Within my personal study project I would like to explore two definite themes The first being Anthropocene, which is seen as a period in time. The period of the great acceleration, for example the rapid increase in climate change on our planet. This has a very significant impact, and I want to use anthropocene as a diss at humans. Using imagery to explore how it is our fault, and also as an urge for help, to get people to at least try to slow down its effects. I want to take images that observe how it is already too late and we cannot reverse what we have done but merely try to slow it down. One of my exemplar artists for this is Naomi White1 and her observation and challenging of plastic bags, taking something so ordinary and dramatising it. My other theme will be Masculinity vs Femininity. I really enjoyed exploring this during class, and I think my personal study will be a good way to represent my passion for this theme. Photographers have a lot of things to untangle when attempting to take non-binary images. Your own bias perception of gender can be seen within the imagery you take, and I want to provide my ideology of how men have it easier than women. But I also want to portray some stereotypical views of teenage male anger vs teenage female anger and how they are released in two very different ways. One example artist for this theme is Claude Cahun 2known for her gender fluidity in her art. I have also looked at Danny Evans3 skateboarding images on Instagram when he did an exhibition over here.
The reason that these matter to me is because I think that the hardship of being a teenager is often overlooked. Parents don’t realise how much different it is to be a teenager in a jilted generation compared to their teenage atmosphere. Being a teenager in a generation which is so involved around technology has led to an anxious generation4. Growing up obsessed with looks, how many likes we have online and popularity obsession has led to every teenager now being so extra wary of how they move and what they do. There is no freedom anymore. Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.5 I want to observe how this creates a gang of copies, every teen similar to the next, but I want to challenge how they all have a deeper meaning, they all have their own personality somewhere hidden within them.
I will develop my project to portray this by looking at some inspiration that matchers my ideas. The first artist that I looked at was Jim Goldberg6, he uses street photography and many candid images with signage to portray how everything is so similar nowadays. By using warm tones and portraying things in a documentary style and objective matter he allows the viewer themselves to use nostalgia to connotate feelings, comparing their own teenage-hood and observing whether thier’s was better or not. The key image of his I looked at was one of a skateboard. 7 My reasoning for being so entangled with this image is that it represents teenage culture, I like how the skateboard has clearly been used and battered around, explaining how teenagers have a certain anger within them that they need to unleash. Another key artist I looked into was Tom Wood8. He mainly uses candid and unposed photography, his street photography is marked by the ability to capture raw, authentic expressions of people, often in public settings like streets, markets, or at social gatherings. Wood often captures environmental portraits, where the subject is shown in their natural surroundings, adding context and depth to the photograph. My favorite image of his was a landscape9, I loved how it explained your environment can massively impact how you live your life and what you turn out to be. I will use a documentary style of imagery to further develop my ideas, and also use tableaux, meaning a group of people all in one image, this will portray many different personalities’ and extract how different we all are exempt from the obsession of looks.
I intend to use some old photographs I have already taken to put in my book, and then I want to build on them by creating new images that have a similar sense and style to them. I already have some images that I really like from the Masculinity vs Femininity theme we did in lesson. I want to include a lot of landscape and environmental portraiture, I will do this by going to the edge of the island or places up high in town and just capturing the natural scenery around me. I also want to incorporate some candid photography by just taking photos when out with friends, catching authentic personality’s. One last image I want to create is one of a skateboard on a light box, which I can do at school.
- https://www.naomiwhite.com/about ↩︎
- https://www.jerseyheritage.org/history/claude-cahun-and-jersey/ ↩︎
- https://www.gallery.je/features/skateboarders-by-danny-evans/ ↩︎
- https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/ ↩︎
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/15/rousseau-shows-us-way-break-chains ↩︎
- https://jimgoldberg.com/ ↩︎
- https://images.fotomat.io/prod/c0a2cfd4-9bee-4d2b-9993-3b3cf0741393/d1446ae8-d86e-4a0e-88f0-c52b45f2a00c.jpg?s=M ↩︎
- https://tomwoodarchive.com/ ↩︎
- https://www.lensculture.com/projects/5350-landscapes ↩︎
