Clare Rae

Clare Rae is an artist from Melbourne who produces photographs of moving images, In her photographic practice Clare explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is informed by feminist theory, and presents an alternate and often awkward experience of subjectivity and the female body, usually the artists’ own.

Never Standing On Two Feet

Exhibited in Entre Nous: Claude Cahun and Clare Rae at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Australia 22 March – 6 May 2018, and subsequently at CCA Galleries in Jersey, UK, 7–28 September 2018.

Action Shots

Clare Rae produced action shots of women within there space, configuring the environment and the agriculture with the action portraying a sense of juxtaposition.

Engaging With The Object

Clare Rae uses her images to engage with the object, she does this by using movement and blur to portray the actions of engaging with the object, she also uses various lighting within portraying the actions, allowing for a real sense of capturing the movements.

Rather than physical space, the theme of Environment can also be considered within a psychological context where artists construct or imagine an environment that they respond to in creative ways using photography, performance and film.

Using binary opposites we can think of these environments as;

exterior/ interior
private/ public
masculine/ feminine
physical/ psychological

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured. Although she died very young, there is no denying that Woodman was one of the most innovative and promising artists of her generation. She pushed the boundaries of experimental photography and played with the potential of shutter speed and exposure.

Blurred and Merged

Blurred photographs are commonly done to emphasize movement, to create an abstract composition, to suggest distance, poor (or blocked) vision, to enhance certain moods, sometimes simply because there’s no real need for something to be sharp or in focus in the image, and so on.I’ve heard people say it’s because they symbolize our blurry memories: the blur of femininity, the ineffability of life. I think it’s that, and more. It rejects form and in doing so, it becomes more than one form.Blurring also maintains the aestheticism of the image.  It enhances image by giving a shallow depth of field which looks very nice.

Mergers occur when two objects in an image appear to be touching or merging together. This can happen when two subjects are too close together or when one subject is photographed in front of another subject with similar colors or tones.

My response photos ~Clare Rae (Edited):

These are my response photos to one of my artist references, Clare Rae. Clare Rae’s photos consist of taking images which not only portray a sense of femininity but also contrast it by the use of ‘engaging with the object’. There are many objects that are stereotyped to be seen as feminine, and I have used these stereotypes to portray femininity within my photos, my character is clearly a female and can be seen engaging in the use of many different ‘feminine’ products, like the hairbrush, and different makeup products. This creates a juxtaposition, the idea of two items with a contrasting effect being put together, there are many different examples of this juxtaposition within my photos, the environment my model is in being one, there are a few main things that stand out about the environment she is in which are stereotyped as feminine, even coming down to the lighting, the fairy lights are typically deceived as feminine, proving how even something as silly as lighting puts you into a box of femininity the same goes for the ‘hollywood glam’ style lighting on the mirror, and even the small lit up LED heart on the wall. All these different things indicate to signs of femininity. It is a very old stereotype that females are those who should clean, so the fact that my characters environment is clean adds to this deception of femininity, changing the stereotypes into imagery to be portrayed in a more elegant way. This is why I chose Clare Rae as my artist inspiration, Clare Rae’s images show the capturing of movements, and I saw this as a opportunity to use my own person agriculture too create ‘engaging with the object’ and make it as feminine as possible to really show the beauty within it.

The photos that I have edited to be black and white look most similar to Clare Rae’s photos but I used editing within lightroom to add a masculine contrast to the images. I did this by adding a colour tint too some of the images, I chose colours like blue and green which are typically related with masculinity to create a sense of incongruity. This is only a little edit so may not be picked up by most but I would like to label it ‘opposing attractions’.

Photoshopped Image:

I used photoshop to focus on the engagement with the object, I did this by highlighting my character and duplicating to her in order to make the main focus of the images the engagement of the feminine action.

