The artist I have decided to focus on is Michelle Sank.

She is a South African photographer who was born in Cape Town. She lived there till 1978 and she moved to England in 1987.

Her images reflect a preoccupation with the human condition and too this end can be viewed as social documentary. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity.

Some examples of her work include:

In this photo she decided to photograph an elderly woman in what seems like her home. Sank depicted the woman to look comfortable. She managed to make the woman seem very wise and almost powerful in the photo.

My emotional response to this photo definitely varies depending on what aspect I focus on. Overall the photo makes me feel comforted and almost safe because of the stereotypical thought of older people, that they are sweet loving people. And because of the angle the photo was taken, it almost gives the illusion that the viewer is looking up. This is because the woman is sat down making the eye view of this photo the hight of whoever Sank wanted the viewer to imagine was looking at this woman. To me it makes me think of a child and a child would definitely be looking up to this woman, almost as a roll model.

This photo was what seems like taken in natural light. And the backdrop seems to be the comfort of the woman’s home making the photo seem more comfortable and somewhat safe. The shadows and the dimensions don’t seem forced and look natural due to the natural light used to take the photo.

The leading lines in this photo seem to be vertical, you can see that on the couch, the frame of the glass shelf behind the model, the curtains and the radiator. If I were to over analyse this information, I would say that the use of this linework would back up my thoughts about looking up to the woman in the photo because of how the lines travel up through the photo.

Another example of Michelle Sank’s work would be ;

In this photo Michelle decided to photograph a young woman in what seems like her bedroom. Sank decided to make this woman stare straight into the camera maybe to give a more intimidated feel to the photo. In this photo Michelle definitely showed the difference between cultural differences and stereotypes, in the first photo before, the woman was shown to be of some kind of wealth based on the clothing she wore and the sophistication of the photo in general, while in this photo the woman seemed to be in more generic clothing and is you can see, the wall in her bedroom seemed to be broken or a layer of paint has worn away or been broken off. This could show social standing differences through little details in both photographs.

The emotional feeling this photo gives me in particular is more intimidation while still giving a feeling of comfort and relaxation. The intimidation comes from the glare the model is giving the camera and also the observation that her hands are in her pockets. However the comfort and relaxation feeling comes from the fact that the woman gives a slight smile in the photo almost making her inviting and kind looking. Also, the idea that the woman is in her own bedroom gives the feeling of comfort because she is in her own home and is safe where she is.