tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56638697206854604812024-03-13T23:32:52.847-07:00OCA Learning Log - DocumentaryThis is a learning log - all opinions expressed are subject to modification in the light of subsequent learning.npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-32194909888582086432015-09-30T00:23:00.001-07:002015-09-30T00:23:37.459-07:00William Eggleston's Guide<p dir="ltr">https://vimeo.com/34595129</p>
<p dir="ltr">Bought this book a while back as part of the colour documentary section, but it was a FB post from another student that reminded me that I'd not recorded any reaction to it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This is partly because at first sight the contents are rather underwhelming. Photos of ordinary stuff in the rather muted colour palette that film of the time produced. I know that it was the first time colour photography was taken seriously as art, but that's not sufficient reason all this time later to enjoy it. So why has it been growing on me ever since I got it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I think it's because the photos are capable of being read in so many ways. Many can be read as simple exercises in colour composition. A classic example is the rather prim woman in the blue dress eating her lunch...but wait...what's that chain doing wrapped around the post next to her. Is it deliberately symbolic of the fairly limited life that many women like her must have faced at the time?</p>
<p dir="ltr">The famous tricycle is another case. For me it has come to represent the dominant role that our kids play/ed in our domestic life although it could equally represent the start of a journey out of the image frame and away from home.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The lightbulb and red ceiling...simply an exercise in colour? A study in loneliness? An icon for a sunset missed?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Eggleston appeared to have the knack of making everday stuff interesting, and by isolating moments turn them into opportunities to reflect on our lives. This is a book that continues to repay thought and time spent.</p>
npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-11335641606781378202015-09-28T02:16:00.001-07:002015-09-28T02:16:19.606-07:00Xavier Ribashttp://www.xavierribas.com/npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-66941384882819651382015-09-25T04:24:00.001-07:002015-09-26T09:05:49.061-07:00Understanding text and images: Brecht's War Primer<div class="blogaway-section">
War Primer is a collection of images of war, coupled with short pieces of poetry, written and assembled by Bertholt Brecht and published in 1955. It has been wiely analysed as a Marxist critique of warfare, and as an example of the use of captions to provide additional layers of meaning to images.<br />
<br />However, my primary interaction with it is through a paper by Long, in Poetics Today. Long bases much of his analysis on an idea called "interpellation" ...the manner in which the image and text work on the viewer. His easy to understand description of interpellation is the example of someone (the Subject) calling 'Hey You!' When you realise that they are referring to you, and you respond accordingly - ie you become their subject - then you have been interpellated by the Subject.<br />
<br />Long also notes that there is a lot more to the book than just the imags and their asociated captions, and examines ways in which the end-notes, and even the text on the cover, all serve to layer additional meaning onto the content. He describes this as 'paratextual material', presumably because it is text that runs paralell to the main body of the work.<br />
<br />If I use his basic analysis to look at my own work, I can see that Assignment 3 consists of a series of images, a series of handwritten texts, a series of sketches and drawings, an end-note with the references, a cover with some basic information and an artefact and supporting text.<br />
<br />Each if these can be analysed individually, or in combination with the other to add layers of meaning to the work. So, for example, I have chosen to hand-write the text, and the additional sketch material. This was a concious decision, to enhance the impression of working notes, but it is also indexical to me as the author of the work - perhaps emphasising its authenticity - which adds an additional level to the idea I was investigating, namely the use of differently sourced and authentic material to generate a fiction.<br />
<br />The artefact can be seen in a similar light. It is indexical to the location - it is perhaps, also symbolic of an archaeological link, as is the reference text by Heyerdahl.<br />
<br />The cover too can help with the reading. The plain cover and the reusable post binding all lend to the impression of a working archive rather than a necessarily complete production.<br />
<br />We can apply the same sort of analysis to my 5th assignment. This consists of a set of photos, but the only texts are the editorial introduction, and the title and date on the cover. In truth this is a much more sparse set of texts - I am relying on the format to provide the idea of a journal/magazine. The editorial conveys the intent and is, I hope supported in that by the title text.<br />
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I'm not quite sure where all this is taking me except to observe that reading Long has really pressed home the importance of considering all aspects of presentation. It's one thing to think..."Of course presentation matters, no-one wants to provide messy work" and another entirely to think "If I include the artist's statement as part of the work, how does that impact the reading of that work compared with providing it separately."<br />
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Something else to take with me to Level 3.<br />
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<b>Reference</b><br />
Long, JJ; Poetics Today; 29:1 (Spring 2008)</div>
<br />npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0Spain43.3855203 -5.73369tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-47086596252868089002015-09-25T03:56:00.001-07:002015-09-26T09:55:20.856-07:00Street Names<div style="padding: 5px; text-align: center;">
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It seems a shame that I came to a decent understanding of the full scope of documentary rather late in the game. I'm not sure that I think the course material was especially helpful in that respect, but it's done now. <br />
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As I look around there seems to be a huge number of subjects that might bear the "documentary" eye.<br />
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Street names is a case in point. Returning, as I'm wont to do to Briet's definition of a document I think it is at least reasonable to suggest that street names fall into this category. They are "texts" that are preserved to provide some kind of evidence.<br />
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A couple of examples here. First up Bessemer Way...which together with a Weatherspoons called "The Henry Bessemer" is pretty much all that is left of the memory of Henry Bessemer, whose converter for the manufacture of high quality steel petty much shaped Workington as it is today.<br />
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<img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5746/21010410870_f058a3d0f3.jpg" /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/npmimages/21010410870/in/photostream"></a> <br />
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He was almost directly responsible for the role of the second example...James Duffield...who was one of the first managers of the steel and iron works which dominated Workington for the best part of a century.<br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V9kcvwmdbiE/VgbMmgqMKgI/AAAAAAAADI8/NfYNWxoFsTg/P6111582.jpeg"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V9kcvwmdbiE/VgbMmgqMKgI/AAAAAAAADI8/NfYNWxoFsTg/P6111582.jpeg cursor: pointer;" style="border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid; max-width: 320px; padding: 5px;" width="320px" /></a><br />
I'm sure these names are dotted all around us...by and large simply part of the scenery that gets forgotten. As a final example..and I'l have to add a photo later...there is a relatively new development of houses in Aspatria called Sheila Fell Close. Until I looked it up I had assumed it as the name of some local hill...then I discovered she was actually a local artist of some repute.<br />
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This would have made good material for an assignment had I but understood better. As it is I can still see a way of fitting it into the final level stuff I'm thinking about....perhaps it's worthy of a project on its own. If I get the chance before assessment I'll post some more examples here.</div>
<br />npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0Oviedo, Spain43.3681175 -5.8464614tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-79591622639079291912015-09-20T00:49:00.003-07:002015-09-26T13:32:15.032-07:00Meals I've eaten<div style="padding: 5px; text-align: left;">
It struck me as I was reviewing the photos I've taken in couple of years this course has run that I have a lot of pictures of food. Mainly, but not exclusively these are meals I've had on holiday, and as a way of recording the experience of a holiday they have something to recommend.<br />
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If you're the sort of person who like sampling local culture it's going to show in the food you choose to eat...if you're a high-roller that's going to show to...to be honest even if TV football and "genuine fish and chips" is your thing that's likely to come through as well. Which must give the idea some claim to documentary status.<br />
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Of course, it's non-trivial to sort all those threads. The fact that i have drawn the distinctions I have is indicative of my own personal prejudices, but even so, I believe we could make a claim for documentary status.<br />
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It's not an original idea either... pretty sure there's a photographer who photographed everything they eat for a week, which must be the ultimate dieting aid. I'm not that enthusiastic but for starters here's a couple of examples from my more recent culinary experiences.<br />
