent marker the edges around the image, as some spilt to the actual photograph, I created a black line around the image that is visible from the front, from the side, because the foam board has been coloured in black, it blend in with the black board underneath. This dark effect suited the photograph as there are many black and dark tones in the actual photograph.
Lastly I wanted to do something simple and stuck to ordinary foam on black board, this suited the tones and complimented the photograph very well.
I have decided to arrange the photographs in a way so that they make sense when grouped together. I didn’t want them to be messy and all over the place. I wanted also to match themes together. this is why I have put environmental portraits together, femininity response photographs together, and etc. more vibrant colours like the shower portraits and studio shutter sped experiments, I have put together on the same wall.
what I realised that an effect achieved by the camera, shutter speed experiments, fitted very well next to feminine forest response shoot, this is because for both photographs, the tones were gentle and had a slight pink tone visible in both photoshoot, photographs.
as the gallery already looked very colourful, I wanted to create a division between that, therefore I have put on both sides, images in black and white. as they were in the middle of the room they separated the images behind them slightly and contrasted with them.
With the bellow photoshoot it was quite tricky to achieve the effect I wanted to. but how i made it work, for the photographs to turn out exactly how i imagined them, was to get the persons taking them to pose in front of the camera in the area I would want to pose, then showing the basic framing skills and said to not move the camera. I envisioned how the photograph would look with me in it and once it was all set up for me to be in the image I simply posed how I wished to, while the framing stayed the same. this took us a while as i had to regularly see how the images actually looked like. this is why bellow some images are not of me as i had to show different types of framing, and had to communicate all the way through.
Sub-Selection
as many images looked quite similar and there were many fails or photographs not of me , i had to narrow it down. even when i narrowed down my options i still found that would be too much, so had to repeat the sub-selection process once again. i was looking for images that presented femininity the best and were gentle and quiet.
Editing
the main thing i was looking to create out of the selected images, were to increase the warth of them, so they have more of a conforting feel, i ocasionally decresed clarity to make them smoother and dream-like. warth colours are usually accosiated as feminine colours so i tried to increase the picks/reds in the images or yealloe tones.
i did a contrast edit of the same image above, this is to show the importance of those soft, warm tones on the image. as cooler ones don’t achieve the effect i was looking for, however they still make the photograph feel more mysterious.
with the bellow images i liked the original version, therefore not too many adjustments were made.
Looking at the pose and situation of the photograph, where i look it looks like I’m dreaming, i tried editing the photograph to mach that scenario, increasing picks to make it feel feminine and dreamy.
What i wanted to try is well is layering different filters on photographs, especially at the photographs taken against the sun. this i thought would increase the blurriness of them, add a tint, and effects.
what i did is saved many filter like effects and opened them in Photoshop, as well as the photographs i wanted to layer them on top. then i have pasted the colourful filter onto the image, turned the background to layer, which was on the right of the screen. then reduced the opacity of the added filter. on some images the opacity differs. I had flatten the final image and saved it.
These are the different effects i have used.
Those were the final effects after adding the filters. Not all photographs turned out good, but the ones that did , i decided to use in my final piece.
Final Images
The first images i decided to keep a similar effect on them as then i can display them as a group of 3 images. then others are images that i think are not only good quality but respond well to what i wanted to achieve.
to respond to topic of femininity, i have done research, looking into femininity to understand stereotypical values in women, as well as how women are usually portrayed in art and in photographs. having done this research, as well as gaining knowledge from my personal experience, creating a mood board etc. i have came to a conclusion i would like to portray this stereotypical view on women that society has. meaning the effect i would like to achieve is almost an exaggerated look onto femininity. as i came across the fact women are very closely linked to nature, i would preferably chose an outdoor location.
I have looked at photographs of women in nature, but once i was researching different locations the most popular locations that came up were the sea, flower fields and forest. looking into each specific location i have came across an article of the significance of the forest and it’s deeper meaning in books, history and art. what i found interesting is how forests are often mentioned as a ferry-like locations, where even in novels or children’s books they are a representation of magic and wonder. in many plays and other forms of arts, forests or woods are a sense of mystery and secret, however also a symbol of romance. this idea of romance in forests interested me, as women tend to be taken as more romantic then men, more in touch with their emotions, and ore sensitive, therefore this idea of a magical, romantic location relates to femininity so well. once i decided i would like for the location of my photoshoot to be in the woods, i circled above different woods in jersey that i am most likely to pick. these are: St Catherine’s Woods, St peters Woods, and woods in Noirmont.
