Part Three: Exercise 1 – Brotherus Research and Analysis

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Brief

Reflect on the pieces of work discussed in this project in your learning log and do some further research of your own.

Here are a few questions you might ask yourself:

  • How do these images make you feel?
  • Do you think there’s an element of narcissism or self-indulgence in focusing on your own identity in this way?
  • What’s the significance of Brotherus’s nakedness?
  • Can such images ‘work’ for an outsider without accompanying text?
  • Do you think any of these artists are also addressing wider issues beyond the purely personal?Make some notes in your learning log.

Introduction

The exercise asks that we reflect on some of the pieces of work in this project, do some further research and suggests some questions that we might ask ourselves. I looked at three photographers and their work, Elina Brotherus, Gillian Wearing and Tierney Gearon. I also looked at Claude Cahun (Lucy Schwoby)

I selected these three because although the idea of family exists within each of their pieces of work, they are focusing on “family” in different ways.

Elina Brotherus

Elina Brotherus is a Finnish photographer who’s work is well known for self portrait. He work “Annunciation” details her struggle over 5 years between 2009 and 2013 to have a child through fertility treatment and is raw and deeply personal. Looking at these images made me feel uncomfortable. I was part of something that was personal and intimate that I should not have been part of. The images take you through her attempts, failures, more attempts and final acceptance. The majority of the images feature Brotherus often naked or semi naked which makes the images more intimate and raw and gives an impression of fragility and vulnerability. At other times there is a sense of renewed hope and strength, only to be followed by another time of despair. It is hard to understand how she feels but her images give a true sense of the sadness, loss, longing and finality of people who go through IVF without the happy ending.

“I’m showing this series of photographs to give a visibility to those whose treatments lead nowhere. The hopeless story with an unhappy end is the story of the majority. My way of discussing the matter is to give out the pictures, not to give an interview. I’m not sure if I will be able to actually speak about this. I’m still too sad. This is the saddest thing that has happened to me since my mother’s death. Yet, I’m tired of lying and inventing excuses to this or that medication, not drinking, having to cancel trips etc. People these days aren’t ashamed of talking about sex, psychological problems, alcohol and drugs, but for some reason involuntary childlessness is very much a taboo topic” (Brotherus, 2013)

Fig.1 Brotherus, E. Annonciation 8, Avallon 12.04.2011

Fig.2 Brotherus, E. Annonciation 8, Avallon 12.04.2011

Although this is a very personal piece of work it is powerful and cuts through the fairytale world of “miracle babies” that we hear about all the time. It’s wonderful to hear that IVF has been successful; it’s so much nicer that hearing the sad desolate stories of those who do not get that fairytale ending. This tends to lend itself to the misconception that there are more successes than failures and an underplaying of the grief and pain that goes with these failures.

“Documentaries, interviews, articles and TV programs on infertility all have a happy end. In reality, happy ends occur only 25 percent of the cycles. So this repetitive pattern of executing precise scientific experiments on one’s own body, waiting, being disappointed, and repeating the whole thing over and over again, to the point of being sick of it, to the point of almost no longer caring, is something I share with a surprising number of women. The success stories are much more rare, but they are the ones we hear of. For the rest of us, this biased broadcasting is upsetting. As though the general public should not see the oppressive, hopeless, inconsolable reality but instead a kathartic « per aspera ad astra » hollywood story” (Brotherus, 2013)

Fig.3 Brotherus, E. Annonciation 12

Fig.4 Brotherus, E. Annonciation 25, Medication

Fig.5 Brotherus, E.Annonciation 31, The End

Brotherus has used a deeply personal and painful time in the life to highlight the struggle and loss for those who go through this type of experience. It is also a way to give others a voice who are unable to express their grief. This work is a powerful and intimate portrayal of a common situation that is so often misunderstood

Gillian Wearing

Gillian Wearing is a British artist born in Birmingham in 1963. Her work includes video and photography, conceptualising and documenting everyday life.

In Wearings series Album, she wears masks of her immediate family and recreates family photographs.

“The masks acted as a disguise but also a metaphorical device that helped her to examine her family through photography” (Bright, 2010)

Fig. 6 Wearing, G. Self Portrait as My Mother Jean Gregory, (2003)

“When she re -presents herself in “Self-Portrait at 17 Years Old” the result is a strange and complex displacement of self and questioning of the identity of Gillian Wearing, the artist and the family member” (Bright, 2010)

Fig. 7 Wearing, G. Self Portrait at 17 Years Old (2003)

“I feel very different to that person at 17. I don’t really relate to who I was then as I hadn’t any interest in what interests me now, apart from the music I liked. The photograph wasn’t difficult to recreate because I do remember how I would carefully compose myself, stretching my body to make my neck look longer; opening my eyes more to make them look bigger; wanting to look better than I looked in real life because the photograph would last longer than my looks would. I was 39 when I took that photograph in 2002 and I already now look a lot different to then. It gets confusing, thinking of my younger 39-year-old self wearing the even younger 17-year-old self.” (Wearing, G. 2015)

I find Wearings’ images a little bit unsettling. When I first viewed them and didn’t know how they had been created and was aware that something wasn’t quite right.