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<b>Seychelles</b><br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsXXYPj9JYt4k8Q4kLWt8s3etcQiZK__eYgVqxCABQvhDyK61k_D-_uXO-D7VprNMOeI3E3shD589EoJHTHGxf-HaNXVi0x_F3H9xQTCwmkJepxcIuAGnqxclDLp3-HOEH4EYnmuCobYG/s320/DSCF3360.JPG" /><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsXXYPj9JYt4k8Q4kLWt8s3etcQiZK__eYgVqxCABQvhDyK61k_D-_uXO-D7VprNMOeI3E3shD589EoJHTHGxf-HaNXVi0x_F3H9xQTCwmkJepxcIuAGnqxclDLp3-HOEH4EYnmuCobYG/s1600/DSCF3360.JPG"></a><br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXVkYjpJUw1W2TgkEOzEJqkIGjxxTkSUdzRovk4TACEZeZm-qfueNj_JswWzSmfDTVOW1G2kANDD61vVeE63lPWXym11cS2oHNI-T4DCd_daWH-UnsRWIO_1LNkAAxaJiSAPiRgReuQGb5/s320/DSCF3046.JPG" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXVkYjpJUw1W2TgkEOzEJqkIGjxxTkSUdzRovk4TACEZeZm-qfueNj_JswWzSmfDTVOW1G2kANDD61vVeE63lPWXym11cS2oHNI-T4DCd_daWH-UnsRWIO_1LNkAAxaJiSAPiRgReuQGb5/s1600/DSCF3046.JPG"></a><br />
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<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Xj_FFI5D3w/VgEi3-o8fGI/AAAAAAAADCc/OeUTmvqbAgQ/s320/PSX_20150922_095054.jpg" /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Xj_FFI5D3w/VgEi3-o8fGI/AAAAAAAADCc/OeUTmvqbAgQ/s1600/PSX_20150922_095054.jpg"></a><br />
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<b>Asturias, Spain</b> </div>
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2QNGPSDflgw/VgbR62DfZlI/AAAAAAAADJU/rXlZ1BOqOzE/PSX_20150926_173039.jpg"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2QNGPSDflgw/VgbR62DfZlI/AAAAAAAADJU/rXlZ1BOqOzE/PSX_20150926_173039.jpg cursor: pointer;" style="border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid; max-width: 320px; padding: 5px;" width="320px" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TYPN8aRAlNM/VgbR5soYiII/AAAAAAAADJM/m3l5yxUaE2s/PSX_20150926_173301.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TYPN8aRAlNM/VgbR5soYiII/AAAAAAAADJM/m3l5yxUaE2s/PSX_20150926_173301.jpg cursor: pointer;" style="border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid; max-width: 320px; padding: 5px;" width="320px" /></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TYPN8aRAlNM/VgbR5soYiII/AAAAAAAADJM/m3l5yxUaE2s/PSX_20150926_173301.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yu7v017yg70/VgbR8zNCUaI/AAAAAAAADJc/U-dbtgOmZhA/PSX_20150926_174116.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yu7v017yg70/VgbR8zNCUaI/AAAAAAAADJc/U-dbtgOmZhA/PSX_20150926_174116.jpg cursor: pointer;" style="border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid; max-width: 320px; padding: 5px;" width="320px" /></a></div>
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npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0Oviedo, Spain43.3680911 -5.8464772tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-19881201129713397532015-09-17T13:29:00.001-07:002015-09-17T13:29:31.342-07:00Research NotesI generally log my research activity on OneNote as well as in a written logbook. For the sake of completeness the <a href="https://drive.google.com/a/oca-uk.com/file/d/0B8DbNo383u1POHVfLWI1eU5xRVU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">OneNote file is saved here </a>as a pdf. Note that this is quite a large file (12Mbytes) and is only accessible to OCA students for reasons of copyright.npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-15439277534234500242015-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:002015-09-15T14:03:15.680-07:00A few more changesAssessment really helps focus the mind on what it is you are trying to achieve.<br />
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Assignment 1: As a set of postcards this felt a little - unsupported - the reading perhaps just a bit too vague. I have decided to submit them for assessment in a slip case I prepared from a copy of an old hotel receipt. Matching the form to the message is an important technique for supporting a particular reading. I've also changed the name to "Wish You Were Here" as it seems to capture the idea of separation from my local community more accurately.<br />
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Assignment 3: As well as the images I have included a genuine artefact recovered from the beach in a plastic envelope on one of the pages. The additional real object seems to me to add to the authenticity - perhaps its indexicality could be seen as parallel to and supporting the indexicality of the images. It's also worth noting that on the interleaving pieces of tracing paper I have made notes of the dimensions of some of the objects pictured, together with brief location notes...again to add to the sense of authenticity. All the text is handwritten and in pencil.<br />
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<br />npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-86631452203274070972015-09-06T13:54:00.001-07:002015-09-15T14:08:42.854-07:00Preparing for Assessment<br />
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<li><b>Assignment 1</b>: Is pretty much unchanged and will be presented as a series of postcards.</li>
<li><b>Assignment 2</b>: Have revisited my tutors feedback, and looked at the images with a view to printing them as I did not prepare full sized prints for Assignment 1. On this basis I've lost the moon-rise images as being a it of a cliche, and moved the poster to the end as a more suitable finish. I have replaced the dence image with an alternative because it simply wasn't sharp enough and added an additional present day reference to Bessemer. My tutor suggested that I might consider an alternative linking image to lead into the community section, but my perception is that, in spite of the somewhat temporary memorials such as the posters and the passing references to Bessemer, the legacy is rapidly being forgotten so I have moved the fence between the "history" and the "present" sections. As well as the required blog post I will be presenting these as A4 prints as well.</li>
<li><b>Assignment 3</b>: The pdf book dummy is presented in the pages above. The final presentation will be as a "working journal" of an archaeological expedition to the area at some unspecified time - full details are provided in other posts accessed from the RH menu</li>
<li><b>Assignment 4</b>...still to be revised at the time of posting this</li>
<li><b>Assignment 5</b>: Will be presented as a magazine in which I try to capture some of the experience of beach-combing. I've received a copy from Blurb and to be honest I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out.</li>
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It seems to be my curse that things only slot in to place as I prepare for assessment.npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-55827396808303000292015-08-25T15:18:00.001-07:002015-09-26T13:33:59.131-07:00Fiona Tan – Baltic Mill, Gateshead<a href="http://www.balticmill.com/whats-on/exhibitions/fiona-tan-depot" title="http://www.balticmill.com/whats-on/exhibitions/fiona-tan-depot">http://www.balticmill.com/whats-on/exhibitions/fiona-tan-depot</a><br />
Visited this exhibition twice, once on my own and once in the company of some fellow students. The main advertised attraction was her installation DEPOT, which commemorated an event from recent UK history when a large preserved whale was trundled round the country in a very large lorry as a sort of fairground attraction. I had been quite keen to see this as it as advertised as a sort of cabinet of curiosities – but in reality the most curious thing was the fact that anyone bothered to assemble a huge lorry so many floors up.<br />
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The cabinets in the back contained some rather delightful glass models of sea anemones, there was a somewhat unlikely narwhal tusk in a case on the wall and a film in what appears to be a trademark Tan style showing a museum collection of preserved aquatic creatures. Overall I found it a bit underwhelming, although I can see that as a modern take on the idea of a cabinet of curiosities it had some traction.<br />
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I was rather more interested in the two films showing on the floor below. In one room was <em>Disorient</em> 2009 which according to the catalogue “juxtaposes fantasy and the reality of the trade route between Venice and Asia, with a voiceover comprised solely of evocative quotes from Marco Polo’s 700-year-old book The Travels”. While I didn’t have the time to sit through all of it I found it absolutely fascinating, perhaps because it related so closely to my own ideas in assignment 3 with it’s12th century travelogue contrasting with the images of modern locations on the silk road. It was also twinned with a film which seemed much closer to a cabinet of curiosities – more museum items related to the silk road.<br />
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The second film installation <em>Inventory 2012,</em> accompanied by a somewhat eerie soundtrack, was filmed at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London and showed details of his personal collection, which is housed in “one of the most extraordinary public museums in the world”. The sheer quantity of material, packed cheek by jowl in to a relatively small space could not help but generate interesting alignments, and fanciful relationships to keep the imagination running with possible narratives.<br />