Above i have created a mood board showering example effects i would like to achieve from this photoshoot. these pictures mainly inspire me because of how well they link with representing the place through the definition i have said before, the magical,romantic secretive place. i wish to portray that too with my final outcomes. what i like is how when the camera is positioned against the light , it creates this dream like feel, almost like a ferry-tale. the photographs, place and women in these photographs are all linked together in harmony and work well together to show femininity thorough the location.
Who- As forests and nature are very personal to me, i will photograph myself, through a different person, this is so i can link femininity with myself, show it’s meaning through me , and make the photographs more personal to me. i would like to represent femininity, and my take on it through me as no one else could project my vison on not only femininity but identity and importance of both of these, that are my own personal opinion.
What- I will include nature and use the environment to my full advantage, not only focusing of capturing portraits, but also close ups of leafs, flowers, sticks, and environment.
Where- In forests i have listed above, i think i will pick Noirmont woods, as transport to there is easier for me, however i also know there is a bit more open areas where sun can shine through the trees, meaning i will be able to get more light in.
When- Preferably when the sun is slightly angled, as then i can create a blurred, overexposed images. Regarding the time of year, this should be between hours of 3pm-6pm, this means this could be done after school, but i need to keep in mind the weather forecast and plan my photoshoot to a specific day where the sun will be out for most of the day.
How- As i will not be the one taking the photographs because i would need to model in them, it may be tricky to get the desired photographs. i could use a tripod, but because what i want to achieve will require different angles and approaches i will have to ask someone else to work with the camera. but i need to ensure the photographs are turning out how i imagined them to look like, meaning i will have to carry out regular checks with the person taking photographs.
Why- This photoshoot will be to demonstrate the meaning of femininity and its personal meaning it has to me. to show my identity through femininity and importance of it in my life. this is also to produce a set of images that represent a typical view on femininity and my thoughts on it. i would like from this to gain a deeper understanding of the importance in me exploring femininity, and what effect too much or too little of it would have on me.
Michael Wolf is known for capturing the hyper-density of cities, such as Hong Kong, Tokyo and Chicago in his large-scale photographs of high-rise architecture and intimate studies of the lives of city dwellers. However he has also created a set of portraits which I am interested in, called Tokyo Compression, Michael Wolf’s work on life in cities was always driven by a profound concern for the people living in these environments and for the consequences of massive urbanization on contemporary civilization.
Tokyo Compression 9, 2009.
In the series Tokyo Compression, Michael Wolf centred on the subsurface crush of the Tokyo subway, in which thousands of commuters make their daily journeys between work and home. Wolf’s images of individuals pressed against the windows of the crowded trains during the morning rush hour are a disquieting metaphor for the conditions of city-dwellers in today’s dense urban centres.
The images for Tokyo Compression were photographed at Shimo-Kitazawa station in Tokyo over a four-year period. Over time, Wolf engaged with the evocative potential of abstraction, cropping and reframing his images to focus more closely on his subjects. With skin pressed against the windows, the faces of the commuters are often partially obscured, blurred from view by condensation on the glass, or shielded intentionally from others by surgical masks. On occasion, Wolf’s subjects met his gaze, as in the example of Tokyo Compression #18 where one closed eye creates the mirror-image of the artist, training his vision through the viewfinder. On March 25, 2013, the Odakyu subway line was relocated, thus bringing this series to a conclusion.
What I like most about portraits from Tokyo Compression is the abstractness of them, and the creativity and initiative behind them, I love how he was able to create interesting images out of an ordinary landscape that everyone sees everyday. By doing this he encourages people to appreciate their surrounding more as it isn’t the surrounding, or a specific person that makes the photograph good, it is how the photographer engages with both the environment, person and meaning behind the images to put their vison out so another person can see it.
Photographs from Tokyo Compression not only are excellent photographs because of the good quality and editing behind them, but also how people in the photographs relate to what Michael Wolf is interested in. Although it is mainly shown in landscape form, he manages to show overpopulation, and society through a different take on these photographs, by moving from landscape to portraiture. Even in portraiture you can see the strong relationship that he has with the landscape, as he always includes it, even capturing close up portraits he manages to show this environment, in this case by a window on a train/metro.
What I like about the images is this separation the window, especially the droplets on it, create between the photographer and the person. It shows how calm the other side of the train is compared to the other. Not only it shows a crowded space, and an overpopulated area, but how that is compressed and gathered to a tiny area. this might be an extended metaphor to overpopulation everywhere. how no matter how many people the will be alive, we will always be limited to a specialised area, no matter if it is a bus, plane, house or even the world. we are limited, and most of his photographs show that.
Response Plan
What I loved the most about Michael Wolf’s work is that separation between the photographer and the subject, in this case this was shown by a window in the train. I want to respond to this in the same way by using a window or a glass of some sort, so that it is transparent. to show it’s transparency i may do a similar thing shown in his photographs, the raindrops.
what i decide to do is instead of the train or a metro, is to use a shower as this separation between the person being photographed and me. this is a artist response photoshoot , therefore I’m not planing on producing many different outcomes, but just to explore the artists project.
I found out the better looking photographs were ones where the person is closer to the glass, in further away ones, we had to clear the droplets off the glass so that it was more see through and less blurred.
I have picked my favourite photographs, which i also think are very similar to Michael’s ones, when it comes to the frame, and posing.
When it came to editing the photographs i wanted to be as close to the effect achieved by Michel, as possible. I’ve noticed he uses a lot of cool tones, therefore what i mainly focused on changing were the tones and increasing contrast to make the images darker.
Kayla Varley is an American advertising photographer/director, she is a popular photographer working in many popular LA, London, and NYC. developed her photographical skills at a very young age( being 13 years old). She had the support of her father, who bought her the camera at 13, she stated she used it a as a documentative way, to document her teenage life. “but it allowed me to express my emotions in a healthy way. The way I used to shoot was more about taking note of my own life, or documenting my surroundings. When I was younger I just saw things and wanted to capture what was happening.” which later she said “Now I set up circumstances that allow for an intentional creative space and energy.”, showing how her style changed and developed over the years.
Regarding the work she is producing now, she focuses on different kinds of portraits, both showing her aesthetics and having elements of her in them, one consist of mostly advertising photography, including makeup brands, clothing brands etc. and the other are portraits are more for her photographic, more artistic and more hobby work. these photographs would be without the intention of advertisement , rather more created for aesthetic purposes. i am more interested in the 2nd portraiture she creates, rather than advertisement. this is because i feel the models are ore created to the photographer and photograph, it seems more personal.
I have been inspired my Varley’s work when i was researching photographers that are moved by feminisim and show it in their work. on this website https://www.lomography.com/magazine/327804-8-women-photographers-on-feminism-confidence-photography i have came across her work and what stood out to me the most is what she had said “I don’t think women should be afraid of showing their true selves. When we have the space to be who we really are, and we are not afraid, we flourish. I hope that someday we can shape our society so that women don’t ever think twice about their appearance or behavior – we have the right to act however we please.” after reading this, i have researched her website https://www.kaylavarley.com/portrait . from then on i have selected images which i preferred the most, so i can show which images inspire me the most and of which ones i like the appearance of the most. however she she has a much bigger variety of photographs then i could include in this blog post.
reading a couple interviews she has done in order to understand the motivation and context behind her work, some of the answers to certain questions are quite inspiring and especially as a learning photographer, very helpful. For example the answer she replied to a question about what makes a good image to her: “A good image is an image with soul, impact, emotion, and good composition. I believe a photographer should always put a little bit of himself into an image. Without an emotional connection I think an image is that and you forget it once you’ve stopped looking at it.” i completely agree with this, and this is why in most of my future work i would truly put purpose for my images but also attempt to show it, while photographing items or producing photographs that show me, and the connection with what i would be photographing. I plan to produce images based on visions and plans made before, always considering impact, good composition and emotional connection.
on https://www.c-heads.com/2014/01/05/a-talk-with-kayla-varley/ she has said “Women are beautiful to me all of the time. My idea of beauty is a warm energy and a loving heart. Beauty comes from within- when a woman walks in a room and she has confidence, there’s nothing else like it.”
why I am so interested to what she has to say about finding inspiration from women and her work in general, is because I would potentially produce images that may differ aesthetically to hers, however they will be produced based on the advise I have gathered from the research.
