Category Archives: Research

Bibliography

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Books:

  • Auster, P. (1988). The invention of solitude. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin.
  • org, (2015). Sally Mann – Immediate Family – Photography Book – Aperture Foundation. [online] Available at: http://aperture.org/shop/books/sally-mann-immediate-family-book [Accessed 18 Mar. 2015].
  • Barney, Tina, Grundburg, Andy, ‘Tina Barney Photographs: Theater of Manners’, Scalo Publishers, 1997
  • Bright, S., 2005. Art photography Now. London: Thames and Hudson
  • Bussard, Katherine A, ‘So the story goes’ exhibition catalogue, Yale UP, New Haven, 2006
  • Coles, Robert, ‘Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a lifetime’ Aperture, New York, 1982
  • Collings, Matthew ‘Sarah Lucas (Modern Art Series)’ 1st Edition, Tate Publishing, 2002
  • Cotton, C., 2004. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. London: Thames and Hudson
  • Davis, Keith F, Botkin, Kelle A, ‘The photographs of Dorothea Lange’ Abrams, New York, 1995
  • Dillon, Brian. In The Dark Room. Dublin, Ireland: Penguin Ireland, 2005. Print
  • Don mcullin: ‘Don mcullin’ published by Johnathan Cape 2003
  • Foresta, Merry A, ‘The Europeans: photographs by Tina Barney’ Barbican Art Gallery Steidl Publishers, 2005
  • Freud, Sigmund. The “Uncanny”. 1st ed. First published in Imago, Bd. V., 1919; reprinted in Sammlung, Fünfte Folge. [Translated by Alix Strachey.]: N.p., 1919. Print.
  • Gordon, Linda ‘Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits’, W. Norton and Co, 2011
  • Johnson, Dr Clare, ‘Femininity, Time and Feminist Art’ pp115-132, Palgrave Macmillan 2013
  • La Grange, A., 2005. Basic critical theory for photographers. London: Focal Press
  • Mann, S. (1992). Immediate family. London: Phaidon.
  • Moore, K. (2004). Jacques Henri Lartigue. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Neri, Louise, Aletti, Vince, ‘Settings and players: theatrical ambiguity in American photography’ exhibition catalogue, White Cube, London, 2001
  • Partridge, Elizabeth, ‘Dorothea Lange: Grab A Hunk of Lighting’, Chronicle Books, 2013
  • Partridge, Elizabeth, ‘Dorothea Lange: A visual life’ Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1994
  • Quinnel, Justin, ‘Mouth Piece’ Dewi Lewis Publishing 2006
  • Ravenal, J., Strauss, D., Tucker, A. and Mann, S. (2010). Sally Mann. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
  • Rose, Gillian ‘Visual Methodologies: an introduction to researching with visual materials’ Third Edition, Sage Publications, 2013, Chapter ‘Content Analysis’ pp54-68
  • Simon Nina ‘The Participatory Museum’ Chapter 4- ‘Social Objects’ 2010
  • Shore, Robert, “Post Photography- The Artist With a Camera” Laurence King Publishers, London, 2014
  • Stewart, Kathleen. Ordinary Affects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. Print.
  • Szarkowski, J. 2007. The photographers’ Eye. New York: The Museum of Modern Art
  • Walker, Tim, and Ruth Ansel. Tim Walker. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.

Exhibitions:

  • Andre Lichtenburg Solent Showcase Gallery – Southampton – UK – 13th Feb / 21st Mar 2015
  • Taylor wessing photographic portrait prize 2014 visited 4th feb 2015
  • National Gallery London, Visited 4th February 2015
  • National Portrait gallery London, Visited 4th February 2015

Journals:

  • Aperture 216 ‘Fashion” pp121 margaret durow ‘miami,2012’
  • Cox, Christopher ‘Dorothea Lange’, Aperture, 1987
  • Hotshoe issue 188, summer 2014 roe ethridge pp34-45
  • Hotshoe issue 188 Summer 2014 Lisa Barnard pp56-67
  • Hotshoe issue 189, autumn 2014, Michael Lundgren pp34-45
  • Hotshoe issue 189 Autumn 2014 Aaron Schuman pp56-67
  • Portfolio #29 June 1999 Surveillance and solitude jame casebere david bate pp50-51
  • Portfolio #28 December 1998 sophie calle pp52-53
  • Portfolio #35 Mari Mahr ‘Symbols of ourselves’ pp.46-49 and pp63
  • Portfolio #35 Sam Taylor Wood pp.52
  • Portfolio #35 david bate pp.26-27 and pp18
  • Portfolio #52 sarah lynch pp52
  • Portfolio #52 Karen Knorr ‘Fables’

DVD/Film:

  • Don mcullin ‘seeking the light’ online video source http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/Don_McCullin.do02.15
  • The Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb. British Columbia: Shawn Levy, 2014. film.-
  • Toy Story 3. Disney, Pixar: Lee Unkrich, 2010. DVD.-

Internet

The “Uncanny” By Sigmund Freud

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As the opening paragraph explains usually the study of aesthetics is toward the theory of beauty, which in turn promotes the theory of the qualities of feeling (Freud, 1919, pp1) However what of that, that isn’t beautiful but instead haunting and unsettling? That can be referred to as the subject of the “uncanny”. The uncanny refers to that which is not familiar and that is why its so frighting it promotes horror in its very being. I am looking into this concept, as I mentioned it at the beginning, but as the level of feedback I received today suggests the uncanny is apparent in the images I displayed. Even more so that the dolls are not mine. “or we can collect all those properties of persons, things, sensations, experiences and situations which arouse in us the feeling of uncanni- ness, and then infer the unknown nature of the uncanny from what they all have in common.” (Freud, 1919, pp1) The exert suggests that we can derive a meaning from the properties or objects, creating a persona or portrait of the owner connoting to our own mortality by disregarding the preconceptions of sensitivity and delicacy of perception something I set out to achieve.

I understand that the most appealing photography is beautiful creating a more “positive nature in the  objects that call them forth, rather than with the opposite feelings of unpleasantness and repulsion” much like the uncanny. (Freud, 1919, pp1) As said before everyone is different, singular in their memories, therefor my work may not communicate a memory or a dream but it will make them uncomfortable enough to read into what the object embodies and what it is a portrait of.

The task of taking a portrait of objects or simply working within the means of the uncanny alludes to “manifestations of insanity” (Freud, 1919, pp5) which is created by how the objects when animated are reminiscent of mortality something which scares and resonates with all of us. Deciding weather it is alive or real is another uncanny perspective. Paired with the photographic tools and directorial decisions representation can vary from image to image and person to person.

On page 5 ‘The Sand Man’ story is described by freud as key point to the uncanny from the very childhood gruesome stories (although not evident at the time) seem to be encripted within us the way we learn morals through treacherous tails forms a basis for triggers that make us uncomfortable. I touched on the link between the china dolls and horror briefly before but the reaction from my peers upon my work suggests a deeper sense one that relates to the psychoanalytical theory of the uncanny and its formation. One that again, like Paul Auster and Brian Dillon stems from the innocence of childhood and in growing up only then can we decipher the memories, feelings and dreams. Retaining our experiences into adulthood, sometimes causing mental disarray otherwise known as the “castration-complex” outlined in Freud’s work.

In this particular exert of Freuds writings he explores the way in which “Jentsch believes that a particularly favourable condition for awakening un-canny sensations is created when there is intellectual un- certainty whether an object is alive or not, and when an inanimate object becomes too much like an animate one. Now, dolls happen to be rather closely connected with infantile life. We remember that in their early games children do not distinguish at all sharply between living and lifeless objects, and that they are especially fond of treat- ing their dolls like live people. In fact I have occasionally heard a woman patient declare that even at the age of eight she had still been convinced that her dolls would be certain to come to life if she were to look at them in a particular way, with as concentrated a gaze as possible” (Freud, 1919 pp 8-9) Perhaps why my images of dolls and various compositions raised such despair and ideas of the uncanny and promoted this research in its depth.

“Concerning the factors of silence, solitude and darkness, we can only say that they are actually elements in the production of that infantile morbid anxiety from which the majority of human beings have never become quite free. This problem has been discussed from a psychoanalytical point of view in another place” (Freud, 1919, pp20) In other words objects that we hold or even photograph embody who we are and what appeals to us. They are a portrait of how we are seen by ourselves and how we are perceived by others. Just like our brains our objects hold onto the deepest of memories, evidently from infant years, not all of them pleasant but each and everyone can be triggered by something.

Freud, Sigmund. The “Uncanny”. 1st ed. First published in Imago, Bd. V., 1919; reprinted in Sammlung, Fünfte Folge. [Translated by Alix Strachey.]: N.p., 1919. Print.

Tim Walker

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Much like Laurence Demaison, Tim Walker has also used dolls as a source of inspiration for his photography in his series ‘The Storyteller’. However Walker’s images are playful and well within the scope of uncanniness. Being famous for his predominantly fashion based career in photography and shooting for magazines like Vogue has made him famous. However I am not interested in the commercial side of his career instead looking at his more interpreted series.That said it is evident that the two worlds compliment each other, Walker expressing that the fashion photography funds his other work but he is most happy when the magazine lets him do what he wants to combining both elements (like in the images below). Recently he has merged the two worlds together using his fashion photography to create a realm of fantasy. So much so that it has been suggested that he seemingly doesn’t come from this world, instead he is described as a daydreamer, a fantasist.