They images made me think about my family as I was growing up and the photographs that can be found in our many different family albums. This also made me think about the fact that I was adopted and have another biological family. I have photos of them too and this made me wonder who’s “Masks” I would select to use if I were to do the same thing?

One of the questions the brief suggests we ask ourselves is, do we think that there is an element of  narcissism or self indulgence in focusing on your own identity in this way. Wearing writes

“Narcissism is stronger in youth than in older age, but can be seen in all ages. I think what drives narcissism is a fragile identity of self. When I look at selfies, particularly those posted by women, most of the time the photographs are a vast improvement than how they would look in real life, a lot are retouched to correct imperfections or improving features like enlarging the eyes. With all this easy-at-hand technology, we are learning to find new ways of presenting ourselves. Most people naturally tend towards a flattering version, and it takes some guts and bravery to really be open. That’s why in some of my films I give people masks to wear so they don’t have any backlash from their identity being revealed. I can see why more than ever people who have sensitive things to confess may want to be anonymous. Especially as parts of social media have become very judgmental.”

I don’t believe there can’t be an element of narcissism or self indulgence in a self-portrait. It is after all a representation of self in some shape or form, although perhaps for many different reasons. Narcissism is often seen in a negative way but we all need to look after ourselves. There are many ways of doing this and self portrait may be one of them for some artists. I certainly feel that Elina Brotherus helped herself through a very difficult time in her live through her photography and in doing so will have helped others. Gillian Wearing is understanding more about he individual family members, herself and her place in the family but also asking other people to look more closely at themselves.

“Wearing masks of my family revealed many different facets for me: the first was to see everyone as an individual – when we are a group, and grow up in a family unit, everyone is assigned their roles and we find it difficult to see outside of this, particularly for a child with respect to their parents. Until I did a self portrait as my mother, Jean Gregory, I was not interested in her previous life as a single, young woman who had her own dreams, disappointments, struggles and triumphs. It made me realise that her identity should be respected without my expectations of what I felt she should be” (Gillian Wearing interview – 200percentmag, 2012)

Tierney Gearon

Tierney Gearon ins an American photographier whose contemporary work had been shown in galleries around the world. Much of her photography is based around her family putting her in the spotlight on one occasion when she was met with controversy around nude photographs of her children that were on display as part of an exhibition.

“The exhibition got great press, and the whole experience has been positive – until last Thursday, when I went to the gallery to do an interview and found the police waiting for me. I was completely blown away. I even started joking around with the officers because I simply couldn’t believe it was happening. I don’t see sex in any of those prints, and if someone else reads that into them, then surely that is their issue, not mine” (Gearon 2001)

I was very taken in particular by the images that made up he exhibition “The Mother Project” and found myself comparing my feelings with these and the images of Brotherus and Woodman. The nakedness/semi nakedness of the female bodies in each gave some profoundly different feelings to the images but at the same time had elements that were consistent with each other. A sense of fun and mischief in Woodmans images was also present in Gearons and fragility of life present in Gearons images also reflected in the sadness and loss shown by of Brotherus and the ethereal feel created by Woodman.

Fig.8 Gearon, T The Mother Project (2006)

Many of Gearons images show a great sense of freedom and freedom from inhibitions, both for her and her family. Being Naked in private is one thing but being naked with members of your family is something not many of us would feel comfortable with, never mind with a camera in the room. Tierney herself explains

“Naked. What does it feel like to be naked? I guess it all reflects on one’s state of mind. When one is naked they are naked! If you are feeling great about yourself then you can run around free and not worry about the fact you have given birth and breast fed four children! But if you are not feeling comfortable, being naked in front of someone you don’t want to be naked in front of can feel so humiliating. one can feel exposed or unprotected. This is something that doesn’t happen when you have clothes on. Being naked can be so controversial, yet being clothed is so much more sexy. I like being naked in my photos at times because the nudity helps the image to become an empty canvas. Sometimes clothes can make the wrong statement. There is nothing better than seeing the freeness of a person naked and feeling beautiful and completely free. Whether it is a child or and adult. Old, fat, skinny—just the feeling of their confidence and freedom when they are naked. Nothing can replace that incredible free-spirited image” (Gearon, T. Naked 2013)

These are not photos of a woman who is ill, but of a relationship between a mother and a daughter — two artists. This work is how I transfer my feeling into art to process pain and frustration (Gearon nd)