My response photoshoot ~Francesca Woodman (edited) :

I chose Francesca Woodman as my second artist reference because I believe her use of blurring and merging images allows for a blur between lines of femininity and masculinity. Blurring an image can somewhat make it look ‘cool’ but it also creates an image which you have to actually use your brain to configure the silhouette between the lines, but while you do this your brain wants to put this silhouette into a category of whether this character we are viewing is a boy or a girl? a man or a lady?, this is due to our brains being fed so many stereotypes from a young age making us want to consistently use them and fit everything into one box or another. This is why I chose the environment of these images to be at the skatepark. The skate park is typically associate with boys due to skating being a ‘sport’, where you often get hurt and thrown around which is seen to be more masculine, so I have put these characters in the proximity of an environment which correlates to them, but I have used blurring the character’s into their environments’ to turn skateboarding into something more of a dance rather than a hardcore sport.

I have edited the photos to make them look a bit dimmer and darker, not to create a sense of eeriness but more a sense to make the images more vague, by doing this the images are in the middle, in-between showing a clear image and one that’s not configurable at all.

Photoshopped Image:

I used photoshop to created duplicates of my character, I did this to create a merge, and to make the image look even more unconfined, like it doesn’t have to be something so simple and ordinary but instead its an image of question, an image that Francesca Woodman would’ve created to add to her innovative ideas.

Personal Response Photoshoot ~Femininity (edited):

Personal Response Photoshoot ~ Contrast (edited) :

PhotoShoot One Plan-

My plan for my first photo shoot was to take photos of womanhood, there is a lot of speculation around females just being used as a housewife, I wanted too use my first photo shoot too prove that womanhood could be fun as well, and that woman should not be given every single housework and cleaning task, I took inspiration from Crissy Knight, her photobook ‘woman of yesterday’ shows pictures of woman and labels attached underneath them stating what they are, my aim was too take this idea and also reverse it.

My response to this was proving how women do not need to be labeled, and can just be and do whatever they want.

PhotoShoot Two Plan-

The plan for my second photoshoot was to evaluate the idea of women being together, for a very long time women were separated, girls not allowed to go to school and as they grew they would be taught how too cook and clean by their mothers basically living for the man, things have new developed, and I wanted to show how women should no longer be seperated, and that they can help each other without fighting over the man. My inspiration for this was Claude Cahun and the ideas of culture wars constantly separating people. My inspiration wasn’t so much her actual photography but rather who she was, the fact that her pronouns being ‘ then/theirs’ showing a pure amount of fluidity rather than fitting in a box, and the fact that she was an inspiration, she decided to take photographs instead of being shoved into a kitchen which inspired many other women, which now allows for women today to band together and be what they want.

My responses-

PhotoShoot Three Plan-

The idea behind my third photoshoot was to shows girls being ‘rebels’, breaking the normal of them just being ‘ lovely, motherly, caring’ but instead living as reckless of a life as they want. Showing females doing something which would more fit in with masculine traits. I didn’t have an artist inspiration for this photoshoot in my mind but my one idea was to prove how females don’t always have to be caring, femininity does not have too all be about sitting still and looking pretty, but instead its about females leading how they want to lead, and living their own life too the fullest, because after all they are people with the same craziness as men. It was also to break the standard that all women do with their ‘girlfriend’s’ is girls things, like gossiping or doing each others hair, but that they can do the same ‘manly’ activities’ as everyone else, while still being feminine.

PhotoShoot Four –

My plan for this photoshoot was to use it for my environmental portraiture as I did not have many photos, the idea for dancing for environmental portraiture can open many opportunities, whether this person teaches dance or performs dance is very hard to capture, so i’ve tried my best to capture my model in her own dancing environment teaching, my model has her own full time job but doesn’t feel as if she is in her own environment until she’s working on her own business, I wanted to use these images to portray the empowerment of femininity and how beautifully people can flourish when places in their favorite environment.

Photoshoot Five-

The idea behind my fifth photoshoot was to capture movement and blur as inspired by Clare Rae, the idea of capturing movement and creating a blur tells a story about the sport, I choose to photograph skating as its more of a boyish sport rather than feminine due to the risk factor and how boys tend to be more ‘reckless’.