Tim Walker 'Story Teller' Lindsay Wixon, Italian Vogue January 2012

Tim Walker ‘Story Teller’ Lindsay Wixon, Italian Vogue January 2012

In fact most of his work in fashion has influenced his use of scale in his fantasy work, the unrealistic way models are portrayed as taller than normal people has inspired both the use of dolls and also the way he is playful with their scale making them unrealistically big. The use of the forest as a location for the shoot is uncanny in itself, it sets the scene for a nightmare. The scale and composition of the huge doll adds to the allegory of the nightmare. Half hidden behind a tree adds a sense of fear as half the face of the doll is missing leaving us feeling disconnected. At first glance we assume that the doll is chasing the model but upon closer inspection the model is holding the dolls dress. Looking almost as she is comforted by the doll. It seems to connote a childlike relationship, representing what the strangest of objects embody to us when we are young right through childhood until adulthood but eventually suffering at the rate of our own mortality. Childhood and Mortality are themes that seem to crop up in every form of research that I have found whilst constructing the context of my project. These themes alone suggest that objects have a greater effect on us that was previously suggested. They seem to no longer be put into boxes of meaning like the 17th century Vanitas paintings but instead are subject to our various experiences and the embodiment of persona we place upon them. So much so that I believe that they can create a portrait that represents their owner, or at least raise an uncanny retrospect which is generic across all generations. Something which itself could be a portrait of the viewer as they will only draw from it what they have experienced themselves, much like Mari Mahr’s work.

Time Walker 'Story Teller' 2012

Time Walker ‘Story Teller’ 2012

This image from the exhibition storyteller at Somerset House. The lighting in the exhibition seems key to how we follow his work around. Note that the lighting isn’t entered on the dolls face but at what we imagine to be human eye level causing us to look up to her. A stance that is quite intimidating, the use of spotlights furthers this ethereal effect. If anything I am inspired by his use of composition and framing. The way he pursues a sense of scale with the dolls to elude a uncanny feel to his images and represent the relationship we have with our affects through his own serene mental state. Using photography as an outlet to explore the fantasies he endures.

Smith, Karl. ‘Interview With Tim Walker | The White Review’. Thewhitereview.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

Walker, Tim, and Ruth Ansel. Tim Walker. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.

Walker, Tim. ‘Biography – Tim Walker Photography’. Timwalkerphotography.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

Walker, Tim. ‘Tim Walker Photography’. Timwalkerphotography.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

The Trees of Change.

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Ahh a clever play on words for what I am attempting to discuss. Part of photography to me is keeping it relevant to todays society. Seeing that my target audience is adults I thought I would have to have a more mature subject matter like china dolls. But as I found recently dolls have been in the news and exploding over the internet. Not just any dolls but a unique adult who likes to play with dolls.

This special lady has decide to take dolls and give them new life. Sadly in todays society dolls have been subject to a very negative stereotype. With their tiny bodies and over made make up it has be decided they may impact disastrously on our children. Because of how they view the dolls and then inflict that view upon themselves. This lady, Artist Sonia Singh, recycles discarded unwanted dolls and makes them into more natural looking dolls. I have been inspired by using  a similar idea to her by looking in charity shops for my objects.

Tree Change Dolls By Sonia Singh

Tree Change Dolls By Sonia Singh

The drastic change is obvious and to her surprise kids love her dolls better than the originals and they are in high demand on Etsy (online shop) as they have become the must have toy for any child. She has recycled an object which had a negative influence and made it into a more relatable affect for children to have. I however am photographing other’s dolls in order to awaken a connection. Both taking something old and giving it a new purpose. Objects that have lost their function and making them relevant again.

Singh, Sonia. ‘Tree Change Dolls™’. Treechangedolls.tumblr.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

Mari Mahr

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Using journals as more than a visual source has always been a bit tricky for me, Im the kind who likes a flick through to see if anything catches my eye visually. However it was not so much the images that grabbed me first in this edition of portfolio but the title of the work ‘Symbols Of Ourselves’ working with the intention to capture what our objects embody it seemed this article and images could provide an inspirational source for my final few shoots.

Interestingly in this series ‘Time and Tide’ she doesn’t use colour which gives the image a noted sense of age, of time literally passing before your eyes making the connection between the object and memory more evident. What we assume to be a Japanese figure is facing out to sea and gradually in the set turns toward the camera, hence why these images have to be read sequentially. But since we are looking into what a singular image can represent I have split them up. This is in order to see if they work alone and what elements and directorial choices she has used to inform my own final shoots. Her close framing is representative of the stereotypical portrait but one thing that stands out is the angle at which she has positioned the doll and how she has taken it out of context by selecting an unusual background but one that relates to the title so well. The use of an endless notion is perhaps a link to the endless mental barrier she finds in her affects, embodying the timelessness of objects themselves.