Claude Cahun

“Claude Cahun was a revolutionary French artist that time almost forgot. Though also a writer and a sculptor, she was best known as a photographer, producing a series of self-portraits that challenged gender roles and the very nature of identity. A pioneer of gender neutrality, her work has never been more relevant—but for decades no one knew who she was” (DARCELLA and GALOPIN, 2018)

Cahun, born in France in 1894. Born as Lucy Shwob and at the age of 24 she changed her first name to Claude and her surname to Cahun. She wanted to be seen a not male or female but neutral

“neuter is the only sex that always suits me” (Cahun nd)

and

“My views about homosexuality and homosexuals are precisely the same as my opinions about heterosexuality and heterosexuals: it all depends on the individual and on the circumstances” (Cahun 1925)

Fig. 9 Self Portrait Claude Cahun (1928)

“Looking at herself in the mirror would not have led her to true self knowledge because Cahun taught her identity independently of there physicality – in a coat that shows much more than just black and white” (Friedewald, 2018)

I discovered Cahun whilst doing a bit of reading and quickly came across references to Gillian Wearing. I had already noted the common theme of masks but hadn’t come across the connection and work that Wearing had done in respect of Cahun work.

Fig. 10 Self Portrait In Robe with Masks Attached. Claude Cahun (1928)

“Gillian Wearing – a few years before her 1997 Turner Prize award – discovered Cahun’s photographs. As a female artist who also worked with her own image, Wearing says she felt “very close to the work” when she saw it, and a decade later, took up where Cahun left off, taking pictures of herself posing as members of her own family, constructing elaborate, naturalistic masks that nevertheless point to their own artificiality, with their visible eye-holes through which she peeks out. It wasn’t long before Wearing was including members of her artistic family: Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus – and Claude Cahun”

Questioning the idea of a self portrait, I started to ask myself what that would be for me? It is certainly true that like other people it would be very difficult, in fact impossible to take one photograph that says it all. So there would never be a point where the mask would come off to reveal the true person and therefore ready for the photograph!

“Cahun and Wearing’s shared interest in the mask explores a kind of confession, self-interrogation and element of chance. “You can’t go in knowing the result,” Wearing says of her own early self-portrait experiments with a Polaroid camera, many of which are in the show. “We never get to know ourselves. We are forever changing and contradicting ourselves. We’re always evolving.“ Identity, for Cahun, is itself a mask, but not one you can remove to reveal some simple truth: “Behind this mask, another mask,” she wrote. “I will never finish removing all these masks.”

Fig.11 Me Wearing as Cahun Holding a Mask of my Face by Gillian Wearing, 2012; Right) I am in Training Don’t Kiss Me by Claude Cahun, ca. 1927;

Bibliography

Brotherus, E., 2013. BROTHERUS – GB AGENCY « Galleries in Paris. [online] Galleriesinparis.com. Available at: <http://www.galleriesinparis.com/exhibitions/brotherus-gb-agency/&gt;
[Accessed 31 January 2021].

Fig 1-5
Brotherus, E., 2013. Photography — Elina Brotherus. [online] Elina Brotherus.
Available at: <http://www.elinabrotherus.com/photography#/annonciation/&gt;
[Accessed 31 January 2021].

Figure 6-7
Wearing, G 2013. The Many Selves of Gillian Wearing. [online] AnOther. Available at: <https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/7906/the-many-selves-of-gillian-wearing&gt;
[Accessed 31 January 2021].

200percentmag. 2012. Gillian Wearing interview – 200percentmag. [online]
Available at: <https://200-percent.com/gillian-wearing-2/&gt;
[Accessed 1 February 2021].

Gearon, T., 2001. Tierney Gearon defends her photographs. [online] the Guardian.
Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/mar/13/childprotection&gt;
[Accessed 3 February 2021].

Gearon, T., 2013. naked – Tierney Gearon Photography. [online] Tierney Gearon Photography. Available at: <https://www.tierneygearon.com/blog/naked/&gt;
[Accessed 3 February 2021].

Figure 8
Gearon, T., 2006. The Mother Project Gallery – Tierney Gearon Photography. [online] Tierney Gearon Photography.
Available at: <https://www.tierneygearon.com/exhibitions/the-mother-project/the-mother-project-gallery/&gt;
[Accessed 3 February 2021].

Friedewald, B., 2018. Women photographers. Munich: Prestel.

Figures 9-10
Claude Cahun from CR Muse: The Adventurous Life of Claude Cahun. [online] CR Fashion Book. Available at: <https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a21056090/claude-cahun-gender-neutral-french-artist-photographer/&gt;
[Accessed 3 February 2021].

DARCELLA, A. and GALOPIN, B., 2018. CR Muse: The Adventurous Life of Claude Cahun. [online] CR Fashion Book. Available at: <https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a21056090/claude-cahun-gender-neutral-french-artist-photographer/&gt; [Accessed 3 February 2021].