Photoshoot six-

The idea behind my sixth photoshoot was very similar to my third photoshoot, I was just trying to capture the beauty of girl-hood.

Photoshoot seven-

The ideas behind this photoshoot was essentially the same as the idea behind my fifth one.

Photoshoot eight-

Photoshoot nine-

This photoshoot is my favorite one as it captures the engagement with the object, females doing feminine things. Inspired by Clare Rae.

Photoshoot Ten-

Some Extras

I used the virtual art gallery creator to make a virtual gallery of my favorite photos.

You can also zoom in and favorite photos.

https://visit.virtualartgallery.com/399a8194-3a68-4fad-830a-178868176230/?draft=true

I have ideas to take action shots of models engaging with items, for example a dancer doing a pose and a girl doing her makeup, my ideas for my action shots is to take photos of boyd skating, i have many different ideas from my inspiration’s which include this moodboard, Francesca Woodman ,Clare Rae and Claude Cahun.

Claude Cahun

Born: October 25, 1894, Nantes, France

Died: December 8, 1954, Saint Helier

Parents: Mary-Antoinette Courbebaisse

Period: Surrealism

Movies: Magic Mirror, Playing a Part: The Story of Claude Cahun

What pronouns did Claude Cahun use?

There are convincing arguments to be made for both she/her/hers and they/them/theirs; she/her/hers because that is what was used for Cahun when they were alive and used themself; they/them/theirs because of their oft-discussed detachment from being a woman or a man.

What happened to Claude Cahun?

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. However, Cahun’s health never recovered from her treatment in jail, and she died in 1954. Cahun is buried in St Brelade’s Church with partner Moore.

Why is Claude Cahun important?

Claude Cahun was a surrealist, photographer, sculptor, and activist. She is best known for her gender-fluidity in art, and her anti-Nazi resistance. Claude Cahun is not the most well-known name among surrealist artists. This is remarkable because her non-binary perspective gives an original take on surrealism.

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor, and writer. She is best known for her self-portraits in which she assumes a variety of personas, including dandy, weight lifter, aviator, and doll.

In this image, Cahun has shaved her head and is dressed in men’s clothing. She once explained: “Under this mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these faces.”1 (Claude Cahun, Disavowals, London 2007, p.183)

Evaluation

Claude Cahun was an inspirational photographer, she paved the way for many other female photographers with her rebellious view on life, her not caring what other people say or think allowed for more people to do the same. Cahun is best known for her gender-fluidity with her art, breaking the barriers of normal standards, she was arrested and sentenced to death which was never carried out, this proved how much she genuinely did not care, and proved how no one could ever catch her. She broke out of social norms and didn’t let anyone control her and put her in a box. This was revolutionary, her photos caused so much emotion in people, whether is was anger or sheer confidence for them to break out of their own box

Cindy Sherman

For four decades, Cindy Sherman has probed the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity, gender, and photography. Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.”¹ Shortly after moving to New York, she produced her Untitled Film Stills (1977–80), in which she put on guises and photographed herself in various settings with deliberately selected props to create scenes that resemble those from mid-20th-century B movies. Started when she was only 23, these images rely on female characters (and caricatures) such as the jaded seductress, the unhappy housewife, the jilted lover, and the vulnerable naif.

What is Cindy Sherman’s message?

In these series and throughout all of her work, Sherman subverts the visual shorthand we use to classify the world around us, drawing attention to the artificiality and ambiguity of these stereotypes and undermining their reliability for understanding a much more complicated reality.

What art movement was Cindy Sherman part of?

Cindy Sherman is a contemporary master of socially critical photography. She is a key figure of the “Pictures Generation,” a loose circle of American artists who came to artistic maturity and critical recognition during the early 1980s, a period notable for the rapid and widespread proliferation of mass media imagery.

What are some fun facts about Cindy Sherman?