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I need a closer look at Tan’s work…it seems to have interesting parallels with the work of Mark Dion I blogged in my last post, and both seem to relate to my assignment 5 and to some of the ideas I thinking of taking into my final level (assuming I pass this one). The same holds true for the general philosophy of “cabinets of curiosity” – which is clearly worth some research. I find it more than slightly frustrating that none of this turned up until it was too late to really influence my output on this course, but it does help me contextualise what I’m doing and provide me with some confidence that I’m not completely bonkers.npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-35916620053283160592015-08-23T09:27:00.001-07:002015-09-15T13:46:02.427-07:00Mark Dion and the Arts and Archaeologies of Waste | Material World<a href="http://www.materialworldblog.com/2012/06/mark-dion-and-the-arts-and-archaeologies-of-waste/">Mark Dion and the Arts and Archaeologies of Waste | Material World</a>: <br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why have I not studied Mark Dion in more detail before? His work </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">examines the the idas and the institutions which shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. A key part of his process...indeed some have suggested that for Dion the process is the art... is to use archaeological methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects. For </span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">example</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 21.1344px;">at The Tate </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">he displayed a cabinet of curiosities </span></span><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">containing</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">items</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> recovered from an archaeological dig of </span></span><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">the</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">Thames</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> foreshore. His works apparently question the distinctions between “objective” (“rational”) scientific methods and “subjective” (“irrational”) influences.</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21.1344px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">In the article linked in the title the </span></span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;">author</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"> reflects on the insight that Dion's work offers on the role of waste materials in archaeological practice.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1344px;">Update: Since the original post I have obtained a copy of Mark Dion: Archaeology which gives much more detailed analysis of his Tate/Thames Dig work, which examines questions such as "Is it art or archaeology?" It is </span></span><span style="line-height: 21.1344px;">unlikely</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1344px;"> that I will be able to add a more detailed review here prior to assessment but it is certainly something I intend to carry forward to my Level 3 work.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1344px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1344px;"><b>Reference</b>: Mark Dion, Archaeology: Ed. Coles, A., Black Dog Publishing; London; 2006.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21.1343994140625px;"><br /></span></span>npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-68819236518103648992015-07-26T08:27:00.001-07:002015-07-26T08:34:54.660-07:00Rethinking Assignment 5<blockquote> <p><i>“If you are inauthentic about the true reasons or motivations behind a piece of your work, then this will be apparent to the viewer.”</i></p></blockquote> <p>With these words fixed firmly in my sights it’s time to think seriously about what to do with this assignment. Why do I take photos of junk on a beach? How does it relate to my previous assignments? How do I convey any of that? How does it relate to the research I’ve been doing on curation and archaeology? How do I present it?</p> <p><strong>Why do I take photos of junk?</strong></p> <p>Let’s be honest with myself from the outset – it’s not to offer a critique of documentary photography. My brother once asked if I enjoy taking these images, and the answer is “I do.” I enjoy the sheer randomness, the occasional odd juxtapositions, and if it doesn’t sound too grandiose, I like the idea that the remnants of society are washing up on its edges. It’s quite contemplative – wandering along the tideline looking at clothing; and remnants of furniture; and bottles and tins; and slag and coal left behind by dead industries; and dead livestock. I once even found a message in a bottle which I inexplicably failed to photograph – such was my delight!!</p><a title="P5313140.jpg" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/npmimages/18987099214/in/photostream" data-flickr-embed="true"><img title="" style="float: left; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; display: inline" alt="Scandanavian debris" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/289/18987099214_1c7cb9d3f9_n.jpg" width="197" align="left" height="258"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <p>And what do I contemplate…generally the provenance of the objects I’m looking at. Are they local, do they tell me anything about what’s happening locally – or have they travelled some huge distance to wash up on this tiny strip of beach in West Cumbria? This morning I spoke to a woman who claimed she’d once found an arm on a beach – happily I’ve not been that unlucky. The occasional dead sheep or hen is about it for me – but I have found a whole range of things that make me wonder how it got there, and what its story is.</p> <p><strong>How does it relate to my previous assignments?</strong></p> <p>In broad terms this relates to some of the stuff I was doing In Landscape 2 – I’m intrigued by the idea that the beach is effectively the defining edge of our living space, analogous to the way Edgelands are the defining edge of urban life. Coming closer to home, I think the links with Assignment 3 are clear enough, in that it makes use of the debris on the beach, and objects in particular, which also ties it to Assignment 4. In 3 I was using the objects to explore an issue – how words and images work together to tell a story. In 4 the objects were themselves the subject of analysis – the challenge for 5 is produce a photo-essay, rather than a story, to capture something of the essence of my thoughts above, and to, perhaps, point up my interests in curation and archaeology.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How does this relate to my research interests?<a title="Working on Assignment 5" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/npmimages/19405658273/in/photostream" data-flickr-embed="true"><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 4px 5px; display: inline" alt="Working on Assignment 5" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/547/19405658273_3aa6ef8a19.jpg" width="315" align="right" height="239"></a></strong></p> <p>This seems a good time to quote Berger again “”The photographic narrative form….is not concerned with events as facts – such as is always claimed for photography; it is concerned with their assimilation, their gathering and their transformation into experience.”</p><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <p>So I hopefully have to convey something of the “process” by which I gathered the pictures, and by the editing of the sequence – the curation – try to convey an honest impression of what I see.</p> <p><strong>How do I convey this? How do I present it?</strong></p> <p>My tutor suggested a book simply showing the objects, and this has genuine appeal. he suggested calling it something like “The Archaeologist” and this too has appeal – although it’s not actually my idea. I certainly need to capture some of the randomness, and some of the juxtapositions, which means it’s back to the contact sheets to look for new images. I think however, that I’m going to call it “Wonderful things”, after Howard Carter’s reaction to what he could see in Tutankhamen's burial chamber. I’ve no idea what caused that to drop into my head – but it hit me in the shower this morning and seems entirely apt. I will need a few more than the 15 images recommended to do the idea justice, but my tutor has indicated I shouldn’t be hidebound by that and as it is going to be in book form it shouldn’t be an issue.</p> <p>My initial thoughts are that something as random as a Provoke era Japanese magazine is heading in the right direction although I’m not convinced my design skills are up to it. Kawada’s <em>“The Map”</em> is a less chaotic example and I’m reassured by the seemingly random collections of images that feature in photo books in the BJP. I also think it needs to include an image of me or at least an explicit reference to the manner in which the images are collected, to point up the nature of the activity. I also wonder if a formally bound book is a little too structured, and perhaps hints at a completed work – so i may think about hand stitching my own “magazine” – certainly I think a magazine feel is more appropriate.</p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p>Berger, J. & Mohr, J., 1982. <i>Another Way of Telling. </i>New York: Pantheon Books. <p>Farley, P. & Roberts, M., 2011. <i>Edgelands. </i>Kindle ed. London: Jonathan Cape. npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-32640004207540874122015-07-25T13:46:00.001-07:002015-07-25T13:46:38.402-07:00Tullie House – Curator’s Choice<p>My tutor suggested I blog this as it came up during discussions about the difference between an essay and a narrative. One of the exhibitions currently on display at Tullie House in Carlisle is simply a “curators choice” from their stores. It is, as far as I can tell a random collection of objects which is presumably the individual curators reaction to the materials available for display. There is no clear story but the narrative, assuming there is one, seems to me to be about the breadth and depth of the collection itself. The objects range from squirrel pelts to Lowry paintings and Roman altars to airplane propellers. Some, such as the haaf net on the right, and the Roman altars have clear Cumbrian connections, but others are simply a mystery. I’d love an opportunity to find out why these objects were chosen above any others.</p><a title="Curators Choice - Tullie House" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/npmimages/19995837782/in/photostream" data-flickr-embed="true"><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="Curators Choice - Tullie House" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3783/19995837782_b6fe692ef8_c.jpg" width="800" height="176"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <p>On a related note I visited the Baltic Mill this weekend to see Fiona Tan’s <em>Depot </em>and <em>Disorient. </em>The latter in particular took what felt a familiar route to me. It showed two video loops, on of some of the locations described by Marco Polo in his oriental travels as they currently are, and one showing a storage depot filled with exotic goods, spices and animals associated with the trade routes between the east and Italy at the time of Marco Polo. It is complemented by a voice-over reading excerpts from Polo’s book <em>The Travels. </em>Tan seems to have an interest in collections which I may need to follow up.