Figure 11
Wearing, G and Cahun, C from Gee, F., 2017. A Review of Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind the Mask, Another Mask / Felicity Gee – ASAP/J. [online] ASAP/J.
Available at: <http://asapjournal.com/a-review-of-gillian-wearing-and-claude-cahun-behind-the-mask-another-mask-felicity-gee/&gt;
[Accessed 4 February 2021].

 

 

Part Three: Research Task – Francesca Woodman

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Brief

“It is difficult not to read Woodman’s many self-portraits – she produced over five hundred during her short lifetime – as alluding to a troubled state of mind. She committed suicide at the age of twenty-two.” (Bright, 2010, p.25)

Look up Francesca Woodman’s images online. What evidence can you find for Bright’s analysis?

Introduction

It would be hard to disagree with Brights’ statement, once one knows that at least for past of her lifetime she did have a troubled mind, attempted suicide then took her own life at a young age.

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman was born in the USA in 1958. Both her parents were artists; her father a painter and her mother a ceramicist and sculptor. She started taking photographs in her early teens after being given a camera by her father. Woodman studied at Rhode Island School of design and was awarded a scholarship to study in Rome. She was influenced by other artists including the surrealists Man Ray and Claude Cahun and those who were visitors to the Woodman’s family home such as David Hockney.

“The influence of surrealist art, particularly the photographs of Man Ray and Claude Cahun can be seen in the themes and style of her work” (Finding Francesca – Look Closer | Tate, n.d.)

She is well known for her photographs in which she is the subject, although she did take other photographs using models other than herself.

“Francesca Woodman photographed herself, often nude, in empty interiors. But her pictures are not traditional self-portraits. She is usually half hidden by objects or furniture or appears as a blur. The images convey an underlying sense of human fragility. This fragility is exaggerated by the fact that the photographs are printed on a very small scale – they seem personal and intimate” (Finding Francesca – Look Closer | Tate, n.d.)

“By using long-exposure techniques, slow shutter speeds and surrealist compositions, Woodman explored her subjects and set-ups with an intensity of focus and a regard for nuance rarely seen in the self-portraiture of the time – or indeed today” (Hanif, 2016)

She returned to Rhode Island in 1978 then to New York in 1979.

What evidence can you find for Bright’s analysis?

“It is difficult not to read Woodman’s many self-portraits – she produced over five hundred during her short lifetime – as alluding to a troubled state of mind. She committed suicide at the age of twenty-two.” (Bright, 2010, p.25)

There seems little doubt that Woodman was troubled, as confirmed by her parents

“On 19 January 1981, Francesca threw herself to her death from the roof of a public building near her Manhattan apartment. She was twenty-two years old, two and a half months shy of twenty-three. ‘She just emotionally fell apart. I don’t know why’, said her mother, Betty, who went on to add: ‘She felt she was a very good artist, that she had a very good body of work and she should be recognized. She had something to say, and why weren’t people listening?’. Her father, George, pointed out that since September 1980 she’d been ‘very distressed’. On 19 January 1981 she’d had ‘a crappy day’: She’d learned that the National Endowment for the Arts grant she’d applied for had been refused, and  found out that her bicycle had been stolen. She’d called several people, but couldn’t reach any of them. Her psychotherapist phoned her parents to express his concern that she’d missed her appointment” (Marietta, n.d.)

Whether her photographs can be seen as alluding to this throws up many differing opinions and as Michele Keiffer points out

“It is understandable that Francesca Woodman’s work and her life are rarely analysed separately. The question remains however, if Woodman’s imagery reflects her interior and can therefore be read as the product of a psychologically sick person. It seems too simple to read her body of work like the diary of a depressed young woman. One of her well-known pictures, showing Woodman sitting naked on a chair next to the impression of a body on the floor, constitutes an interesting example. Critics often see the dematerialisation and disappearance of the body, more precisely Woodman’s body, in her pictures. A video taken by the artist while creating the body print on the floor shows her giggling and happy about the beautiful impression she has just created. She produces a trace, more precisely, she concentrates on the appearance of the body and not on its disappearance” (Kieffer, 2016)

Fig. 1 Francesca Woodman “Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976,

Were her images purely exploring those themes that we can all identify with but unlike Woodman are often unable to express?

“Francesca Woodman’s entire body of work was produced as a young person and created over just eight short years. Her photographs explore many themes that affect young people such as relationships, sexuality, questions of self, body image, alienation, isolation and confusion or ambiguity about personal identity.” (Finding Francesca – Look Closer | Tate, n.d.)

Although it does seem that she was indeed troubled towards the end of her life, there is evidence to suggest that this was not always the case as described by George Lange, a friend and fellow student of Woodman in Rhode Island during a interview over Zoom with Ashleigh Kane in August 2020 

“Francesca has been perceived under this very dark cloud of how she died,”
“My relationship with her was silly – we used to do all these silly things. She had this really high pitched voice and this funny little laugh. That was my relationship with her. She wasn’t this tortured soul – I didn’t know that person.”  George Lang 2020

This was also expressed by another friend, Betsy Berne who….

“……believes Francesca’s photographs are too often viewed through the sombre prism of her early death. “Let me just emphasise: she had a great sense of humour. There’s a great deal of wit in them, and irony.”

Fig. 2 Francesca Woodman Untitled, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough,New Hampshire, 1980

Many of her images are haunting and surreal, with her face or body often blurred and almost disappearing into the interior of the room (Fig.3). She would often stage her surroundings and would created tableaus where she was seen to be almost becoming part of the room.

Fig. 3 Francesca Woodman Space2 1976

I did note that one of her very first photographs, taken when she was 13 (Fig.4) bares all the hallmarks of what was to come. There is no evidence that I can find to suggest that she was troubled at this stage of her life.

Fig. 4

“In the end, you can only return to the images themselves, the best of which are not only beautiful, but endlessly beguiling. Of those that will appear in Zigzag, the one I love the most consists mostly of a huge pleated curtain, on top of which are balanced three large, decaying leaves. Woodman has been pushed into a corner by this weird construction: we see only an elbow and half of her face; her eyes are cast down. It would seem deathly, funereal, if it wasn’t for the fact that over the whole thing there falls, like a blessing, a bright rectangle of sunshine. There is something so subtle about it, so charmingly odd, that my fingertips tingle when I see it. It makes me feel covetous, and strange, and somehow powerfully female” (Cooke, 2014)
(Fig. 5-7)

In conclusionI believe that we would be doing Francesca Woodman an injustice if we were to see her images only as alluding to a troubled mind, although it would be wrong to suggest that a troubled mind could not contribute to an artists’ work in any way at all, but I do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that her work in general alludes to a troubled mind.

“Woodman killed herself by jumping from the window of a Lower East Side loft, a tragedy that inevitably suggests a grim foreshadowing in the 180 prints (out of over eight hundred) now available for us to see. But to do that, to read history backward, would be an interpretive mistake. Woodman’s parents, both professional artists, noted that their daughter was suffering from depression, and that her work, rather than providing a portentous road map to suicide, was incidental to it. More so, to channel Woodman’s Rimbaud-like burst of creativity, most of it done while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, into a preestablished narrative ending with her death would be to overlook the hope and humor—and playfulness—evident in many of her prints” (McWilliams, 2017)

“There is, in my opinion, only one conclusion that may be drawn from the idea that the self is not given to us: we must create ourselves as works of art” (Foucalt, 1963, cited in  Bright 2010 p7)

Bibliography

Tate. n.d. Finding Francesca – Look Closer | Tate. [online]
Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512/finding-francesca&gt;
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Kieffer, M., 2016. Haunted Genius: The Tragic Life and Death of Francesca Woodman. [online] Culture Trip.
Available at: <https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/new-york-city/articles/haunted-genius-the-tragic-life-and-death-of-francesca-woodman&gt;
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Marietta, M., n.d. Francesca Woodman, or the Shadow of Suicide – Mara Marietta. [online] Mara Marietta.
Available at: <https://www.maramarietta.com/francesca-woodman-shadow-suicide/&gt;
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Hanif, N., 2016. On Being an Angel: finding Francesca Woodman in the otherness of her self-portraits  | 1854 Photography. [online] 1854 Photography.
Available at: <https://www.1854.photography/2016/01/on-being-an-angel-francesca-woodman-foam-amsterdam/&gt;
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Image 1.
Woodman, F. 1976, “Untitled”, Providence, Rhode Island,
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/arts/design/francesca-woodman-at-guggenheim-museu
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Kane, A., 2020. George Lange’s photos of Francesca Woodman shake her melancholic myth. [online] Dazed.
Available at: <https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/49880/1/george-lange-photographs-shake-the-melancholic-myth-of-francesca-woodman&gt;
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Image 2.
Woodman, F. Untitled, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough,New Hampshire, 1980
Available at:https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/7-francesca-woodman/
[Accessed 28 January 2021].

Bright, S., 2010. Auto focus. London: Thames & Hudson.

Cooke, R., 2014. Searching for the real Francesca Woodman. [online] The Guardian.
Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/31/searching-for-the-real-francesca-woodmanhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/31/searching-for-the-real-francesca-woodman&gt;
[Accessed 30 January 2021].

McWilliams, J., 2017. Ideas and a New Hat. [online] The Paris Review.
Available at: <https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/01/19/ideas-and-a-new-hat/&gt; [Accessed 30 January 2021].

Part Four

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Part Four: Project 1

Before you read any further, can you think of any photographs that are not used as a means of expression or communication? Blog about them. This was a fairly easy question to answer. As far as I’m concerned all photos communicate “something” regardless of intent. They may communicate something different to different people, they may…

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Part Three

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Part Three: Exercise 3 – Childhood Memories

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Part Three: Exercise 1 – Brotherus Research and Analysis

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Part Three: Research Task – Francesca Woodman

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Part Two

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Exercise 3: Poetry Interpretation

Choose a poem that resonates with you then interpret it through photographs. Don’t attempt to describe the poem but instead give a sense of the feeling of the poem and the essence it exudes. Start by reading the poem a few times (perhaps aloud) and making a note of the feelings and ideas it promotes,…

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Exercise 1: The Dad Project

Brief How does Briony Campbells The Dad Project compare with Country Doctor What do you think she means by “an ending without and ending”? The Country Doctor is a series which  takes a look into the life of a country doctor; ……..photographer W. Eugene Smith spent 23 days in Kremmling, Colo., chronicling the day-to-day challenges…

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Exercise 2: Newspaper Analysis

Brief Cut out some pictures from a newspaper and write your own captions. How do the words next to the image contextualise/re-contextualiseit? How many meanings can you give to the same picture Try the same exercise for both anchoring and relaying. Blog about it Original images and captions: When I was coming up with some…

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Part One

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Exercise 2: Street Photography

Brief Find a street that particularly interests you – it may be local or further afield. Shoot 30 colour images and 30 black and white images in a street photography style In your learning log, comment on the differences between the two formats. What difference does colour make? Which set do you prefer and why?…

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Exercise 3: Public Order

Look at some more images from this series on the artists website. How do Pickering’s images make you feel Is Public Order an effective use of documentary or is it misleading Initially the images made me feel sad that we live in a society where we need these kinds of training facilities and also at…

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Exercise 4: Digital Manipulation

Use digital software such as Photoshop to create a composite image which visually appears to be a documentary photograph but which could never actually be. 
 My composite image consisted of 2 images, (Fig. 2-3) which I found on line,  I was inspired by Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips (2002-2019) Photo Op series and in…

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Research Task: Challenging Boundaries

Look online at Paul Seawright’s (1998) work, Sectarian Murders How does this work challenge the boundaries between documentary and art? Listen to Paul Seawright talk about his work at: https://vimeo.com/76940827 What is the core of his argument? Do you agree with him? If we define a piece of documentary photography as art, does this change…

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Exercise 1: The Impact of Citizen Journalism

Find some examples of news stories where ‘ citizen journalism’ has exposed 
or highlighted abuses of power. How do these pictures affect the story, if at all? Are these pictures objective? Can pictures ever be objective? 
 Write a list of the arguments for and against. For example, you might argue that these pictures do…

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Assignment two: Narrative – Planning

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Brief

2. Using props

This option is about photographing an object to suggest a narrative.

Choose between a white shirt and a handkerchief for your object. Once you’ve decided; make a series of ​7–10 photographs​ which tell a story about or including your object.

You can make your photographic style anything you like. You may wish to include the prop in all of your series or just some of the images, depending on the narrative. Bear in mind that the story is being alluded to through the use of the prop and its location – and characters should you choose to include them.

Draw a storyboard​ before you start to help you consider the progression of the plot and how you’ll set up the shots.

Now implement one of your ideas. Aim for a tightly edited and visually consistent series of 7–10 images.

7-10 photos

For this assignment I decided to select option 2 “using props”. Not only do I intend to use a white shirt as a prop but in my narrative the white shirt is the central theme. There may also be aspects of option 1 “photographing the unseen”

One of the reasons it has taken so long is due to the last few months of 2020 being spectacularly awful. Grief and shock, unplanned travel and organisation has taken up most of the last few weeks or so and has left me with very little brain space for anything else. It did occur to me to try and turn the grief and shock into the assignment but I found it all too raw and confusing. I will say, however that the pieces  I wrote whilst tying to determine if I could, ended up being quite cathartic and I do believe that writing things down helped me to work through some of my feelings. I was not, however ready to share them. The grief has come from the loss of two close family members in the middle and end of November, one expected and one completely unexpected, sudden and traumatic in its unfolding.

The white shirt as a prop was right there in front of me; literally. In addition to the two family members we lost close together, a few weeks previously my partner lost a close friend. The white shirt had its first outing for two years at this a funeral in October, and when it was laundered and placed back into the wardrobe, we were hoping that it might be a while before it was needed again, although we were aware at this time that there was likely to be another funeral before the end of the year. This next funeral was to happen towards the end of November. The white shirt was back in use again. It reminded us of the previous loss but also took us forward into closure. As I write this we are a few days away from the third and unexpected funeral and the cycle has begun again. The pattern of grief being repeated, replaced or perhaps lessened by the next and then the anticipation of another being reduced by the closing of the wardrobe doors. Is this narrative about the shirt, the wearer, our mortality, ageing or a whole mix? I know what is is to me but I wonder if the viewers of the images will be able to find their own narrative?

I am intending to producing 8 images to represent the following narrative, with or without text. I am not sure about using any text with the images. I did however come across something I had never thought about before and was surprised and fascinated by the effect using text in a particular way could have. I first came across this use in an image by the photographer Arthur Fellig also know as Weegee. In his image first entitled “The Fashionable People” the attention os drawn by the two women in the centre of the frame. Even without looking at the title, attention is drawn to this part of the image due to the contrast between them and the rest of the image. Weegee renamed the image “Critic” a few years later in his own book and as soon as I read this title my attention was immediately drawn to the person on the right looking at the women. I was quite taken aback at such a sudden shift in my attention immediately after reading just one small word. Im still not sure about using text but will come back to it later and see how I feel then.

Fig.1  Weegee “The Fashionable People” 1943 or The Critic 1945

list of possible images

  1. in wardrobe with other shirts  (knowing it will be needed soon)
  2. hanging up (no tie) (getting it out and letting it air)
  3. hanging up with black tie (The day before)
  4. being worn on the day (on the day)
  5. ready for washing in washing basket (on the day) Relief?
  6. in washing machine
  7. being ironed
  8. in wardrobe with other shirts  (semi closed wardrobe doors)

Storyboard

Assignment Two Storyboard

  1. I needed the white shirt to stand out in the wardrobe amongst the other shirts and luckily it was surrounded lots of colourful shirts which made it a bit easier. It occurred to me that this white shirt just resides happily amongst all the others on a day to day basis but it has a very important place in the owners life. It is an easy choice of shirt at a time which os often filled with stress, grief, worry and indecision.

I also became aware that the white shirt (not always the same white shirt – they have been replaced over the years) did not always play this particular role in the wearers life. This role has been formed over a few years. Many people have white shirts in their wardrobes and I guess it depends on the age and circumstances of the wearer if they have one that has taken on this role or if there is one in the making.

I tried a few different test shots of the shirt in the wardrobe (Contact Sheet1).
Image1864 and 1875 stood out for me. Image1864 had been shot without a tripod and therefore there was some blur so I need to  shoot it again using a tripod.

Contact Sheet 1

My second attempt (Contact Sheet 1a) with a tripod and changed lighting to reduce strong shadows..

Contact Sheet 1a

2. The white shirt out of the wardrobe (Contact Sheet 2) suggests something is going to happen, but without the other images there is little to suggest what. I am aware that the viewpoint is different to that of the shots I took for image 1 above but I wanted to try and show the difference between having a quick check in the wardrobe to ensure that the shirt was there, knowing it was gong to be needed quite soon to actually taking action in the start of the process of getting it ready for the day itself. I’m not sure if this has worked as well as it could

Contact Sheet 2

3. The addition of the black tie (Contact Sheet 2) is to begin to give some indication of the narrative. I used Image 892 (last but one) as it looks more natural and a bit less posed. It has some indication of the owners life in the background which adds the idea that although the shirt is becoming more important as time goes on, it is still yet to play its important role.

Contact Sheet 3

4. I decided at first to include the person wearing the shirt to represent the reality of the turning point in the narrative, but not to including the head or legs, making it less personal to this particular wearer and more suggestive of a life and death cycle that all of us must go through whatever our situation. I changed my mind and decided not to use the shirt at all and just have an empty hanger. This decision was made on a day where my own particular feelings of loss were quite strong and I noticed the empty hanger still hanging on the door without the shirt. On the day of the funerals the shirt is not in the house and it is the only time it is not in some kind of everyday normal domestic setting and it seemed right for this image not to include it. The empty hanger isn’t obvious at first and although this was not something I had engineered for the image. The fact that the lack of shirt is very obvious is a good starting point followed by the empty hanger, which I hope would help to continue the narrative for the viewer.

Contact Sheet 4

5. The shirt in the washing basket could be seen as the beginning of the healing process after grief, and I suppose, sadly,  the starting point towards the next cycle. For most people attending the funeral of close family or friends, once the funeral is over, it is often a time of relief and the start of the healing process.

Contact Sheet 5

6. In the washing machine is representing a stage further down the line. I took quite a few shots but have only included in the contact sheet, the last few that I felt might work in the series. I wasn’t happy with any of them when I viewed them with the other images. I took a few more shots with other items in the frame to try and make the series a bit tighter (contact sheet 6a).

Contact Sheet 6

Contact Sheet 6a

The viewpoint, distance, angle, tones and inclusion of the wooden doorframe seems to make these a better fit with the rest of the images.

7. Ironing – This again is representing the next stage in the process. I wanted some other domestic items to be in the shot for this one as well.

Contact Sheet 7

8. Closed (almost) doors of the wardrobe represent certain amount of closure and the point at which the cycle could start again at any point in time.

Contact Sheet 8

After further deliberation I wondered if the images were too vibrant and saturated. I took the saturation down a bit in photoshop. I do feel that the subject matter warranted images that were a bit more subdued.

I much preferred the less saturated images and they seemed to indeed come over as a bit more subdued and in fitting.

Bibliography

Fig. 1 1943. The Fashionable People.
[image] Available at: <http://100photos.time.com/photos/weegee-the-critic&gt;
[Accessed 2 January 2021].

Assignment Two: Narrative – Research

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Since starting part 2 I have, at times been confused by some of the terms used and although I realised that a photo essay could be many things after finding a really useful piece in the book Context and Narrative which states

“In simple terms, a narrative generally consists of a beginning, middle and end. However a photography narrative may not necessarily follow this structure, for example it may simply imply what has past or suggest what could happen. ….
…. In visual communication especially, a narrative does not need to work in a linear sense. It can be  cyclical, or be contained within one image or make cross referenced that, when brought together, inform the viewers overall understanding or interpretation of the photographers intentions” (Short, 2011)

i was definitely less confused and more able to focus on the assignment.

My series of images have a beginning a middle and end end, but are also cyclical in that we know the white shirt will be in use again at some point in the future for a similar event. They are sequential and need to be viewed in a particular order. The images would not really work particularly well on their own.

I looked at several photographers and their work, including that of Chloe Dewe Mathews, who was included in the OCA exercise book with a reference to her series ” Caspian: The Elements” (2010). |

I was already familiar with Mathews work through her book “Shot at Dawn” (2014). A London born photographer working in the film industry before moving to photography and going on to win awards and accolades from some of the best. The book includes shots of twenty-three different locations where military personal were other shot or detained prior to facing a firing squad between 1914 and 1918, for such things as desertion or cowardice. The photos were taken as near as possible to the location, time and time of year when the execution or incarceration prior to execution had taken place.

From the series Shot At Dawn, Mathews (2013)

The images themselves are fairly unremarkable landscapes without the context. With context, they are remarkable and what they are saying is something very important, both from a historical, future and ethical point of view.
The text that goes with each image is simple; however with great impact. It is simply the Location, the name of the person, the date and the time. Very much like it might be entered in a log.

There is no real need to view the images in any particular order. They have been placed in date order as much as possible, but due to the fact that locations were used more than once it was not possible or necessary.

This series really struck a chord for me in relation to this unit and the assignment because of what is has highlighted for me in progressing my understanding of photography. A photograph in itself does not have to be remarkable. Simple can have a huge impact and text does not have to be mysterious or abstract. Unremarkable photos, and simple text can create a remarkable series.

I realised that there were several aspects to the idea of context and narrative that have taken time to evolve for me, both over this part of the course and perhaps further back than that. It can be a single image that helps us to understand something big and loud or quiet and thoughtful. It can be a series that helps us to understand something that doesn’t need to be in any chronological order such as W. Eugene Smiths’ “A Country Doctor”, (Link) or a series that follows an “event” over time such as Bryony Campbell’s “The Dad Project”.(Link) It can be personal, or general. It can be wide reaching, political, religious.  There are so many political, ethical iconic single images out there that it would be hard to chose one example.

Alfred Eisenstaedt a german born photographer who worked in the Us for Life Magazine and became well know for his iconic single image of the Times Square kiss on VJ Day. (Fig. 9)

Lewis Hine, an American photographer who’s photographs were instrumental in helping to change the laws relating to child labour. (Fig 10)

My images for assignment two are both personal and general. They apply to me and are very current at this point in my life. There is also a general aspect to them in relation to the death of friends and family which the majority of people will have to deal with at some point in their lives. I also wonder how many other people (usually males) have “that white shirt” which is evolving as they grow older.

Using Text is something I have been deliberating since the start of this assignment.  The text used in the series Shot At Dawn had such an impact and I doubt I can come up with anything quite as good!.

Bibliography

Figures 1- 8
Chloedewemathews.com. n.d. Shot At Dawn | Chloe Dewe Mathews. [online]
Available at: <http://www.chloedewemathews.com/shot-at-dawn/&gt;
[Accessed 6 January 2021].

Figure 9
Hine, L., 1908. Cotton Mill Girl. [image]
Available at: <https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/20-most-famous-photographs/&gt;
[Accessed 9 January 2021].

Figure 10
Eisenstaadt, A., 1945. VJ Day Times Square Kiss. [image]
Available at: <https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/20-most-famous-photographs/&gt;
[Accessed 9 January 2021].

 

Bibliography

Short, M., 2011. Basics Creative Photography 02 Context And Narrative. Lausanne: AVA Academia, p.98.