She is a founding member of the Guerilla Girls, an all-female activist group that works to promote gender and racial equality in the art world. In 2011, Sherman’s photograph “Untitled #96” sold for $3.89 million at a Christie’s auction, making it the most expensive photograph ever sold by a living artist at the time.

Evaluation

Cindy Sherman took photographs of ‘gender normals’, she didn’t let peoples talk shut her down and she continued to dramatize the ideas that people had about women, showing the sheer stupidity of these ideas. Many people thought she was just a dramatic woman but she made many other women proud and continues to do so, she is a master of socially critical photography, within a period of mass media, when all eyes would have been on her she still had the confidence to portray what she thinks which allowed many other women to relate to her. She did not want women to be undermined anymore.

Comparison

Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman’s photography relates in many ways, Cindy Sherman paved the way for Claude Cahun, they both broke out of the box and wouldn’t allow anyone to undermine them anymore, they were both extremely rebellious with their photography and didn’t let anyone or anything in the world shut them down from doing what they need to do. Cindy Sherman’s photography mainly focuses on the stereotypes of women and how idiotic they are whereas Claude Cahuns photography based on making woman not look ‘feminine’ anymore, showing how feminity isn’t just defined by a bit of makeup, hair and a dress, but it is instead a place of being, a mindset rather than something you are born into. I have chose these two inspiration photographers as my artist evaluation and reference due to their impact on the world of women and feminity.

Femininity

‘Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered feminine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors.’ Some roles include, being ‘nurturing, having empathy, grace and gentleness’ These traits are not tied down to the gender but they are a sort of stereotype, physical appearance doesn’t so much as define femininity but instead its more of a vibe. https://www.paulasimonsphotography.com/divinefemininephotography/

Masculinity

Masculinity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors considered masculine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. Masculinity is yet again not something defined by looks but more of a feeling that you give across, something that people can sense off you. Masculinity relates to something of strength, power and determination.

What is a healthy masculinity?

Healthy or positive masculinity is the idea that men can be emotionally expressive, have female friends or mentors, and express their emotions without feeling emasculated.

Influences

What is the concept of feminism in geography?
The intent of feminism is to investigate, reveal, challenge, and change gendered divisions in society. These divisions often manifest themselves as spatial divisions with men and women having different patterns of spatial activity, behaviour, and experiences of place.

Is masculinity the same everywhere?

Masculinities vary by social class as well. Studies suggest working class constructions of masculinity to be more normative than are those from middle class men and boys.Gender stereotype theory suggests that men are generally perceived as more masculine than women, whereas women are generally perceived as more feminine than men. Several scales have been developed to measure fundamental aspects of gender stereotypes (e.g., agency and communion, competence and warmth, or instrumentality and expressivity)

Masculine vs Feminine poses

Portrait photographers have a lot of things to untangle when posing someone: their masculinity, femininity, or non-binary / genderfluid identity; their own perception of their gender in their industry or profession; society’s perception of their gender in their industry or profession; historical imagery of their gender and if it would be right to keep with that trend or break from it; and how lines, curves, shapes, and color are perceived in the art world with two dimensional imagery.

Here’s an example. In photography and film geometry, triangles traditionally represent masculinity, strength, and stability; as do vertical lines, which are considered “aggressive” in photography, vs. horizontal lines which are considered calming and used for static, non-threatening images. So here’s a strong, professional woman posed in two ways which use those shapes:

But what about arms crossed? In body language science, arms crossed over your chest can mean defensiveness, anxiety, being closed off or distant, right? Sometimes. In person, crossing your arms can seem defensive and small, but it also depends on the facial expression and other cues your body is giving (if you’re hunched over and your eyebrows are lifted, for example), but it can also mean aggression if you’re pointing your chin down or smirking and the rest of your body is erect and confident. Or defiance if you’re also a toddler stamping your foot and screaming. It’s all about context. So an arms crossed pose in photography can mean strength when done right, especially in the above example where it creates a photogenic triangle in the image, and a straight line. It starts by conveying masculine aggression in the professional world, and then it’s softened by a confident smile to show openness and friendliness: further assuring that we’re not transmitting a closed off or anxious signal. Like a lot of things in life, posing isn’t binary! There are no “rules,” but rather, “trends,” or conditions that tend to trend in certain ways but always have exceptions and need context to balance them out. Or a better way to put it : Rules are made to be broken.