Mari Mahr

Mari Mahr ‘Time and tide’ 2001

It seems evident that she is influenced by the fact that throughout history we have always wanted to preserve things, even the human form, by creating dolls. Both literally and metaphorically exploring and representing each culture. But she is not, she doesn’t work with a formula of concept, context and content to produce an outcome she simply seems to confront her subjects. Each image contains something new, this element would have been well thought out in order to manipulate a viewers perception and the overall representation of the figure itself. Thinking about her not necessarily  wanting to connote a specific culture intentionally within her work raised an interesting point about my own subjects, the dolls I am photographing. They themselves are a representation of western culture, indirectly there seems to be no racial awareness to the race when making them yet evidently there is a stark difference between dolls and the representation of culture in Mahr’s work.

Upon first glance her work seems objective shot just as it is but the use of her own figurines is ambiguous. The fact that she is using her own belongings is interesting, of little monetary value we are led to believe there is a deeper connotation such as the representation of her ‘symbolic life’ (Portfolio #35 pp63) This series of portraits is directional but she is not influencing her objects by animating them (something I am doing), that is why her work is deceptive in its intention.

In fact she views them in two ways. At first glance they just represent the culture they come from but then Mahr is evident of the role they also play in her mental sphere of life. It has been accused of being political in the stance that some of the statues are photographed and the angle they are subject to. But maybe thats the connotation of her life she wants us to read. Even in the faming of the image below it is significant to the viewer that she is hiding something or trying to evoke curiosity. Possibly even creating a window into her soul. The composition of the turned head again evokes ambiguity a composition trick I want to experiment with and how it effects the audience compared to a direct face on image. She has placed all of the relevant cultural information there in the image allowing us to define and read it in both our own way and also in a combination of the memory she made the work with. Both the set and singular images grow in intimacy the more we are intrigued. It is a adaptation of what Japan means to Mahr.

Mari Mahr

Mari Mahr ‘Time and tide’ 2001

Each image is produced using Epson printing software of which she has honed her skills making them appear comparative of platinum printing but on watercolour paper emulating a dreamlike ethereal feel, much like the uncanny I am trying to create. Mahr denies being an autobiographical artist but she does tend to rely on her private life for inspiration in her work. Comparing stories which we are familiar with and refer to as our culture with her own life within the image. Without making an obvious play on cultural references like we see in many post-modernist representations. This art is in fact considered so far from autobiographical art that it is comparative to that which we expect in a fictitious novel.

Portfolio #35 Mari Mahr ‘Symbols of ourselves’ pp.46-49 and pp63

Brian Dillon.

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Most of my sources of inspiration have come from that of a literary nature. Upon having a peer review after shoot 16 and 17 it was evident that I needed to emphasise the connection between my subject and my audience. By making the contextual references more concrete and looking into new sources like Brian Dillon’s ‘In The Darkroom’ I would hopefully find myself inspired with a new way of thinking. Changing the way I was framing my subject and considering the location of my shoots more carefully.

There was lots of things I found inspiring in this book. Mainly from 2 chapters which were titled with a relevance to my own work. Chapter 2 ‘Things’ and Chapter 3 ‘Photographs’. I have decided to analyse the individual quotes because of the sheer amount of material I have derived meaning from.

Quotes from chapter 2 ‘Things’, Dillon explores his own things and relationship toward objects from his own life and childhood, using them as a trigger to discuss personal memories.

“Because (in principle) things outlast us, they know more about us than we know about them: they carry the experiences they have had with us inside them and are- in fact- the book of our history opened before us. (Dillon, 2005, pp47) The concept that objects hold onto things that are important to us is probably why we hold them with such regard. They embody our experiences and memories and that is what I want to reflect within my photography. To play on the audiences individual experience, making the meaning of my photographs universal and individual.

‘Objects they have inherited from deceased loved ones comprise an uninterrupted corridor into the past’ (Dillon, 2005, pp47) So in Paul Auster’s book ‘The invention of solitude’ we explored how it was that objects might lose their meaning after their owner had passed away. They seemed to become irrelevant, to the contrary Dillon suggests that they are not obsolete if you are simply willing to look for the meaning and memories. And in fact they can trigger memories in ourselves upon their viewing. Perhaps expressing the obsession behind the need we have to archive and view our very being as a race, visiting museums and allowing the past to influence our future.

“Assure the viewer of a frictionless unfolding of previous homes, notable occasions and beloved physiognomies” (Dillon, 2005, pp48) This is not so much a contextual quote that I have to explain but more of an inspiring way to look into the work I have already done. My intention was to set out and provoke a reaction within my audience. To trigger a connection, this is where  using photographic techniques like farming, composition and location come into play to evoke imagination of the audience.

“There is a kind of seduction to the memorial fragment: every detail becomes telling, Each rescued object a reminder of a vanished era. But I cannot say that these things summon up a story, only that they mark out a space which is immovably still that of their original homes” (Dillon, 2005, pp49) In the same way that Auster promoted my search for abandoned objects in charity shops Dillon made it evident that I had to be able to find something that was easily relatable to each person. Something with human characteristics that represent a vanished element of time. “Inherited from the Victorian obsession with capturing and preserving whole worlds in a nuce.” (Dillon, 2005, pp52) Even more so the original idea of exploring objects from the victorian preoccupation. The dolls even signify the link to the victorian obsession as they were most popular around this time, being a direct link to the past. “Material Ties to the past” (Dillon, 2005, pp57) and therefor an easy connection to personal histories.

“every life is rich with these hidden correspondences between things, submerged collusions between one time and another which are fully expressed only at the moment when one concentrates hard on the object, weighing its presence against other, lost but yet still imaginable, things” (Dillon, 2005, pp54) These said correspondences is what I am representing in my project through objects with a complete lack of meaning but that also have endless meaning. They are both obsolete and important.

Dillon also speaks of the very first tiny yellow teddy bear and how he got his name within the society of toys (Dillon, 2005, pp54) initially this got me thinking about the relationship we have or can formulate with certain toys and the memories they can trigger. “In an essay on the ‘philosophy of toys’ , Charles Baudelaire distinguishes two childish attitudes to play things: reverence and iconoclasm” describing these two types of children as one who respects and adores the toys and then one who simply cannot stand the mystery of the toy. Who through curiosity become obsessed with discovering the soul of the toys. But what of these children when they become adults? The key audience I am conversing with. Continuing in his essay to describe those who upon the sight of the object seem to trigger a private notion reminiscent of their once innocent memories. (Dillon, 2005, pp56) If one can simply recollect upon childhood memories then surely the best way to allude to them is through the triggers of childhood, toys, objects which hold experience and memories within them. Even if they are not personal the human features in the dolls seem innately relatable.

Chapter two in the book predominantly asks the question “What knowledge can an object preserve?” (Dillon, 2005, pp59) essentially we learn that although an object can trigger a memory or represent an important occasion it remains an empty case, somewhat useless when the owner is no longer around, like Paul Auster alludes to in ‘The invention of solitude’. A question that I put at the forefront of my investigation when trying to represent the objects and the owners. Eventually realising that it was not possible to represent the unknown owner and instead discovering that portraying the said object in that way meant that each viewer would read it differently. Expressing the objects unique ability to represent a thousand possibilities based on the individuals experience. Creating a portrait which plays on the triggers of our memories, alluding each on of us to a notion of ‘self’.

In chapter 3 ‘Photographs’ it is considered that the photograph is like an object or perhaps more significant than an object itself as it remains open for interpretation. Beginning the chapter on page 95 with the notion of the archive Dillon speaks of how families collect and ‘hoard’ photographs to represent memories. This is similar to what we discovered in our lecture about ‘Family and Representation’ and led me to think about the photograph as an object. No matter what happens now to the dolls I am photographing for this project they remain still, depicted in a photograph. A photograph that I am using as a physical object to represent the dolls and the triggers behind the meaning and reading. Representing an object within an object. Using photography as the archival medium it is predisposed to be.

“Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments. Only afterwards do they claim remembrance on account of their scars- Chris Marker, La Jetée” (Dillon, 2005, pp95) What is easily forgotten can be recalled within a photograph. Using the photograph as an object is something that I hadn’t previously considered. However the notion of the immortality that each object holds is evident in the photograph itself. It is truly immortal, a double meaning and depth to my project, an object within an object.

Later in the chapter we are treated to a small picture of Dillon’s father as a child (also the cover of the book).

Brian Dillon 'In the Darkroom', 2005

Brian Dillon ‘In the Darkroom’, 2005

 Although not immediately relevant to my project it has within it themes that I have previously researched. From 1936 the photograph becomes reminiscent of the portraiture paintings from art history. It also includes symbolism I recognised from my research on Vanitas paintings, the flowers alluding to mortality. ‘The image is a mass of antique detail. It fixes it subject rigorously within the constraints of the past” (Dillon, 2005, pp123) Helping me to consider a natural setting in which to photograph the objects, connoting their mortality.

The selection of the garden and the following selection of the forest for my shoots was also influenced by the last chapter in this book chapter 5 ‘Places’. “Memory, like the mind and time, is unimaginable without physical dimensions; to imagine it as a physical space is to make it into a landscape in which its contents are located, and what has location can be approached- Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking” (Dillon, 2005, pp191) Wanting to invite my audience in I wanted something that both alluded the mortality of objects and enriched our natural sense of curiosity. The garden and forest both did, by taking the objects out of context and awakening our innate innocence and want to explore.

“At the centre of this maze of memory, writes Benjamin, is perhaps ‘ego or fate’; but this is not what interests him. Rather, he is intrigued by the passages that lead to this too-mystical center: ‘so many primal relationships’ with the individuals, these are what compose the picture of his life.” (Dillon, 2005, pp194) This seems to nod toward the influence the choices that the photographer makes. To me its implicit meaning is that effect of which I have personally when composing the images, putting in my own influence and subjecting the objects to my ideals. ‘Passages’ alluding to the choices that are made aesthetically. But more simply perhaps he is just alluding to the role of the photograph and the object in the representation of ones life.

The key sub heading in this chapter (Places) is ‘Removal’ something that immediately jumped out at me due to the choice I made to take the objects out of context, removing them from what they were. “Separate us from our immediate locale, and to partake in a different sense of place from that encouraged” (Dillon, 2005, pp206). In the book it is evident that he is talking about the relationship he has with church and school. However if one was to take this quote out of context and remove it from its meaning, you could relate it to my intention to transport my audience through select composition of that which I am representing, transporting them and triggering possible memories awaking their desire to connect to the object and image.

I find literary sources incredibly useful when starting to formulate a project. The elements I have picked out, although long winded, have been helpful in making directorial decisions for my further shoots. Considering composition, placement and location is essential to the development of my images. I would go to say that this book has been the most influential source I have used. The reason behind the use of the literary sources is the simple fact that this unit is entitled ‘Representation’ and in turn when you read a book you can interpret it in a personal way. In the future the quotes above could mean something completely different and be relevant to another project opposite to this one. But in my photography, especially in this project interpretation is everything.

Dillon, Brian. In The Dark Room. Dublin, Ireland: Penguin Ireland, 2005. Print.

Identity and Production.

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It is evident that your situation and identity can inform your photographic practise. Many photographers draw on their own experience when making work. Subjecting what they are photographing to their own ideals or notion of identity.

Wing Young Huie is one artist who’s background has directly influenced his practice. Not only in his work in particular but with the evolution of his own Gallery named ‘The Third Place’. The title refers to the concept of community and the sense of belonging. That are separate to the normal surroundings of your home and work. ‘The third place’ is intentionally there to be an anchor of the community, to inspire a creative notion and bring people together.

Although it is debated that portraiture photography is about working with the subject you are taking images of, you cannot help but have a certain influence on how the image is presented. Arguably it may be subconscious but the choices are still made. From framing, composition and technological decisions. Each photographer becomes the director. But if that is so is all portraiture photography actually portraiture? Because as a photographer if you are projecting yourself onto or into the image, even subconsciously, doesn’t that hold an element of self portraiture?

Wendy McMurdo’s images are based on the notion of doppelgängers. Manipulating and extending the effects that digital photography can produce. Its the extension and removal of humanity, the psychological feel of the images is unsettling. I was drawn to the specific image below because it is reminiscent of  the front cover of Paul Auster’s ‘invention of solitude’ a book that I recently researched. Her specific came angles and combined editing skills creates an air of psychological premise. A depiction of multiple personalities. The directorial approach of calm colours and expressions makes the circle even more unsettling whilst promoting the uncanny.

Wendy McMurdo,

Wendy McMurdo, ‘Lesley Victoria Morris’ 11.11.94’1995 from series ‘The shaded place the digital and the uncanny, 1995.

As a photographer or an artist sometimes your background is relevant within your artist statement. To provide clarity and a round up for your audience and yourself upon the closure of a project. The idea that there is supposedly no originality anymore due to the influences we soak up it is perhaps original to place our own experience within our work and let our notion of ‘self’ seep through our images. But how much information is worth sharing? Would it all be relevant for the audience?

Huie, Wing Young. ‘The Third Place Gallery – Wingyounghuie’. Wingyounghuie.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

McMurdo, Wendy. ‘Wendy Mcmurdo – Artist (Photography/Digital Media)’. Wendymcmurdo.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

The photograph as an object.

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In my previous post family and its representation I made claims like ‘The photograph is an object’ and that I myself was a child stuck in front of the lens. Bold claims, but backed by this following research of both Sally Mann and Jacques Henri Lartigue. Both are comparable in starkly different ways when depicting family. Sally Mann is an American photographer who was raised by a father who ensued benign neglect upon her, the only thing he supported was her interest in photography. Giving her his 5×7 camera which was later the beginning of her career. She is now well known for the huge black and white prints of her own family, her children. But these images aren’t what you expect to find in a normal family album, some depict normal themes like playing but more often than not there are darker themes at play making them daunting to gaze upon. As you can’t know for sure how much a child takes in when you a photographing them or what it does to their psyche by being constantly exploited by the camera.

Sally Man, From Series Immediate Family' 1984-1991

Sally Man, From Series Immediate Family’ 1984-1991

Having a confrontational feel to them through framing and composition these photographs are far from the typical family snap shots. The uncomfortable feel in the above image is due to the darker intentions and themes. Of which mortality, loneliness and death is present. As a child you feel the need to be exactly like your parents but any normal family wouldn’t document this. Its not the perfection that we are used to fabricating. The perversion of certain elements of her work has caused outrage, even in the work case being described as child pornography. Surely the role of a parent is unconditional love and protection but I personally find that selling and making a profit from photographing your child in the most innocent state is a violation of ethics. This work was shot on a large format camera, when considering the medium which you are going to use, it is suspected that selecting large format would lead to huge prints fit for gallery walls. Mann’s intention was never to keep the intimate life of her family private but to treat her children like objects, exploiting them, using a directorial approach to construct and pose a narrative. The sadness of which is overwhelming when viewing the images making the audience dubious of her intentions. At what point will she stop being a photographer and start being a mum? I just can’t understand the work. The normal joy in the family snap shots is the ‘photo face’ when pull when we know a photo is coming, the idea that our subconscious leaks out as we are unaware. The instantaneous nature of photography promotes the small details that are usually missed. Something that you lose in Mann’s work as the in large format disguises it because of long sitting times and constructed tableaux.

Jacques Henri Lartigue 'Dani at 6 months', Paris, February, 1922

Jacques Henri Lartigue ‘Dani at 6 months’, Paris, February, 1922

On the other end of the scale Lartigue makes equally intriguing works of portraiture but they portray more traditional themes. Born in France to a wealthy family his interest in photography began when he was a child. Using a camera to document his friends and family in more natural states than that of Sally Mann’s images. He is not well known for his portraiture, he is more famous because of his documentary sport photography. I don’t know why I am so drawn to his image of ‘Dani’ it might be because I feel that it directly relates to my exploration of the use of dolls, but I am also intrigued by the repetitive composition. The need for him to document just another event of play, something that we don’t usually take much notice of is made unique by the use and constructed objects. All the same dolls but somehow different, all facing a different way almost replicating or representing the presence of brothers and sisters. Its reminiscent of the memories one has as a child making up imaginary friends and stories using your toys to create a reality and to represent your friends. It makes you question how ‘Dani’ would be depicted in later life, what objects would surround him then or represent him now? Raising questions and challenging pre-conceptions of the notion of ‘self’ we are supposed to have and what we hold dear to us. What would represent us in terms of objects now? Or after we die, like in Paul Auster’s book ‘The Invention of Solitude’? Another thing to consider when looking at objects and photographs as objects is how over time photographs degrade. How long can we rely on them to keep our memories? To preserve what is us or our notion of self? How can we trust that in the future what we choose to represent us now will have the same meaning later on? What if we are represented wrongly or if what is important to us looses meaning? We are all people first before we are photographers, the way we make work is influenced by our own experience, we seep through our images and that is what I want to explore. How objects represent us.

Aperture.org, (2015). Sally Mann – Immediate Family – Photography Book – Aperture Foundation. [online] Available at: http://aperture.org/shop/books/sally-mann-immediate-family-book [Accessed 18 Mar. 2015].

Mann, S. (1992). Immediate family. London: Phaidon. Moore, K. (2004). 

Jacques Henri Lartigue. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ravenal, J., Strauss, D., Tucker, A. and Mann, S. (2010). Sally Mann. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The Photographers’ Gallery, (2015). Jacques-Henri Lartigue – The Photographers’ Gallery. [online] Available at: http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/jacques-henrilartigue [Accessed 18 Mar. 2015].

Kathleen Stewart.

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‘The Ordinary Affects’ was mentioned in relation to my project again during a feedback session, namely why these sessions are so helpful because you get others opinions and ideas for research. Something which is key for context for a project. By Kathleen Stewart this book explores the relationship we have with our affects through the form of short stories linked together by subheadings and metaphors. In fact I have noticed a similarity in all of the three books I have read for this particular project (Paul Auster ‘The Invention of Solitude, Brian Dillon ‘In the Darkroom’ and ‘Ordinary Affects’ by Kathleen Stewart) and that is that their layout is similar each broken in to sub sections within chapters and under subheadings, as if to illuminate the broken recollection of the memories that the objects and happenings have triggered.

Overall the book is about the forces that seem to connect us be that the moving, the subject, the happenings (pp128) the opportunities we have in our environment that trigger our beliefs, dreams and memories. That make us who we are. Give us individuality but similarity in the same sense.

‘and the habit of watching for something to happen will grow’ (pp11) Perhaps this sentiment can be connected to the expectation or the narrative we build in our heads when looking at the photograph or object. We are watching and waiting for the meaning to become obvious, for our brain to draw a conclusion or to feel connected in some way. This ultimately ‘changing peoples trajectories in some small way by literally changing their course for a minute or a day’ (pp12)

Linking this to the ‘The politics of the ordinary affects’ which is a small chapter (pp15) which explains that the politics of any surge matter but even more so to how it played out and what happens. ‘Ideologies happen’ and ‘identities take place’ but its the objects that give something to inhabit, animate and trigger. The book is evident that the key to defining the force something has is to first determines it the ‘Movement, an impact, a reason to react.’ (pp16) The politics come into play when feeling connected or not or placing an attachment or not. the subheading paragraph expressing the difference in people, that what resonates with one won’t effect the other thus highlighting the importance of an intentional audience.

Perhaps an intentional audience was evident from my first deadline feedback but in ‘Still life’ (pp18), having looked into vanitas paintings in the past, the definition in the book has inspired what I essentially set out to achieve. The basics being to ‘capture liveliness of the inanimate by suspending their sensory beauty’ in a scene with no context. As it is suggested when a still life is seen as out of the ordinary it can be a form of ‘Wake Up Call’ turning itself into a dreamlike expression of sorts and triggering reactions (pp19). The ordinary affect  and emotional entailment can highlight intimacy that isn’t suggestively just personal but can pull subject and viewer into an unintended place (pp40). Again linking to the watching of something happening and the general intrigue representation of objects causes. Something that seems to be coming across in my later shoots where my intention seems lost but is resonated with in an unintended personal wave length. Upon discussing the potential that is stored in objects Stewart compares them to realms of life, sensory experience and dreams of presence (pp21). Inspiring me to look at ways to unsettle the viewer in an uncanny way, representing a dream like sphere that the embodiment of objects creates.

‘Traces’ (pp21) again encompasses a short statement about the found object that was dropped or left somewhere and object that has fell from the loop of attachment. Dead in its irrelevance until reunited with an original owner, time or place. Using found objects already this could be an interesting concept to develop, perhaps animating objects, having the search for a being to embody?

If anything is clear in this book its that the effect that objects of high desire in mainstream evoke the most emotion toward a possible life, what could have been, an experience. Perhaps why I picked such an uncomfortably relatable subject. Allowing us to glimpse it in past moments combined and alluded to in the present, triggering memories and emotional attachment. An intention I have been inspired to develop my work around.

Stewart, Kathleen. Ordinary Affects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. Print.

Laurence Demaison.

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Demaison is a french photographer who explores real moments in time mixed with acts of personal transformation. I first found her within my research response to our lecture on self portraiture. What I am most interested in is her use of dolls in her set entitled ‘Si j’avais Su (If only I had known)’. This series is also an analogue only process something which is directly relatable to my own use of the medium format camera on this project. Originally starting her career off with photographing models and women to emirate the beauty of the body she found herself uninterested. She changed her direction completely wanting to consider the idea of self. But she disliked her body so what could she do other than try and represent it in a different way. Turning herself into something new. Making something beautiful out of something ugly (Shore, 2014)

Laurence Demaison 'Si j'avais su no. 4 (Fenetre)' 2010

Laurence Demaison ‘Si j’avais su no. 4 (Fenetre)’ 2010

Depicting suicide and pain in her images using dolls as her subject to represent a scenario. This was far beyond her usual  distorted self portraiture as she was able to take a directorial approach and for the first time in the 17 year career she no longer needed to be either in front of the lens or behind it. She could just control all the elements of her image. Composing it just as she imagined. Upon my research of objects I have come across dolls at a charity shop and am interested on using them to represent people. Depicting them in notions that connote the ridiculous relationships we have with our objects. Unlike her images mine will be in colour and I think this will minimise the overall creepy feeling the viewer gets from the doll. Although I will be using the doll as an object, I am still intrigued how she uses it (forms a connection deep enough) to use it to represent herself. After immersing myself in Paul Auster’s book ‘The Invention of solitude’ I find the relationship we place on personal affects to be a strange one, one that links with memories of childhood. When I think of childhood I am lucky enough to have happy memories, of playing with my toys, dolls in particular. This happy memory is contrasted by the way that Demaison uses dolls representing them as soulless, negative beings. generating a general feel of uncomfortableness.

Auster, P. (1988). The invention of solitude. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin.

Laurencedemaison.com, (2015). Si j’avais su – 2010 – Laurence Demaison – Site Officiel. [online] Available at: http://www.laurencedemaison.com/si-javais-su-2010/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2015].

Shore, Robert, “Post Photography- The Artist With a Camera” Laurence King Publishers, London, 2014