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-69558585773461393212015-07-18T05:52:00.001-07:002015-07-18T05:52:23.978-07:00How do you spell ‘pretentious’ ?<p>In my case it’s spelled “Assignment 5” </p> <p>It’s fair to say my tutor had a view on this assignment, and he was decent enough to spend considerable time discussing it with me to help me come to an understanding of his concerns. And before we go any further ‘pretentious’ was my final description of it, not his - he never criticised it, simply asked questions about it, and why I’d done it, in the way a good coach should.</p> <p>So…time to ‘fess up’ to myself.</p> <ul> <li>I expected to have difficulties with this course, and that became a self-fulfilling prophesy</li> <li>I never really understood the difference between documentary and photojournalism, or between the latter and a photo-essay</li> <li>In a nutshell I allowed my general dislike of the photo-story and of social documentary to colour my approach to the course. </li></ul> <p>Being less hard on myself, the course highlighted some things that really do interest me – not least the way in which curation and research allow archaeologists and museum curators (among others) to assemble an understanding of, or provide a reaction to, the material evidence they have available.</p> <p>The end result of this is that whereas Assignments 2,3, and 4 were reasonably reflections of my interests the same could not be said of Assignment 5.In an attempt to provide a critique of documentary practice as Assignment 5 I basically lost sight of and stopped being honest about the things that interest me, which in this context is curation, archaeology and using my photography to look for meaningful (to me) patterns in the world. The outcome was an over complex idea, which basically made an obvious point – that all curation is subjective - in a rather pretentious way.</p> <p>To quote my tutor after the discussion “<b><i>If you are inauthentic about the true reasons or motivations behind a piece of your work, then this will be apparent to the viewer.”</i></b></p> <p><strong>Learning</strong></p> <p>A re-reading of Hurn/Jay <em>On being a Photographer </em>at my tutors suggestion was very helpful in cementing some of the ideas we discussed.</p> <ul> <li>Photo-journalism carries an expectation of truth (or at;least some measure of objectivity), while documentary can be a more artistic or analytical response to information or situations.</li> <li>There is a difference between a photo-story, which has a linear narrative, and a photo essay which admits complexity, reflection and non-linearity – it does not have to tell a story. Curation can be very similar – there is a curators gallery at Tullie House museum in Carlisle which I visited last week. I’m going to go back because it’s definitely NOT trying to tell a story.</li> <li>In Hurn’s words a photo-essay is “…a group of images in which each picture is supporting and strengthening all the others.” It does not mean””…the sequencing of teh pictures can be read like a string of words.” He also notes that all he claims for his work is “..that is what I saw and felt about the subject at the time the pictures were made.”</li> <li>All this helps make more sense of many of the photobooks I’ve looked at. I’ve struggled with the idea that I can’t find a story in them, when really I should have been looking for the feeling in them. I first struggled with this in the work of Moriyama, and – not before time – I now understand they’re a reaction not a story. Talk about slow!!!</li></ul> <p><strong>Next steps</strong></p> <p>Well the first is to scrap Assignment 5 as it currently is – not the images – just the idea. I had a good discussion with my tutor about how to take this forward and how to capture my interests more honestly. A typology, with its formal ideas of collection and curation is one approach, but I don’t feel that in this context it’s the right answer – I’m not seeking an exhaustive record of everything that washes up – I photograph what feels interesting and relevant on the day. This means I have to capture the feelings (perhaps even pleasure) I get from the strange mixes and juxtapositions presented by the objects I find. I also needs to capture the sense of collecting and curating/studying that I take to my flotsam & jetsam photos. This seems to point to using one of the those photobooks that I’ve previously found rather baffling as a structure.</p> <p>For the first time in a year I’m actually looking forward to Assignment 5 – it’s a shame I had to complete the course to achieve that.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-6293008989553246742015-07-14T14:59:00.001-07:002015-07-15T04:31:10.699-07:00Assignment 3 – Final<p>As noted for Assignment 2 I tend to keep my response to my tutor report in OneNote, which I’ll submit in printed form at assessment. In summary I need to mute the text a fraction, there were a couple of suggestions about alternatives shots (one in particular was soft) and a strong recommendation to lose the final sunset. Stylistically it was not in keeping with the rest of the work – ditto the front cover. I also need to evidence the development work I put in.</p> <p>I did consider a couple of alternatives for a front cover shot (see below) but in the end concluded a simple white cover with grey text was more in keeping with the overall design. I’ve tweaked the opening section to be less dogmatic, and hopefully explain a little more clearly what I was trying to get my head around/investigate with this particular work. I’ve also disguised the source of the texts by removing obvious geographic references, so that it comes as more of a surprise to a reader – another suggestions from my tutor.</p> <p><strong>Alternative cover shots</strong></p> <p align="left">I like both of these individually and tried them as alternative cover shots. They both seemed attractively enigmatic but ultimately felt they didn’t work – one was too obscure and would have required extensive explanation, the other too colourful compared with the rest of the book. I also considered renaming the book Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, but in the end felt that using a chapter title from the reference text was more appropriate. </p> <p align="left"><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--yOZDz6Z5ZU/VaWGIbQaEmI/AAAAAAAACzA/I9vzq29KR8Y/s1600-h/P1152475%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 5px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nJyDCvSU7pc/VaWGI2I_rVI/AAAAAAAACzI/PcQLE13ciJo/P1152475_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="184"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RSJ-31uxDXU/VaWGLZYlCyI/AAAAAAAACzQ/VqEu0USVk70/s1600-h/P1191030%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8fCP49MKSVo/VaWGL_AYrxI/AAAAAAAACzY/rlz2lwzP-fI/P1191030_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="184"></a></p> <p><strong>Some theoretical groundwork</strong></p> <p>The key text that got me thinking about this approach was Berger and Mohr’s “Another Way of Telling” which examines the way pictures work as texts, and why they are sometimes ambiguous – indeed he asserts that they are all ambiguous – I’ve toned down that statement in my intro. The conclusion of this work is a photo-essay of sorts, in which Berger plays with the ambiguities and uncertainties of the image to allow us to build our own narrative around the structure he/Mohr provides.</p> <p>Short, In Context and Narrative more explicitly examines uses of text alongside and within images to help create narrative. Discussing Simon’s “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar” she says “The viewer derives understanding from the combination of image and text. Without the accompanying text, the image fails to communicate it’s full meaning and vice versa.”</p> <p>This lead me to consider how words might lend an entirely different meaning to images, and vice versa, so that by combining two sets of essentially authentic texts I could come up with a reasonably believable work of fiction, by allowing space for an alternative narrative among the ambiguities of both.</p> <p><strong>Contact sheets</strong></p> <p>The contact sheets for this work overlap with to some degree those from Assignment 2 <a href="http://nmoncktonsocdoc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/assignment-2-contact-sheets.html" target="_blank">available here</a> but also reflect ongoing exploration/collection work on “iron beach” as shown below. In total my image collection in this location covered a period of just over a year and encompassed more than 300 photos.