Many female photographers use it to capture women’s unique beauty. By focusing on the individuality of each subject, these photographers are creating images that challenge traditional beauty standards and celebrate women in all their diversity. Women photographers also use their work to write and highlight the female experience. These photographers create a visual record of women’s struggles, triumphs, and everyday adventures by capturing moments and stories often overlooked.Historically, the world of photography has been dominated by men, and the images we see have often been through the male gaze. Female photographers challenge this narrative by creating images not filtered through the male perspective. These images showcase a range of emotions and experiences, creating a more balanced representation of femininity.

Identity

Identity is ‘the fact of being who or what a person is’, it is a combination of your physical and behavioural traits that define who you are. For example, your name is part of your identity, as is the form and colour of your eyes and your fingerprint. This set of characteristics allows you to be definitively and uniquely recognisable. For example here are five words that ‘define’ identity:

• personality.
• character.
• selfhood.
• individuality.
• individualism.

Identity politics

Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class. The term was coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977. It took on widespread usage in the early 1980s, and in the ensuing decades has been employed in myriad cases with radically different connotations dependent upon the term’s context. It has gained currency with the emergence of social activism, manifesting in various dialogues within the feminist, American civil rights, and LGBT movements, disabled groups, as well as multiple nationalist and postcolonial organizations, for example: Black Lives Matter movement. Harnessing your identity with someone else and banding together can be a very positive thing, you may come to learn more about yourself but also see how you relate to other peoples identity’s, this can help you know that you are not alone. On the other hand joining identity’s may end out bad, as you might feel like your not the same as everyone else and you may try change yourself, loosing your true identity.

What is the argument against identity politics?

The nationalist argument against identity politics is, therefore, that, regardless of one’s individual ancestry, cultural background, religion, statehood, race, creed, etc.

Culture Wars

‘cultural conflicts’, In political science, a culture war is a type of cultural conflict between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (beliefs, virtues, practices) upon their society.

What was the culture wars in 1980?

The culture wars had flared up during the 1980s, enjoined by a rising movement of conservatives who charged that American society had lost its way. The root of the problem, in their view, was a decline of cultural and moral values, rather than economic or other political issues.

Dangers of tribalism dividing communities

These negative aspects of tribalism are often fueled by competition and the perception of a common threat. They promote fear, anxiety, and prejudice, all of which make us more susceptible to fake news, propaganda, and conflict. Tribalism can take many forms in our modern society. Main problems include:

• Poverty and exploitation.
• Economic and technological backwardness.
• Socio-cultural handicaps.
• Problems of assimilation with the non-tribal population.
• Illiteracy among tribals is a major hindrance to their development.

Juxtaposition is placing two images together to show contrast or similarities. Juxtaposition is a powerful technique in photography, which essence is to place contrasting elements in the same frame and tell the viewer their story. The juxtaposition in your photography can combine such contrasting things as new and old, man-made and industrial, light and dark, or two different emotions.Juxtapose images according to shapes, colours, repetition, object vs portrait.

My response:

The Patent Diamond Cameo photograph was registered by F.R. Window of London in 1864. Four small oval portraits (1″ x 3/4“) were placed on a carte de visite in the shape of a diamond, each portrait being of the same person photographed in a different position. A special camera made by Dallmeyer was used in which the one glass negative was moved to a new position in the back of camera after each portrait had been taken, and when the paper print had been pasted on the card a special press was used to punch the four portraits up into a convex cameo shape.

My responses:

Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. 

My response: