Brief
Nigel Shafran
Go to the artist’s website and look at the other images in Shafran’s series.
You may have noticed that Washing-up is the only piece of work in Part Three created by a man. It is also the only one with no human figures in it, although family members are referred to in the captions.
- Did it surprise you that this was taken by a man? Why?
- In your opinion does gender contribute to the creation of an image?
- What does this series achieve by not including people?
- Do you regard them as interesting ‘still life’ compositions?Make some notes in your learning log.
I was already aware of Shafrans’ work in a previous unit and can’t remember being surprised that the series Washing up had been produced by a man. I hadn’t consciously thought about whether gender contributed to the creation of an image but my immediate thoughts were that they do. It would of course, depend on the circumstances and further thought lead me to thinking about the reasons. I came to the conclusion that there are many many reasons why gender might make a difference in the creation of an image and some of them include historical factors relating to subject matter and gender roles, access to subject matters themselves and biological/physiological differences. However it would see m wrong to stereotype a photographer by their gender
“Generally female photographers are more drawn to story, narrative and emotion,
but many males are also drawn to such subjects; male photographers are
more drawn to technical and action-filled subjects, but many females are also
drawn to such subjects. Hence, for each stereotype regarding photographs and
gender, numerous photographers or photographs can be found that challenge or
defy it. Men and women capture different photographs but this should not give us
the excuse to impose our stereotypes and clichés on a particular photographer,
whether male or female” (Sattari and Mousavi, 2013)
Fig.1 Shafran, Three bean soup, cauliflower vegetable cheese. Morning coffee and croissants . From the series Washing-up (2000)
“According to Dennis Keeley, chair of photography and imaging at the Art Center, his male students usually have a more technical approach, and pay more attention to photographic equipment and the like. Or Kathleen Hennessy, director of photography at the San Francisco Chronicle, states that during the process of photo selection “men really talked about the physical dimensions of the photograph, the technical aspects, and the composition… and the women tended to talk about the story and the emotion and the impact”(in Mitchell, 2009)” (Sattari and Mousavi, 2013)
“……..in Eastern societies such as Iran, especially in traditional communities, the difference in the working conditions between the sexes is conspicuous. On the one hand, photographing Iranian female villagers and entering their traditional houses is challenging for men and requires delicacy and tact. Of course, some of the Iranian photographers, namely, Nasrollah Kasraian and Nicol Faridani overcame these challenges with traits such as politeness, determination, patience, and deli- cacy. On the other hand, photographing some of the religious events and rituals that are performed mainly by men, are challenging for female photographers and may upset or even infuriate the religious participants. Thus, an Iranian woman might be just as interested as men in capturing a particular religious ceremony; but because of segregation, and cultural and religious norms, she may not succeed in making such a photograph. Therefore, irrespective of the reasons, it causes men and women to capture different photographs” (Sattari and Mousavi, 2013)
In her series Annunciation (2012) Elina Brotherus documents her struggle with infertility and IVF, this series would be viewed differently by men and women and images to represent this struggle taken by a man may well have shown a very different but equally emotional struggle.
By not including people in the images it allows the viewer to use their imagination, to “investigate” the scenes, to find clues as to who the person or people are. I noticed that there was some text beneath each image both in Shafrans’ book and in the course notes but not in the images on Shafran website. The images stand out with and without the text but with the text there is more of an idea of who the people or person is, without it, it is up to the viewer to use the clues in the image and come up with more of their own thoughts.
Fig.2 Shafran, 31 January 2000 Horrible crumpets and Jill’s jam, reship tea, smoked salmon on bread and alfalfa sprout salad, apple, leftover veg haggis and scitan spinach and burnt rice to come!
Do I regard them as interesting “still life” compositions? Yes I do see them as still life compositions in their own right but I feel they are more than that as Brett Rogers wrote in response to Shafrons’ work in the British Council and the Photographer’s Gallery Exhibition
Washing-Up 2000 comprises an extended series (totalling 170 images produced over the course of a year) in which Shafran documented his daily routine (what he ate and how he felt) in various domestic settings, mostly at home but sometimes abroad. Taken with a large-format camera using only available light, and in most cases long exposures, the resulting still lifes provide a formal and personal diary of a certain place and time. Formal elements, such as a bright green washing-up bowl, yellow gloves, stainless steel colander, recur throughout the series, accentuated and transformed through dramatic changes in light and atmosphere. As in traditional still-life painting, in which specific objects such as the hour-glass and human skulls were introduced to symbolise mortality and the brevity of life, here the recurrence and disappearance of certain motifs and changing atmospheric conditions within the series suggest the passage of time and contingencies of daily life. (Rogers, n.d.)
Bibliography
Figure 1-3
Shafran, N., 2000. [image]
Available at: <http://nigelshafran.com/category/washing-up-2000-2000/
[Accessed 12 February 2021].
Rogers, B., n.d. Brett Rogers, Reality Check : Nigel Shafran. [online] Nigelshafran.com.
Available at: <http://nigelshafran.com/brett-rogers-reality-check/>
[Accessed 12 February 2021].
Sattari, M. and Mousavi, S., 2013. The Role of Gender in Photographic Works: Do Men and Women Capture Different Photographs?. [online] Ijwr.ut.ac.ir.
Available at: <https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_50138.html>
[Accessed 16 February 2021].
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