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8kzFDp7zVUA/VaYC2m6tK7I/AAAAAAAACzs/BrlWqDqLQBg/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-1%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-1" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-1" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K-3l5JKz9-8/VaYC3KsV_KI/AAAAAAAACz0/oMKiVPhDY6M/Assignment%2525203-1_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LP2mWvZcd7M/VaYC4npudMI/AAAAAAAACz8/i2afONicILw/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-2%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-2" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-2" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ey154-1CtxA/VaYC5N5YgTI/AAAAAAAAC0E/mXZFatzeI3g/Assignment%2525203-2_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2KGw817G6ho/VaYC6oH9ajI/AAAAAAAAC0M/TmRWuqIA0e0/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-3%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-3" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-3" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CkJhECksTXg/VaYC7CsuxWI/AAAAAAAAC0U/5uK5-Jn4mhU/Assignment%2525203-3_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z_rtdlid0wI/VaYC8ueibHI/AAAAAAAAC0c/UhBtq67tInU/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-4%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-4" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-4" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9wdIT80UbZw/VaYC9LRM76I/AAAAAAAAC0k/g58RNff6K2I/Assignment%2525203-4_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1mqf0lRbbV8/VaYC-MZQrAI/AAAAAAAAC0s/oJGvWZrEb2Y/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-5%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-5" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-5" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ILYWP5_bnjI/VaYC-pum8LI/AAAAAAAAC00/CvmRFwyEpms/Assignment%2525203-5_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WXkym3RgcJw/VaYC_grv7II/AAAAAAAAC08/FFUcMoxlj3c/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-6%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-6" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-6" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oXDnShfloOA/VaYDAEwruPI/AAAAAAAAC1A/ie-Fn-PaJ8o/Assignment%2525203-6_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bB-_faV3b_Y/VaYDBc-TuUI/AAAAAAAAC1M/kJotrDU45kc/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-7%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-7" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-7" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9_YP1XmOGbg/VaYDByfI4XI/AAAAAAAAC1U/zWM21Bnxz1g/Assignment%2525203-7_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a> <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lRisGdE5kdE/VaYDCshrjwI/AAAAAAAAC1c/2NtvTmJb6Zw/s1600-h/Assignment%2525203-8%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Assignment 3-8" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Assignment 3-8" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--_RgYYXhQIE/VaYDDhS4N-I/AAAAAAAAC1k/Eq55U_W2hcs/Assignment%2525203-8_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="282" height="364"></a></p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-48586905361991405872015-07-11T12:36:00.001-07:002015-07-11T12:36:05.720-07:00Assignment 2 – Final<p>As always I’m behind in putting this stuff on my blog as I tend to keep my reactions to tutor reports in OneNote. Key modifications as follows:</p> <ul> <li>A suggestion that the tone is a bit arrogant – I should be kinder to my viewers. On reflection I guess this is true. In reality I tend to photograph for myself, so writing a sort of artist’s statement was not intuitive. There was also a suggestion that I should provide more hint of a location – but I can find no obvious photographic way to achieve that. To address the points I’ve recast the statement a little and made the title of the work more explicit.</li> <li>Provide contact sheets – an easy fix which <a href="http://nmoncktonsocdoc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/assignment-2-contact-sheets.html" target="_blank">I made at the time</a> of the feedback.</li> <li>Comments on the images as follows: – the fossil bolts should be up front (agreed). Focus on the street name in the new Look image (disagree – New Look is intended to convey a sense of the change which has occurred.) An implicit thought that I should try to emphasise the community angle covered by the bronze relief and the stained glass. Tie the final image into the location more effectively. I’e tried to address these points largely by changing the running order of the images. In particular I now open with the “fossils” which I “explain” with the poster – then I bring in the people and the community – which i break with the barbed wire, and then it’s into a sequence of images about change, ending with a moonset over the remains of the steelworks.</li></ul> <p>I think this addresses my tutors points without changes to the images themselves and increase the sense of a narrative.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-50000820621372258212015-07-04T16:00:00.001-07:002015-07-04T16:00:07.332-07:00Art and documentary photography – what’s the problem?<p>I’m tempted to ask this question by the following quote from the course notes:</p> <blockquote> <p> “It seems that the pervasiveness of visual media and the fluidity of communications in modern society has blurred the boundaries of documentary as record and documentary as work of art.”</p></blockquote> <p>It seems to me to set up a false dichotomy between “records” and “art”. If we take this back to first principles, documentary could be considered as the creation of a document and going further back still we can take Briet’s definition of a document as “any concrete or symbolic indexical sign, preserved or recorded towards the end of representing, of reconstituting or of proving a physical or intellectual phenomenon.”</p> <p>Of course, everyone has their own idea about what art is and what it is for – if anything – but it seems reasonable to assume that at least some art is about creating a concrete sign to represent an intellectual phenomenon – in other words to make something which explains an idea or a feeling. The boundaries have always been blurred. On this basis, surely the only surprise is that documentary photography has taken so long to find its way into the gallery.</p> <p>The reasons for this delay are probably many and varied, but I can’t help feeling that some of it is down to the politics of the photographers and gallery owners/users, an insistence that documentary has some special hold on the truth and the easy availability (until recently) of alternative outlets for documentary work.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-8390947521961578292015-07-04T15:11:00.001-07:002015-07-04T15:21:17.009-07:00The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction<p>Finally got round to reading Benjamin’s famous essay. I would like to say I fully understood it – but I think I know insufficient about Marxist theory to claim that. Whatever it is clear from the opening that Benjamin believes that his theory provides a way of formulating “revolutionary demands in the politics of art”, in opposition to what he describes as “outmoded concepts” such as creativity and genius which he suggests tend to support a Fascist world view.</p> <p>The first chapter is a brief summary of the development of art technology, noting those areas where a level of manual reproduction had previously been available – such as woodcut or lithography.</p> <p>He notes that photography, for the first time, “freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth devolved only upon the eye looking into a lens.” The speed at which this was possible allowed the development of film so that the overall impact of photography was two-fold - it allowed widespread reproduction and also, through film, took its place among artistic processes.</p> <p>He goes on, in the next couple of chapters to introduce the idea of an “aura” for a work of art. Manual methods of reproduction rely on the presence of an original, an authentic, object which has a time and place – an aura. Mechanical reproduction on the other hand can continue to reproduce without that original to copy – Benjamin argues that this diminishes the aura of the original although in fairness I struggle with his argument at this point. His argument appears to hinge on two aspects of reproduction – the independence of the method from the original which allows it to highlight aspects of the original not previously perceived, and the ability of the copy to find its way to places out of reach of the original e.g. a symphony orchestra in my dining room.</p> <p>In destroying the aura he suggests that the work of art is removed from its dependence on ritual and starts to be based on politics. Perhaps that is why there was never a painterly equivalent of social documentary, and helps explain why political pamphlets had to wait on the advent of the printing press.</p> <p>In Chapter 5 he sets up an opposition between art with cult status and art with exhibition status. As reproduction moves art from cult to exhibition status through its increasing availability to the “masses” it also starts to change art. In particular the need to stand and contemplate the work is diminished and captions are developed to add meaning. He suggests that this change in the nature of art was overlooked in 19 and early 20th century discussions on whether film and photography constituted “arts”.</p> <p>He goes on the compare film and theatre acting, noting that the cameras viewpoint allows the viewer to act as a critic, to become an expert, which is inimical to a cult value for art and also that the ability of film in particular to simulate reality through cutting and editing takes art away from the realm of “beautiful semblance”. A similar argument could perhaps be forwarded for Photoshop.</p> <p>In Chapter 10 he appears to argue that cinematic practice in Russia is essentially democratic, available to, or at least involving non-experts, and contrast this with the “illusion promoting spectacles and dubious speculation” of Western cinema which he argues denies the individuals right to be reproduced – again there seems to be some interesting insight here for the rise of digital phenomenon such as selfies, Snapchat etc.</p><a title="Wave Sequence 1 by Nigel Monckton, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/npmimages/17198096597"><img title="The enlargement of a snapshot does not simply render more precise what in any case was visible, though unclear: it reveals entirely new structural formations of the subject ." style="float: right; display: inline" alt="Wave Sequence 1" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7657/17198096597_63798e4ecf_n.jpg" width="320" align="right" height="240"></a> <p>In the next few chapters he appears, to me at least, to be labouring the point about the ability of film/photography to provide art for mass consumption, as a consequence of which the “masses” (there they are again) can develop a progressive taste for the new art forms as opposed to its generally reactionary response to modern art. He also draws a parallel between the ability of the relatively new science of psycho-analysis to highlight slips of the tongue – the Freudian slip – and the ability of film ad photography to make visible that which was previously unseen.</p> <p>He appears to conclude this section by suggesting that as the masses can be distracted by these new art forms they can be unconsciously mobilised to resist fascism by these new art forms – in other words by politicising art.</p> <p>I’m not sure what to make of all this really. As a theory it certainly helps explain some of the thinking behind Constructivist art, but at the same time I can’t help observing that given the choice the “masses” prefer Disney to Eisenstein, and that art cinema is now pretty much the domain of the intellectual.</p> <p>Benjamin, Walter (2012-10-11). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Prism Key Press. Kindle Edition. </p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-70652477355802620432015-06-18T15:47:00.001-07:002015-07-04T04:46:56.003-07:00Look 15 – Liverpool<p>While I enjoy study visits and the interaction with other students there is also a place for simply striking out on your own, and trawling whatever eclectic mix of images takes your fancy at a major photo festival, such as this years “Look 15” in Liverpool.</p> <p>A bit of web research in advance of the day gave me the following approximate itinerary:</p> <p>Open Eye Gallery – Open 1 – a variety of artists covering different issues – which seems to be Open Eye’s style</p> <p>The Bluecoat – Memorandum of Understanding; Tabitha Jussa and Nitrate; Xavier Ribas. The latter in particular appealed for the relatively technical sounding nature of the subject matter</p> <p>Walker Art Gallery – Only in England; Martin Parr/Tony Ray-Jones – although I’ve looked at both online as part of the coursework, and seen some Parr in a variety of locations, the chance to see a significant body of the work of these two, at the same time was too tempting to miss.</p> <p>Victoria Gallery – Gypsy Lore; Fred Shaw – this seemed like an opportunity to compare and contrast with Koudelka and Eskildsen, in an extension of a previous exercise.</p> <p>I augmented this on the day by popping in to see New Landscapes by Gyorgy Kepes at Liverpool John Moores, and some further work by the same artist at Tate Liverpool.</p> <p>Where to start? My contemporaneous notes are available here: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6HQxr1qlmjEVXlJclJOVWYzVkE/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Notes</a></p> <p><strong>Open Eye</strong></p> <p>Helen Marshall’s <em>Project Tobong </em>was an excellent start to the day capturing the tension between old and new in Indonesia, and the impact it is having on a Javanese traditional theatre troupe (and traditional theatre in general). The images are relatively easy to read – the symbolism is quite obvious – but none the worse for that, and the subject matter is sufficiently unfamiliar that there is a bit of anthropological interest thrown in for good measure. I guess a cynic might talk about turning the individuals into spectacle, and there is no obvious hint at what we, or anyone else might do to help, but overall this was an interesting and sometimes amusing insight into the challenges that face traditional artforms the world over.</p> <p>Elsewhere in Open Eye Louis Quail was showing a selection from his <em>Desk Job</em> set which “explores the phenomenon of globalisation thought the eyes of the office worker”. I quite like the idea that with increasing globalisation our tools and environments are becoming similar, but I can’t help the feeling that this has always been true – an accountants office will have looked pretty much the same anywhere in the world since time immemorial, and I’m pretty sure that in some cases the rather soulless office space was a relatively small proportion of the overall role.</p> <p>Upstairs Richard Ross was showing a selection of images from his series <em>Juvenile In Justice</em> which documents conditions in young offenders institutions in the US. I have no idea if ours are better – one would have to hope so – but it should be little surprise to anyone if no-one comes out of these places a better person. Distressing<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y7y9cyD9tDQ/VYctYMQqQ3I/AAAAAAAACwQ/TkasOHd7Pn4/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 0px 5px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ciSN5Tldr28/VYctZa0b3-I/AAAAAAAACwU/FiS-x_6a4f0/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="170"></a>.</p> <p>The most interesting work on display for me though was Deborah Kelly’s “<em>The Miracles</em>”. Presented in a series of circular frames of varying sizes and with each individual image lit/propped like a Renaissance painting this was a fascinating series of portraits of families who had children through some kind of assisted reproductive technology. The added depth came from the fact that the subjects were lit and photographed to resemble paintings who’s own histories were questioned/questionable. I’m unconvinced that “heteronormativity” is an actual word, but the idea of interrogating our ancestry in this way seemed to highlight some of the identity issues that the children might face as they grow up. This seemed quite a modernist work in tat you really required quite a lot of previous art knowledge to extract the best from it, so the audio commentary provided by the gallery proved invaluable.</p> <p><strong>The Bluecoat</strong></p> <p>The Blue coat was showing three exhibitions which were markedly different in style and content. Tricia Porter’s <em>Liverpool Photo’s 1972-74</em> was presented as about the break up of tight knit communities but I’m afraid I couldn’t see it. It looked to be fairly standard mid-70s social documentary, and to my untutored eye could have been just about any city in the UK at the time.</p> <p>Upstairs Tabitha Jussa was showing <em>Memorandum of Understanding</em> – a study of urban development in Liverpool and its “twin” Shanghai. The images were very large panoramas, which is a style I enjoy, and while I found them enjoyable top look at I’m again unsure what the “take-away” was. In particular I’m still not really clear why the photos of Shanghai featured people, while the Liverpool equivalents did not. Maybe it’s no more than a genuine reflection of what her working practice turns up, or a result of the differing impacts of a city in which live and one where you’re a visitor. Sadly the images are not yet on Jussa’s website so I have no real opportunity to see them again and consider them further.</p> <p>The other major exhibition showing here was <em>Nitrate</em> by Xavier Ribas. This work examines the history of the extraction of nitrates for use in fertilisers and explosives from the Atacama Desert since the late 19th Century. It encompasses archival images from official and un-official sources, photos and moving images from Ribas himself and a range of texts from diverse historical sources. During his work Ribas uncovered previously unknown material from a British astronomical expedition to the Atacama, which is also incorporated. Overall I was captivated. The work is more like a piece of social anthropology than a simple documentary project and I can’t help wondering if a similar work about the West Cumbrian iron/steel industry might not make a great project for Level 3.</p> <p><strong>The Walker Art Gallery</strong></p> <p>The Walker was showing a compilation of Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr images showing the lasting influence of Ray-Jones on British photography – perhaps even on our overall understanding of Britishness. The exhibition also featured a set of R-J images curated by Parr, which if nothing else seemed to underline the importance of curation in providing a narrative, as I felt the Parr selection lacked the humour of the R-J curated images – perhaps unsurprisingly they felt more like Parr’s rather cool, neutral, appraisial of British quirkiness.</p> <p>Amazingly for such a major exhibition there appeared to be no catalog!!</p> <p><strong>Victoria Gallery</strong></p> <p>Fred Shaw apparently enjoyed the company of “gypsies” and, as a result of joining his midwife mother on visits to their homes, seemed to have a particular affinity for them. The result is a large collection of portraits taken over his lifetime. They have a very different feel from Koudelka – being closer to Sander’s style, so that e get very little sense of their lives or preoccupations. We are, for example, presented with an image of “Sam Smith (The Fighting Gypsy)” – but from the photo he could just as easily have been The Horse Whispering Gypsy – we get no hint of how his nickname was arrived at. Maybe that’s the point, but without this kind of characterisation we are simply left with a random collection of country folk from the same era, with no sense of gypsy culture floating to the surface. Intriguing but not quite what I expected.</p> <p><strong>Liverpool John Moores and Tate Liverpool</strong></p> <p>Gyorgy Kepes was a designer and visual theorist who, according to the notes, was interested in finding channels of communication which interconnect various disciplines. In particular, if these exhibitions are anything to go by, between art and science, and between nature and the man-made. His images seem to follow the same path surrealist path as Man Ray, and he frequently combines hard edged man-made objects with softer organic materials in abstract or near abstract imagery. I found the John Moores exhibit rather more intriguing. The manner in which the pictures were displayed on suspended panels seems rather commonplace today, but appears to have been revolutionary at the time, allowing him to create constantly changing juxtapositions of images as you move around the display. It is easy to take this kind of ting for granted, and useful to be reminded that someone actually had top invent the concept of displaying art on suspended panels in this way. Along with Nitrate this was the stand-out exhibition of the day for me.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-68396230493228941422015-06-16T04:03:00.001-07:002015-06-16T04:03:30.687-07:00Assignment 5 – still refining the idea.<p>OK – so I have the first selects for the images but I wonder if the idea of scattering and recovering the essay is a bit too simplistic. I’m currently working up an idea for a “make your own essay” game that questions the objectivity of photo essays and investigates ideas of truth - if that doesn’t sound too pretentious. Going to stick with the 15 categories from my earlier post, and I’m still going to invite the assessors to select 15 at random – but the I think my plan is to suggest that they try to create a story of the local community based on those 15 images for comparison after the fact with a list of key information which I will also provide.</p> <p>In my head this speaks to the problems which documentary photographers, curators and archaeologists have to face either consciously or unconsciously. In the specific case of photography can any photo essay that is not produced on the basis of significant immersion in the culture/issue produce anything more than a superficial, perhaps even misleading, picture. Any small group of items is inevitably going to be biased by selection processes that occur throughout the process, from the way the subject presents itself to the cultural baggage and aims of the photographer, through to the background knowledge and implicit assumptions of the reader.</p> <p>Hopefully this will make sense when I see it in the flesh. In the meantime the categories are bricks; coal/steel wastes; glass; drink cans; farm and industry;boats and fishing; food; household goods; misc; clothing; sports; toys; tyres; beauty products and text objects. The first selects can be found below except for glass.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OlIqOHev1_U/VYACCcr99yI/AAAAAAAACmg/3MSfNHnw7uY/s1600-h/bricks%252520slag%252520and%252520coal%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="bricks slag and coal" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="bricks slag and coal" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bcUVnmRuPUk/VYACC8W6-WI/AAAAAAAACmo/-5f-pUHioPY/bricks%252520slag%252520and%252520coal_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2d2zZr_Hh8E/VYACFp7xDFI/AAAAAAAACmw/ilT-o0g7F-g/s1600-h/drinks%252520cans%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="drinks cans" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="drinks cans" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HkfI0-Cdzzc/VYACGE859XI/AAAAAAAACm0/qDcH4_YgCXg/drinks%252520cans_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8h_5z_KPhu8/VYACIWY7NYI/AAAAAAAACnA/4AJwML_74ro/s1600-h/farm%252520and%252520industry%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="farm and industry" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="farm and industry" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uDq-iQY1vNM/VYACI-1uiaI/AAAAAAAACnE/RCv8RIA1ae0/farm%252520and%252520industry_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7ABqfMI7uEM/VYACKaViQjI/AAAAAAAACnQ/5Bf-th8gk-o/s1600-h/fishing%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="fishing" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="fishing" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_UeEVbdAVMA/VYACKzNP8WI/AAAAAAAACnU/plR_efVGp7M/fishing_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p40dKz7KJjU/VYACM3dVF2I/AAAAAAAACng/9PbLAsB9Q3o/s1600-h/food%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="food" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="food" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c3oCBKzC8lE/VYACNlyT6jI/AAAAAAAACno/xFQF_rsKoh0/food_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pL8d7oJnJgw/VYACPfGgiRI/AAAAAAAACnw/jhRnppBNcdo/s1600-h/household%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="household" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="household" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f6msG1cqsXg/VYACP_kBMhI/AAAAAAAACn0/C_hxYMhjRm0/household_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xg2htyptvrc/VYACTAUwMNI/AAAAAAAACoA/40n1dHfZ7V8/s1600-h/Misc%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Misc" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Misc" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P87gCP2ErHM/VYACToVIryI/AAAAAAAACoI/VAJ8RDyT384/Misc_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3hsM5Eg0TJk/VYACWDWXI-I/AAAAAAAACoQ/mtaKBh1kakQ/s1600-h/shoes%252520and%252520clothing%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="shoes and clothing" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="shoes and clothing" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IrGVsfaA87U/VYACWmI60_I/AAAAAAAACoU/UXzJl8RGzHw/shoes%252520and%252520clothing_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Db91SAW1wl4/VYACYKt395I/AAAAAAAACog/nvtdYwlM_cE/s1600-h/sports%252520equipment%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="sports equipment" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="sports equipment" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b0Zg0qblaWE/VYACY413_gI/AAAAAAAACok/h_icp_ig5xo/sports%252520equipment_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WpDNOL-zrQY/VYACatwRg8I/AAAAAAAACow/R46hj1xxu4c/s1600-h/toys%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="toys" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="toys" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PlvCzzSWbuk/VYACbTw6RgI/AAAAAAAACo0/MuyW67yTrTQ/toys_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AIj-YAyOvXA/VYACc2glxmI/AAAAAAAACpA/lDLm2drbJpw/s1600-h/tyres%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="tyres" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="tyres" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--K6hqfXOIh8/VYACdnxIKGI/AAAAAAAACpE/PbWbfLp4aA4/tyres_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VxYodVF4Ja8/VYACf9xndqI/AAAAAAAACpQ/_bfbjYotsVw/s1600-h/writing%252520and%252520beauty%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="writing and beauty" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="writing and beauty" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nJW2tOkbVzQ/VYACgUvMZSI/AAAAAAAACpU/musI0gfxa3s/writing%252520and%252520beauty_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="174"></a></p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-12408439381902856342015-06-14T04:05:00.000-07:002015-06-14T04:06:44.698-07:00In a bamboo grove - Ryūnosuke Akutagawa<p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rhlqBDnAnw8/VX1gC9PW5WI/AAAAAAAACmE/mK_0D_A1H2s/s1600-h/Australia04-2214.jpg"><img title="Bamboo grove with graffiti: Melbourne 2004" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Bamboo grove with graffiti: Melbourne 2004" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--zcVcDwp65o/VX1gD5EjhJI/AAAAAAAACmM/jl4i-aJXsV8/Australia04-221_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="364" align="right" height="484"></a>I came across this excellent little story in a Penguin Little Black Classic (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141397721/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0141397721&linkCode=as2&tag=npmimages-21&linkId=LS5HRD3TAH6FZYUD">The Life of a Stupid Man</a>) which is available for next to nothing in print or on Kindle. It tells the story of a murder (or perhaps suicide) through the words of seven separate witnesses, and in so doing questions the very nature of truth and evidence. Each story unquestionably deals with some or all of the facts as we “know” them, and uses them to build a picture in which a number of people could be guilty of causing the death, and in which at least three people confess with more or less equal believability.</p> <p>There is a detailed analysis here – <a href="http://furusatoe.tumblr.com/post/41761060829/in-a-bamboo-grove-an-analysis-on-the-nature-of" target="_blank">furusatoe</a> – and I think both that and the story are well worth the few minutes for anyone interested in exploring why we believe what we believe, how evidence is constructed and interpreted and how personal and cultural preferences steer our reading of such material.</p> <p>It also offers up for examination some of the tricks that people use, consciously or unconsciously, to “prove” that their version of events is the correct, including such obvious ploys as use of authority, use of confidence, the “I’ve nothing to lose by telling the truth approach” and appeals to the feelings of the onlooker.</p> <p>Its applicability to photo essays, and documentary photography in general seems clear.</p> <p><strong>Bibliography</strong></p> <p>Akutagawa, R., 2015. In a bamboo grove. In: <i>The life of a stupid man. </i>Little Black Classics ed. London: Penguin, pp. 1-15. <p>Anon, 2013. <i>In a Bamboo Grove: An Analysis on the Nature of Truth and Human Perception. </i>[Online] <br>Available at: <u><a href="http://furusatoe.tumblr.com/post/41761060829/in-a-bamboo-grove-an-analysis-on-the-nature-of" target="_blank">http://furusatoe.tumblr.com/post/41761060829/in-a-bamboo-grove-an-analysis-on-the-nature-of</a></u><br>[Accessed 14 June 2015]. npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-78142336612943172012015-06-11T13:41:00.001-07:002015-06-11T13:49:30.965-07:00Bit of a “Eureka” moment!<p>Leading on from my last post I maintain that for me at least photography is a form of research. I find things that interest me and photograph them until the reasons for my interest start to crystallise out or I conclude that I’m never going to understand.</p> <p>The range of research I have done on museum curation, archaeology and story-telling with objects clearly foregrounds the issue of curatorial choice and/or incomplete evidence in our interpretation and ability to create narrative. As I noted previously my meanderings on the foreshore left me unconvinced that I could really construct a social history of West Cumbria from the detritus on the beach. I have concluded that rather than seeing this as an obstacle, I need to embrace it as a narrative on the incompleteness of our understanding of the past – on the subjectivity of documentary photography.</p> <p>In broad terms what I am going to do is identify the 15 categories I discussed previously, produce the images as postcards coupled with genuine textual observations on the interpretation of related finds from the past and couple them together in a set with an invitation to the assessors to scatter them at random and select 15 to build a story ofthe community behind the beach.</p> <p>There are some theoretical difficulties in this approach in that I have to opportunity to select items to tell some stories more strongly than others, but I would argue that this simply reflects natural or curatorial processes that favour some objects over others. To return to one of my books of the moment, Bahn’s Archaeology: A very Short Introduction, we are constantly projecting messages that reflect our own prejudices and beliefs – so why not produce a work that reflects that?</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-3899618909447062442015-06-06T14:32:00.001-07:002015-06-06T14:32:42.136-07:00Thinking about Assignment 5<p>Somewhere on this course I got lost – trapped in an internal battle between course notes which seem heavily focussed on traditional social documentary (and the inevitable photos of people less fortunate than myself) and a personal desire to do something entirely different, associated with the things we share our lives with. Assignments 3 and 4 have helped me resolve that to some degree but now I find that while I was lost I forgot to take any photographs, that my ideas for the final assignment – a photo essay in 15 images - are only just coming together and time is running out.</p> <p><strong>So what do I have?</strong> </p> <ul> <li>An enduring idea that the stuff which washes up on the local shore line tells us something about either local society or society more broadly. As MacGregor says in A History of the World in 100 Objects (p27) “Things that are thrown away or lost tell us as much about the past as many of those carefully preserved for posterity.”</li> <li>A newly developed interest in the way archaeology is used to tell stories about the past</li> <li>An ongoing belief that (in my hands at least) a camera is a research tool. A consequence of this is that much of what I photograph is part of a work in progress, the final outcome of which is not always clear to me. </li> <li>Some ideas about how to supplement images with words to tell stories. I we wish to create a measure of ambiguity then pictures, with their multiple possible interpretations seem ideal – but by the same token, when trying to present the current status of a piece of “research” I’m not really sure how useful ambiguity is.</li> <li>300 photos of rubbish !!</li> <li>Some ideas about how to present a photo essay which I’ll interrogate below.</li></ul> <p>And the less helpful:</p> <ul> <li>A mass of research material that I’ve not attempted to write up</li> <li>A need to work out how, in my mind, I have got to this particular end-point and explain it.</li></ul> <p><strong>So what of my rubbish?</strong></p> <p>What story do I want to tell? When I set off I thought that I might be able to tell a little social history of the area on the basis of the material washed up. However, repeated mornings spent walking on local beaches make me think this is probably both overly ambitious and tenuous at best. I do however think there is a broader story to tell about what the things we throw away might tell future generations about our society.</p> <p>There are at least a couple of strands to this: I could combine them with words that relate to their source – which would tell a story about international and local commerce. I could present them as a Becher-esque typology – 9 beer cans, 9 tyres etc and combine them with words from a variety of archaeology texts, hinting at how they might be read in the future or, as with Taryn Simon’s Contraband, I could simply display them as individual images – perhaps collecting and re-photographing them on white (although I’m not convinced that bringing a dead sheep home will endear me to anyone). </p> <p><strong>How to present the story?</strong></p> <p>My first idea in this context was to print the objects on business cards, probably printed on the reverse with sand images, and suggest that the correct way to view them was to scatter them on the floor, then pick them up and examine them – much as a beachcomber might. I had put this to one side as being a bit too radical and suggested to my tutor that I might present the social history idea in book form. For whatever reason he seemed to feel that was a bit uninspiring (judging by his reaction) but felt the business card idea was worth considering, only with larger images – maybe postcards or small prints. He didn’t seem to feel that increasing the number of images to work more effectively in this format would be an issue. I do wonder if I could present examples from 15 categories – to stay closer to the original brief.</p> <p>But what would those categories be? A quick brainstorm produces iron/steel slag; coal; beer cans; tyres; bricks; beauty products; electronics; fishing nets; lobster/crab pots; shoes; balls and/or sports equipment; bottles and glass; children’s toys; food; diy products; farming and gardening products; household goods; business/industrial objects; clothing; tourism related items, notices and maybe even rubber ducks!</p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p>MacGregor, N., 2010. <i>A History of the World in 100 Objects. </i>Kindle ed. London: Penguin.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-85932045512646165442015-05-17T14:08:00.001-07:002015-05-17T14:08:50.863-07:00Tribal Portraits: Vintage and Contemporary Photographs from the African Continent, Bernard J Shapero Rare Books<p>This is a collection of prints taken between the late 1800s and around 1960. They are almost all of various African peoples, with a good proportion taken in the fairly familiar “noble savage”manner – best ceremonial clothing, rigid portraiture – or the “happy innocent” manner – mainly female semi-clad or naked, posed in mock classical poses.</p> <p>It is difficult to know what to say about them – especially as we are clearly expected to fill in the “reflects a primitivism we have lost” tick box. But trying to set my growing cynicism aside I offer the following:</p> <ul> <li>The early photographers may have had a genuine excuse for the fairly unimaginative manner in which the images were styled given the likely limitations of their cameras. The same is not true for the later photographers who seem content to stick to the trusted formulas.</li> <li>I can’t help the feeling that the photographers would be less than keen on their own daughters engaging in full frontal nudity for the camera, irrespective of how comfortable they might have felt as individuals. There seems to be a measure of exploitation in many of these photos – the photographer and the subject are not equal participants and it seems unlikely that many of the subjects fully appreciated what would happen to the images.</li> <li>I’m not convinced about “nostalgia” – I don’t really see it in these images. Instead I see finger pointing and making objects of subjects.</li> <li>Many of the body decorations in particular are sufficiently unusual that it is difficult not to descend into seeing the people as types, rather than individuals.</li> <li>I’m a little unclear how these images really differ from a lot of the portrait photography we still see in places like the Taylor-Wessing prize. I’m also unsure how you might take a neutral anthropological record shot without being accused of colonialism or the Curtis syndrome – maybe the answer is the neutrality is not actually possible.</li> <li>I’d be interested to see how many of these peoples would choose to photograph themselves and their ceremonies – assuming they actually wanted them recorded, which is by no means certain.</li></ul> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-31182981818391628962015-05-12T13:27:00.001-07:002015-05-12T13:27:58.665-07:00Reflecting on the war photograph<p>OK – this exercise has actually made me angry. I can, perhaps, set aside the naivety of suggesting that we write a “press release” based on the two essays in the 2008 Brighton Biennial – ignoring the fact the most people have less idea how to write a press release that I’d have of how to photograph a war. But frankly any essay that asserts – with no supporting evidence – that the opening attacks by the coalition during the Irag War were staged for the camera needs to be taken with a pinch of salt so large it is essentially inedible. The remainder of my thoughts on this are going in my private notes.</p> <p>Fortunately the second piece is an altogether more measured and thoughtful piece on “aftermath photography” as practiced by Norfolk and Ristelhueber and the ethical issues surrounding the “military sublime”. This bumps right up against many of the images at Conflict, Time, Photography and The Forensic Turn at Format 15. I’m not quite sure what I want to say about it at this stage so perhaps another time.</p> npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5663869720685460481.post-27057187683755370372015-05-11T13:12:00.001-07:002015-09-26T13:43:53.538-07:00Should you print it?This exercise asks us to contemplate what we would have done as a newspaper editor if faced with the first image in <a href="https://hofstramass112.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/lesson-plan-graphic-images.pdf" target="_blank">this document</a>. In support it provides a paper my Michael Ignatieff which sets out some criteria (they are only “some” – it seems to me these things are fairly personal and quite possibly culturally dependant) for deciding on whether or not to publish graphic images of violence. In summary the criteria are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Is the subject of sufficient social or historic significance to justify the shock?</li>
<li>Is the objectionable detail necessary to properly understand the event?</li>
<li>Did the subject consent?</li>
<li>Is the image expressive of humanity?</li>
</ul>
Ignatieff suggests that fulfilling any one of these criteria may be sufficient. If we accept these criteria (I’m not sure they are sufficient) then in my opinion the El Pais image meets the first criteria, fails the middle two, and probably meets the final one and should be published. I’m not sure I agree with the squeamishness displayed by the British media.<br />
I do however feel there is a criteria missing which is the impact on the victims next of kin – which includes aspects of anonymity. In this case the severed limb is essentially anonymous. However Ignatieff also discusses the example of a picture of the beheading of an Australian soldier by a Japanese officer during WWII. In this case I disagree with publication – Ignatieff argues that it underlines the sheer horror of WWII in the far East. Set against that most people can imagine a beheading – to many the very idea carries a sense of revulsion - and I’m not sure what was served by a public display of the death of someone's clearly identifiable son.<br />
In a nutshell the argument is always – does the benefit of publication outweigh the distress caused by publication – and ultimately – while it is possible to identify factors to be considered the decision will always be personal and often political.npmimageshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325544772783926152noreply@blogger.com0