Cahun lived in jersey for a large amount of time which is now the home to her collection of art which can be found in the museums.

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer. But was known mostly for her photography work where she would dress up as different people to create different stories within her photos. Cahun presents herself in a variety of guises, adopting different personas and exploring the fluidity of identity. She dresses as both men and women when exploring the theme of identity and gender roles. A quote she said was:

 “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

This shows her link with the theme of masculinity and femininity as she does not care which identity she takes and in a few of her photos you can see her looking more feminine than others.

This particular photograph created by Claude Cahun was named “under this mask, another mask”. Cahun can be seen to use the technique of double exposure to create a double of herself. Back then there wouldn’t have been technology to edit this on a computer. Cahun would have to take the first photo an then rewind the film in the camera to create the second photo of her in a different position. The effect of this technique could show the viewer a conceptual view of Cahun having a struggle with her identity and how she may have needed to put on a “mask” to disguise her true self.

the lighting in the photo could be natural or artificial but her use of black background contrasts well to her skin tone as the light makes her bright so with the darker background, the lighting is evened out.

With the use of black and white, this makes the image give off a dark tone as there is no bright colours in use.

This image shows Cahun standing in front of a mirror where it creates a reflection. the inclusion of a mirror in art was used as a convenient way to expose two enticing views of a female subject or to shine emphasis on a woman’s vanity. The photo is also showing Cahuns opposing personalities by the differences shown in the two versions. In the mirror reflection, she knowingly reveals her neck whereas on the closer version, it’s hidden with the raised collar. The versions shows one more confident and carefree and the other coy and somehow caged. In my opinion, I really like the hidden meaning behind this photograph as you need to look closely to be able to find the links to identity and femininity.

Photoshoot 1

Edits of best images

Femininity

Masculinity

Masculinity X Femininity

Photoshoot 2

Edits of best images

Photoshop Edits Experimentation

I have experimented with a bunch of photos from both of my photoshoots by using photoshop.

On most of my photos I have created a blur affect in different sections of the images. I had also tried to experiment with the theme of identity when editing the images.

Evaluation

I was inspired by Claude Cahun’s work and her photographs that show her wearing exaggerated/bold makeup, I wanted to incorporate this into my work, as well as images that use a mirror to create a double portrait and self portraiture.

I wanted to include bold makeup to convey the ideas of beauty standards within modern society. I had drawn on a fake mole next to my lip because in some places it represents beauty and I wanted to use it’s meaning to represent how many people still believe that women must be beautiful.

I have aimed to play around with masculine and feminine stereotypes, I’ve done this by using lipstick and stereotyped feminine poses to represent femininity, a fake beard and stereotyped masculine poses for masculinity. I’ve also tried to contrast the lipstick with masculine poses and the beard with feminine poses.

In my first photoshoot I wanted to use my younger brother as he has quite an androgynous face which can easily be manipulated by makeup and I had planned to use a younger model to represent the idea of gender ideas changing and being more accepting in this generation compared to previous ones.

In my second photoshoot I had experimented with self portraiture and makeup to play around with the role of femininity. I have used objects like a cage represent the idea of women still being trapped behind female stereotypes and discrimination. I’ve used a glass orb and a piece of paper with a question mark on it because it adds to the idea of femininity being questioned.

In one of my images, I have also used a clock in the background, It is meant to represent how time has changed but the idea of femininity is still being questioned. I have also made my pictures a bit blurry to add to this idea.

Culture wars are conflict’s between multiple social groups in the world. These groups have different ideas to do with culture and their beliefs. This usually occurs in western countries and how their controversial democratic systems cause issues and conflicts when it comes to important subjects such as multiculturalism, abortion and sexuality.

Culture Wars Throughout History

Throughout history, many different culture wars and movements have taken place, for example, throughout the 1920’s, many culture wars took place. These culture wars consisted of the topics around immigration, race, alcohol, evolution, gender politics, and sexual morality.

During the 1920s, cultural wars and conflicts caused violent and dangerous groups such as the the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). This racist organisation of strong-minded people would focus on deadly and demoralized acts of violence in order to protest and rid the world of African Americans, however their their hatred then extended to immigrants, Catholics, Jews, liberals, and progressives. This group of individuals started in the south after the Civil War. This group influenced many while, lower-class Americans and attempted to respond to Catholics and immigrants by creating acts such as anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism. This relates to the ideas of Culture Wars because this group worked to enforce white supremacy as the political and social order of the South. This caused many Catholics, African Americans etc, to lose their lives or their rights. They did this by creating political campaigns, marching in parades with Klan floats, civic campaigns to support temperance, public education, and child welfare, and had many social women’s and youth Klan auxiliary groups. 

Acts of Protest

Culture wars and identity politics can be expressed through different acts of protest such as…

• Marches

• Sit-ins/die-ins

• Walkouts

• Vigils/memorials

• Rallies/speeches

• Letter-writing/petitions

• Boycott

• Strikes

Tribalism

Tribalism and social bonding help to keep individuals committed to the group, even when personal relations may fray. 

Tribalism can have very negative consequences when it is used to exclude individuals or groups or to take away their rights, status, and/or independence.

Advantages of Tribalism:

• Raising children communally
• Cooking meals communal
• Sharing other chores with other members

Advantages of Tribalism:

• Raising children communally
• Cooking meals communal
• Sharing other chores with other members

Ethnic, religious and racial identity politics dominated American politics in the 19th century, during the Second Party System

Identity Politics in Jersey

Liberate Jersey

Liberate is the Channel Islands’ equality and diversity charity. they have multiple branches in Jersey and Guernsey, serving islanders in both Bailiwicks. The main factors they attempt to focus on are:

– providing safe and inclusive spaces for people to meet across the Channel Islands.
– providing mental health and wellbeing support
– educating and informing residents, organisations and governments of the Channel Islands on a range of minority issues.
– supporting and/or staging artistic and cultural events and engaging in historical research that tell the stories of Minorities in the Channel Islands.
– campaigning to reform policies and laws to ensure that Minorities can enjoy the same freedoms and rights as everyone else across the Channel Islands.

Home

Black Lives Matter

BLM Jersey formed as a result of the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred across the world and in Jersey on 6 June 2020. The protest in People’s Park saw over a thousand people of all colours stand in solidarity to say that black lives matter here, too. There are a number of charities supporting our migrant workforce that align closely with Liberate Jersey and make supporting this community a partnership enterprise. 

Harambee

Rebellion Jersey

The Diversity Network- Jersey

The Diversity Network – Jersey (TDN) is a movement for cultural change in the workplace and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion consultancy with high aspirations and a not-for-profit ethos. As well as bringing something new and different to business networking in Jersey, we see working with local employers to promote and enable diversity and innovative working practices as core to our purpose.

LIGHTING TECHNIQUES

Over the course of a few week I worked on my understanding of lighting techniques in the studio, i primarily focused on butterfly lighting ( significant in Hollywood for enhancing the appearance of the model and the signature butterfly shadow under the nose) , chiaroscuro lighting ( significant for creating dramatic appeal in a photo and half the face being harshly lit ) and Rembrandt ( known for dark photos illuminating only half the face excluding the triangle highpoint under the eye.

i produced many photos in these styles but these are the ones I find represent the style the best

Rembrandt:

butterfly:

chiaroscuro:

Environmental portraiture

my next miniature protect was environmental portraits, taking pictures of people in a place they are comfortable enough to be described as their ‘environment’ can be a challenging thing, especially in a situation where your model doesn’t have complete trust in you in a person environment.

factoring this in is why for my next collection of favourite photos were of either my mother or my grandmother, using family connections to my advantage in this scenario will provide me with a calm and trusting model to photograph.

during the photoshoot i took over 100 photos, primarily focussing the shoot in areas both women spend a lot of time in ( eg. at he sewing machine, in the garden or in the lounge )

I have chosen three photos from this photoshoot that I believe tell the story I want them too, I wanted them to convey i sense of nostalgia and comfort.

with this style of photography I kept the editing very simple, opting to just focus on enhancing the images instead of distracting from the simplicit beauty of the photographs

Femininity

Bellow is just a fraction of the contact sheets I have acquired over this project , as this has been far more editorial than my projects before this I made sure to give myself as many options as possible when I came down to photos to pick from.

In these I have used head shots as well as more obscure close up shots the the body, face and objects relating ( perfume bottles etc. ) I had a very specific idea in mind for this project and I feel as if for the most part I have accomplished it.

t

Overall, this final outcome is my favourite because I included prominent hints of my inspiration for my own image, which shows the viewer where I got some ideas from. I like how the background is all different photos of Monroe, yet I added my own image on top, to ensure it is the subject of the overall outcome. I chose to do the collage of different phots of Marilyn Monroe because I think it adds a unique effect and gives the overall outcome some life. I also like how I added coloured photos of Monroe in the background, not just black and white. This added a more appealing look. To achieve this, I adjusted the opacity of my own layer on top, which allowed the entire outcome to blend more, and have a seamless look. I like how I managed to combine my own image with my inspirations to show the similarities and differences between them, but they blend well and compliment each other due to the similar approach we did.

However, I do think I could have changed some things within this outcome. One of the main problems I faced was time management, in which I had to rush my editing process. I don’t like how prominent my image is on top of the background ones. I think it would look more successful if I had blended out the edges of my image into the background, so it creates more of a fade. I also think it could’ve looked better if I kept my own photo in colour, rather than in black and white. I think this approach would’ve made my outcome look more unique.

Within this outcome, I personally believe the editing on Lightroom went smoothly. The use of overlapping the two similar images of me and Marilyn Monroe portrays my aims and objectives to achieve. I like the lighting of my image as it is bright and luminous, which ultimately gives the4 image a happy mood. I chose to execute this technique as it shows how Marilyn was illustrated to the world as “perfect” with no flaws, which is a big part of femininity. However this contrasts with the cold tones in the image, as I made it black and white, which is similar to Claude Cahun’s photos. I overlapped these two photos smoothly so the outcome didn’t look too harsh. I did this because I think it looks more gentle, which is essentially what women are stereotyped to be. I like how the viewer can still see my entire image and also Marilyn. In addition to this, I used this photo of Marilyn because I knew it would compliment my image because of the gaze we are both doing, this is a common thing that girls do because we are stereotyped as “self conscious”.

I chose to do a virtual gallery as a final outcome, because it portrays all my best images into one. I put my most successful image in the middle, so it draws the viewers attention straight away. I think this adds to the outcome because there are many resemblances to Monroe and our inspiration photos of her. It looks good because my model is doing the “female gaze”, which is very fitting for the topic of masculinity and femininity, and is also something Monroe does in a lot of her photos. Also, I like the middle image because it has different tones to the others; the other images are completely black and white, whereas the middle one has hints of colour which is intriguing and creates a contrast. I ensured the background was black in all my images so it gives a classy effect, while also allowing the black and white to stand out more and add a mysterious effect. I like how all of my images have a clear main subject, which is mainly the hair, as again it ties in with the femininity aspect perfectly.

Masculinity, Femininity and Identity –

For my photoshoot I based some of my photos from Eugene smiths documentative series ‘Country Doctor’, Creating my own version, I explored in my photoshoot the way Masculinity, Femininity and Identity are explored throughout my Relatives locally owned business, A pig farm.

‘A day in the life’ – George Blake

In comparison to my inspiration, I think I created a good visual and textual inspired photoshoot for my edited photographs. With a similar concept in mind I went my own way with documenting through a photo essay of the ‘day in the life’ of my relatives pig farm.

Comparison –

I find that these images create a comparison, due to both images capturing the subject in a working environment. Despite different Jobs entirely, they’re similar in the fact both subjects in the image are doing a task related to their practice.

To me, these images can be shown to comparison from each other as Both images subject does not provide a direct eye contact to the camera. This for me creates that documentative element in these photographs as it further associates the subject into the image as the viewer is captured to their appearance within their environment.

In comparison to Smiths work, I believe my editing to create a picture essay, envisioned as a newspaper matches closely to his work. Going into detail about the contents within the image, I believe I have made a good replica of his concept.

Overall, I believe I have captured the same conceptual basis, the photographer, Eugene Smith had when creating these images. I think with the technical aspects, such as lighting and aperture, I was able to make a close match. Since Smith’s photos were made in 1948, I tried to replicate a newspaper effect from the time period. I based my idea of positioning my photographs to create that same effect as if being read out of a newspaper or magazine.

I was also inspired from a vintage WW2 Jersey Newspaper I own, where photographs were presented in small circles popping out on a page. Using my knowledge of photoshop I had gained from making diamond cameos, I recreated that effect with some of my smaller side images.

Studio Portraits –

For my photoshoot, I was inspired by a large mixture of photographers such as Henry Mullins, a local photographer who merged his studio portraits of people of Jersey into a Diamond Cameo and Andrés Gallardo Albajar, who got headshot photographs of people with and without hands covering their face, to then merge them as Multi-exposures.

In comparison to Mullins, I believe I was easily able to create a similar approach to his style, basing my concept of his, I used by photographs from my studio shots.

Comparisons –

Overall, I like how these came out a lot as I think I managed to create a similar style to both photographers. Using photos from when we played around with studio lighting, they are a mixture of Rembrandt, Chiaroscuro and butterfly lighting.

I would improve however with further with more photoshoots to be able to have a wider experimentation to Image manipulation. This is because I feel like I could create some additional diamond cameos and multi-exposures without over-using images from the shoot.

Environmental Portrait –

Inspired by the German photographer, August Sander, I wanted to recreate his style of some of his high contrast, environmental portraits. Using a similar aperture I tried to capture my portraits of people in their natural environments. I was also inspired by Alec Soth, who would photograph people doing their hobbies.

Overall, I like how these came out, I think the angles of the shots and composition produce an nice image, I would improve however with getting better lighting. As some of my photos appear to have less definition on shadows as during my photoshoot it wasn’t particularly a sunny day.

Comparison –

Overall, I like how these turned out. In comparison to, Soth’s and Sanders work, I think my images loosely take influence through capturing the visual concepts of people in their natural environments. How I would improve is for further exploration into environmental Portraits, capturing more realistic locations like a work place or home, I think combined with a more accurate attempt at shot distances, I could produce a similar style of image.

For my first edit, I cut out an two images (using the quick selection tool) of a body I had previously photographed. I then dragged these cut outs onto a plain white piece of paper and searched on google for news articles of different assault cases. Once I found the one I wanted to use, I copy and pasted it onto photoshop and used ctrl t to move it. Finally, to highlight the theme of femininity and masculinity I added a photo filter to the bodies (one pink and the other blue).

I chose to make this edit in order to spread awareness of sexual assault. By the models in the image covering their body or facing away from the camera, it portrays the idea of women feeling they have to cover up their bodies in fear of being attacked, judged or harmed. Additionally, the use of the blue light (which is seen as a masculine colour) and the pink light (which is seen as a feminine colour) shows that both genders are equally at risk of sexual assault etc. Overall, I like how this edit came out as I feel it represents a serious topic whilst also showing the key theme of masculinity and femininity through the different coloured lighting and showing that both genders can experience these horrible things. However, if I were to improve this edit next time I would try and create a smoother blend between the bodies and the background or create a drop shadow on the bodies so they are purposefully pronounced.

For my next edit, I cut out two lip images and then a body image and then stuck them all onto one page. I then decided I wanted to highlight the theme of femininity even more and so created a colour splash in which the faces are all grey apart from the lips drawing attention to them and highlighting the idea of the male gaze, as lips can be seen as seductive and provocative. I created this colour splash by using the quick selection tool to go around the lips and then pressing layer via copy. I then clicked back onto the faces layer and changed them to black and white.

Overall, I think this edit was successful in showing the theme of femininity due to the body with minimal clothing and the red lips which are edited in a way that makes them stand out.

My next images were inspired by the artist Cindy Sherman. This first edit is referring to her photos in which captured a typical woman in the 1950s. However, I decided to photograph a stereotypical woman today. When I first thought of a stereotypical girl in 2024, I immediately thought of girls constantly being on their phones. So, I took photographs of different girls scrolling on their phone. For this edit, I cut out two of images I had taken and then copied them onto a blank piece of A4 paper. I then wanted to further highlight the idea of phones and social media so I got an image of different social media platforms from google and then pasted it onto the background (lowering the opacity so it didn’t look like such a harsh background). Finally, I created one version which had the models as black and white and then another with normal colour. I then added these two images onto an A3 piece of paper and created a black boarder around the two.

My next edit was also inspired by Cindy Sherman and her images called ‘This is how I look. I guess’. I created this by opening up an image of a boy I had taken previously and then opening up different images of girls and using the quick select tool to cut out different parts of the girl’s faces eg their eyes/ lips. To finish off this idea, I decided I wanted to emphasise the idea of different faces being cut out onto one face and so I decided to make the original face black and white whilst keeping the cut outs in colour. I also added a drop shadow to them.

Overall, I like how this edit came out as I think I managed to successfully recreate the work of Cindy Sherman and explore how a typical woman is seen today compared to the 1950s. However, in order to further this edit and make it look more like Cindy Sherman’s work next time, I would make sure the face is more zoomed in so there’s less background showing as it cam be a bit distracting.

For this edit, I was inspired by Marcelo Monreal who is known for placing flowers behind a person’s face which is cut out. In order to achieve this, I first used the quick select tool to cut out part of the model’s face and then pressed layer via copy. Next, I moved the person’s face to side slightly. I then searched on google for flower illustrations and selected pink flowers (in order to portray the theme of femininity) then pasted them onto my image and put them behind the cut out face. I repeated this step until I had a wide range of flowers. Finally, I created an image in which the main photograph was black and white and another where it is in colour.

Overall, I like how this final piece came out as I think it successfully combines elements of masculinity and femininity into one image. This can be seen in the flowers which are often associated as being a feminine thing and then the blue light which represents masculinity. If I were to do this edit again, I would use a boy model and then have flowers coming out of his head as this juxtaposes what people traditionally think of males and would portray the idea of it being okay for men to have feminine traits or likings.

For this edit, I wanted to create something more simpler and so decided to use an A3 template and then added 4 of my own images onto it. I decided to use two females and two males with a black background to go with the dark lighting seen in the images.

I like how this photograph defies typical stereotypes about men and women as the ‘girl’ coloured lights are reflected onto the male whilst the ‘boy’ coloured lights are reflected onto the female. The bottom image shows an insight into the confusion one can feel regarding their identity as seen in the use of both blue and pink lights surrounding her but no specific colour actually being on her. Her head being in her hand further emphasises this idea and gives off the sense of her being lost and overwhelmed. On the other hand, in the images of the boy he can be seen proudly putting on lipstick in pink light (both of which are traditionally seen as feminine things). Additionally, he is looking straight into the lens with purpose suggesting that he is comfortable with his identity and doesn’t feel he has to act in a certain way in order to be regarded as a man.

Finally, for this edit I opened up two images of lips that I had taken previously and then used the quick select tool to go around only the face and then pressed layer via copy. I dragged both of these cut outs onto a blank page and then made the background black. I then used the rectangular marquee tool in order to make a rectangle on my image. Next, I pressed layer via copy and then dragged the shape either to the left or right slightly. I repeated this step for each rectangle.

Overall, I think this image turned out alright in terms of trying something new on photoshop. However, if I were to do this idea again I would add a male to one side and a female to the other side then have the rectangles bringing the two closer to one another, showing that although we have many differences we are all the same and can have traits of the other gender without having to lose our own sense of identity.

Femininity and Masculinity Virtual Gallery:

Lighting Techniques and Diamond Cameo Virtual Gallery:

Environmental Portraits Virtual Gallery:

Here’s my virtual gallery for femininity vs masculinity

These are the pictures closer up

Environmental portraits virtual gallery

Different lighting virtual gallery

Justine Kurland Photos.

Before

I have picked these two photos as I believe they are the best out of all the ones I took. I believe that these pictures best represent Justine Kurland as they are adventurous and represent ‘girlhood’.

After

To edit these pictures, I used Adobe Lightroom and adjusted the different settings to get my pictures looking more colourful.

Cindy Sherman

before

I have chosen these two photos because I believe they show femininity through more of a girly way. I think they best represent Cindy Sherman as she was all about taking pictures of women to represent femininity, and these show girly traits, e.g in the first picture, the models hair tells a story in itself about loving and embracing hair when your a girl, and in the second picture, i focused on trends these days, for e.g always being on a phone, fashion etc.

After

I chose to edit these photos in photoshop. I wanted to show different angles in the pictures to emphasise what message I’m getting across. They both represent femininity in similar but different ways.

Justine Kurland – her photos

Analysis – In this photo you can see two girls play fighting. This image shows femininity/girlhood by feeling free outside in the wilderness.

Analysis – In this picture, you can see two girls, one sat on a wall and one holding her other shoe. This represents femininity as the girl on the right is being supportive and helpful of her friend.

Justine Kurland – my photos

Analysis – Similarly to the first picture I put for Justine Kurland’s, my picture also has two girls having a friendly snowball fight. This represents ‘girlhood’/femininity just like Kurland’s as it shows how teenage girls have fun. I edited this photo changing different settings to make outside look like a brighter place to be as Kurland’s photos represent the wilderness.

Analysis – Similarly to the second picture I put for Justine Kurland, this image shows one friend helping the other out. Brushing hair is a girly act, so therefore also represents femininity in that way. I also used a filter to make the photo look a little more wild.

Cindy Sherman – her photos

Analysis – These pictures show femininity by the basics of the clothes, colours, and style.

Analysis – This photo represents femininity through the story its telling. Cindy Sherman used her photos as a way to show stereotypes. This shows a young lady waiting to pick up the phone, this is feminine again because of the use of colours, but also the stereotype that women need men.

Cindy Sherman – my photos

Analysis – This picture was inspired my Sherman. I used the models hair and posture to show femininity. This is similar to Sherman’s pictures as the main focus was showing femininity through the hair.

Analysis – In this image, I used the use of the models phone to represent femininity. As you can see in one of Cindy Sherman’s photos, you can see the model waiting to answer the phone, I went for the same idea to show how many women rely on their phones for validation.