John Grenville Stezaker was born during 1949 and is a British conceptual artist. Stezaker attended an art school in London, Slade School of Art, in his early teens, he then later graduated with a higher Diploma in Fine Art during 1973. During the early 1970s, he was among the first wave of British conceptual artists to react against what was ten the predominance of Pop art. For a while it was rare for Stezaker to do a Solo exhibition, however in the mid-2000s his work was rediscovered by the art market and he is now collected by several international collectors and museums. Stezaker has become renowned for his unique approach to found imagery, often utilising vintage photographs, postcards, as well a movie stills to create new visual narratives. His work can be characterised by his use of juxtaposition and his layering techniques where he typically cuts and combines images to create new meaning and context which explore themes such as memory, identity and time.

Marriage

’Marriage’ is one of John Stezaker’s most recognised series of images. In this series he overlays portraits of couples with images of landscapes or abstract forms, this creates a tension between the intimacy and love and the vastness of the places that they inhabit. Aside from this series he has also created several others including ‘cards’, in which he uses playing cards and other found materials, along with film stills which includes imagery from cinema. His work usually creates a sense of nostalgia as he invites the past into his work with the medium of collage.

How will I respond?

For my response based on John Stezaker I plan to do multiple photoshoots, I will first photoshoot members of my family, I will take portraits, next I will photoshoot landscapes. These landscapes will be taken of places which mean a lot to each individual, this could be old houses, their current house, places which they like and more.