I love how diverse her work is, showing haw great of a photographer she is, as she can work with many different environments and situations that sometimes might be tricky to shoot in, however she still manages to make unique photographs. you can see the confidence put out in the photographs, this empowerment she spoke about earlier, all her images do exactly what she wishes, which is to embrace these feminine traits and empower others through the connection shown in the photographs. i like how cinematic the images look, like they were taken from a movie or straight from someones life as they we happening, even though most are staged for an organized photoshoot. her work is meant to reel you into a spontaneous, but intentional space, where each image has a sense of movement, which brings the individual photographs more alive. Each image is meant to bring to life the human emotion, and capture a fleeting, magical environment.
what i also like is how broad her work is, that although she does have a significant style, she manipulates it to the person she is photographing and valuing showing these feminine qualities. for example the softness and delicate feel each image has, while most are exiting and spontaneous they have a sense of peace and balance.
What inspires me the most about her work is this playfulness she shows in women, she adapts each photograph to show a persons nature and how they feel to her, this could mean the photograph its self is so personal and filled with connection between the subject and the photographer. i have decided to analyse one of her images above, out of many other outstanding photographs she has produced, because I think this respond so well to what i wish to capture. I really like the composition of tones seen in the photograph, not only with this image but with many other photographs of her’s, the tones and colours always make sense, always have a theme and are never too overwhelming. this photograph shows femininity in it’s best way, showing the gentle side of women. the creamy colours link to the gentle nature women tend to be. i wish to embrace the softer side of women in my final photographs, i want to display movement and softness, to show, like the picture above, the fun that women have in them. this photograph shows this, the picture captures the movement of the women, her hair being messy and frozen in time. i think her hair is a vital part to the photograph, because it’s movement can suggest so much, the direction and how it flows shows how she was moving. even centuries ago when people would create painting of women they payed attention to women’s hair, it is symbolic and gives different meanings depending on the hair type/texture. Hair is one of the most feminizing elements of a woman’s body,and is traditionally seen as a sign of womanhood. this picture shows how confident the woman is in her femininity, but the movement also may suggest freedom. there are many factors to why i link this image with freedom but also reaching freedom and peace through embracing femininity. for example the direction of her looking into the light, and the use of light it”s self. the light which looks like sunlight, falls gently onto her face, the use of light also narrows the viewers focuses on her face. as you pay more attention to her face, and her expression, it shows joy, and happiness, which to me has a close link to confidence and freedom, as she has been put in the spotlight. almost like reveling her true self, the spotlight can have many connotations of revealing. to many this revealing can be of many forms, like femininity, freedom, true self etc. however whatever it is it all has a link to identity, this will be more personal to person being photographed or the photographer, but the meaning this image is trying to tell is do do with ones identity, which will be taken apart in different forms by different people.
Claude Cahun was actually born under the name Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1914,she also said that her actual gender was fluid. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portraitist, who assumed a variety of performative personae. Cahun is considered to be a ground-breaking artist who fully embraced her gender fluidity long before the term came into use. For example, in Disavowals, Cahun writes: “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me, hiowever In her writing she consistently referred to herself as “elle” (she). Cahun is most well known for her androgynous appearance, which challenged the strict gender roles of her time. During the early 1920s, she settled in Paris with lifelong partner Suzanne Malherbe, who adopted the pseudonym Marcel Moore. The two became step-sisters in 1917 after Cahun’s divorced father and Moore’s widowed mother married, eight years after Cahun and Moore’s artistic and romantic partnership began. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Moore collaborated on various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages. Some of Cahun’s portraits feature the artist looking directly at the viewer, head shaven, often revealing only head and shoulders (eliminating body from the view), and a blurring of gender indicators and behaviors which serve to undermine the patriarchal gaze.
In 1937 Cahun and Moore settled in Jersey. Following the fall of France and the German occupation of Jersey and the other Channel Islands, they became active as resistance workers and propagandists. strongly against war, the two worked extensively in producing anti-German fliers. Many were snippets from English-to-German translations of BBC reports on the Nazis’ crimes and insolence, which were pasted together to create rhythmic poems and harsh criticism. The couple then dressed up and attended many German military events in Jersey, placing their pamphlets in soldier’s pockets, on their chairs, and in cigarette boxes for soldiers to find. Additionally, they inconspicuously crumpled up and threw their fliers into cars and windows. On one occasion, they hung a banner in a local church which read “Jesus is great, but Hitler is greater – because Jesus died for people, but people die for Hitler.” As with much of Cahun and Moore’s artistic work in Paris, many of their notes also used this same style of dark humor. In many ways, Cahun and Moore’s resistance efforts were not only political but artistic actions, using their creative talents to manipulate and undermine the authority which they despised. In 1944, Cahun and Moore were arrested and sentenced to death, but the sentence was never carried out, as the island was liberated from German occupation in 1945.
Claude Cahun was a Surrealist photographer whose work explored gender identity and the subconscious mind. The artist’s self-portrait from 1928 epitomizes her attitude and style, as she stares defiantly at the camera in an outfit that looks neither conventionally masculine nor feminine. “Under this mask, another mask,” the artist famously said. “I will never be finished removing all these faces.”
Most Surrealist artists were men, whose primary images of women depicted them as isolated symbols of eroticism rather than as the chameleonic, gender non-conforming figure that Cahun presented. Cahun’s photographs, writings, and general life as an artistic and political revolutionary continues to influence artists.
In 2007, David Bowie created a multi-media exhibition of Cahun’s work in the gardens of the General Theological Seminary in New York. It was part of a venue called the Highline Festival, which also included offerings by Air, Laurie Anderson, and Mike Garson. Bowie said of Cahun:
“You could call her transgressive or you could call her a cross-dressing Man Ray with surrealist tendencies. I find this work really quite mad, in the nicest way. Outside of France and now the UK she has not had the kind of recognition that, as a founding follower, friend and worker of the original Surrealist movement, she surely deserves.”
I created a mood boards representing stereotypical view of femininity and masculinity, I searched for these specific images to create a general view of how i could start looking into femininity or masculinity. i could use the theme of these mood boards as a starting point in exploring this identity topic.
as i searched for the most common images on google, many of them included very soft colours, as well as the images, they were very ferry-tale-like, and had a dreamy effect to them. many also included movement and free-like spirit, where women would be doing something rather than posing. i found there are much more variety in images of women rather than men. this could be because women were taken as muses for centuries and carried the “beauty” in the definition of women. hence to why the photographs appear gentle and beautiful, they are of many colours and show the definition of femininity. there are many hints in some photographs that make the photograph more “feminine” like many including flowers, which is also a symbol of beauty, or dresses, which were taken as the most feminine clothing for centuries. what i noticed after the mood board was made that nature is very important when producing a feminine base photograph, this is because nature was taken as a sign of beauty for centuries and people have showed this even in historic paintings and art.
once i had 2 different mood boards to compare, i have noticed a drastic change. the theme was contrasting with the previous one, and almost every idea in the previous one was reversed and opposed. The main thing displayed in all the images , images that are taken as masculine, was strength and toughness in men. where women were more associated with nature, men are more associated with innovations, and man-made objects. this relates to the idea of men being stronger then women. this is the main value taken from masculinity, toughness, and is displayed clearly in the above images, where most men in the photographs have a bigger built and are also doing what are seen as more man dominated jobs, like war, mechanic or a kind of sport, these fields are man based because a greater strength is required. regarding how the photographs have been structured, there are the opposite of feminine photographs. they are much darker, and have less colour variety, i tried to include a bigger range of different photographs representing masculinity, however most of the pictures i came across were in black and white and of close ups of a muscled bodies of men. this related to the idea of strength once again, however it is shown in a less creative way, than feminine images.
