A Statement and An Image.

I’ve never lived anywhere for longer than a year, until now. Moving around constantly packing up your life, memories and experiences into a cardboard box and leaving. What would you pack? Along the way so many things get lost. Objects that embody you, like a self-portrait of who you are. Things that you regard as the most important become empty when you are no longer there to define them; our existence makes them personal artifacts. Sourcing the dolls for my shoots in charity shops intending to explore the reverie of objects and memories they trigger to represent our uncanny relationships with our affects through portraiture.

Inspired mainly by books by Paul Auster, Brian Dillon and Kathleen Stewart I have enriched my process and practice to break the preconceptions that the genre of portraiture holds and to instead explore the allegory of objects. Animating them in a way and playing with location and scale similar to the work of both Laurence Demaison and Tim Walker. The way in which angles and composition can impose a specific message much like the childlike way we are led through the window into my final image. Realising the potential of haunting memories that the dolls trigger led to research into Freud’s the “Uncanny” creating horror in my images through the innately human resemblance the dolls have and the slight green colour casts. It is said that portraiture is about working with the person you are photographing but what about when you are embodying a person through an objects reverie? Significantly there was different representation to every person who viewed it; some commenting on the look of searching that the doll has, some recalling memories of nightmares and childhood horror and even some looking away in repulsion at what the image recalls. This images interpretation varies dependent on experiences. What this doll embodies for people personally allows a different view on portraiture one that is recollected and gives an idea of self to the viewer.

To some extent it this project could be an embodiment of self-portraiture. The idea of animating the doll to search for what she has lost represents the crossroads I find myself at, being twenty and leaving my childhood and becoming an adult; searching for meaning and leaving the past behind. The uncanny effect you feel between what you remember and who you are now. I have learnt that we are people first, before we are photographers. Our own experiences are encapsulated in our work and our objects. Inanimate objects hold us within them, a notion and representation of our uncanny mortality.

The Final Image for Submission

©samanthajaneriley

The “Uncanny” By Sigmund Freud

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.

Mari Mahr

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 ‘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 ‘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

The three C’s.

In my previous post I finished with two questions: but how much information is worth sharing? Would it all be relevant for the audience? These questions refer to the statement you make as an artist who is concluding a project. In fact I have found that starting the statement at the beginning of the project is best because it gives you a foundation on which to build upon, it helps with the development process and is guaranteed to change and be stronger by the final submission deadline.

So what do you include? There are three basic elements to a statement in order to be articulate. The three C’s:

1) Context- What has provoked the interest in this project and why? Books and sources used.

2) Concept- What are you doing? What are your intentions? Include technological terminology.

3) Content- Why? How? Biographical information if relevant. Outline key idea.

Kathleen Stewart.

‘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.

Shoot 18

Shoot 18 is partly inspired by my images I used for the first deadline. Shot in the same location of flower beds. I have submerged the doll inside.

Trying for a face on angle was the challenging in this shoot, the focal point was initially tough to determine due to the selected depth of field. Like shoot 17 this one too hasn’t been successful, mainly due to the weather, the sun creating dense inescapable shadows, shooting earlier in the day would have solved this problem. There is just no connection between the subject and the audience its very static and still. I am starting to realise that maybe making the toys do human things is more relatable. Like the work of Laurence Demaison when the connection is between the sympathy and horror for the doll.

Shoot 18 Contact Sheet

Using prints from this shoot will develop my printing skills that I suppose is a positive due to the predominantly wonky contact sheets and borders, Its just evidence of the need of practise.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 16

The last doll shoot. Same location and various experimentation with framing angles and space. If anything this shoot has thrown everything up in the air that I learnt in previous shoots. For example in the 14th shoot (the Samantha doll) close framing worked well, so did the sloped composition of the doll itself. However in this shoot distance seems to work best. I speculate thats because this doll is significantly smaller and expresses more innocence when viewed from afar. The innocence it projects represents the childhood reminiscence that these images conjure.

I need to start playing with my strengths and stop waisting time and film on practising double exposures, although its an important skill to have its not essential to my project. I am proud that with practise my exposures have generally improved. But again with printing in the dark most of my contact sheets are still wonky like the borders of the first deadline prints. Practise, practise, practise is essential and I will improve.

Considering this shoot has thrown my ideas of dolls and the close ups out the window I think the next logical step would be to move location to see if that would effect the framing and composition. A natural location has always been at the forefront of my vision for this project. To show the objects abandoned and entangled in grass and weeds, showing age and neglect. Taking them out of context and promoting curiosity.

I will be moving forward with three of the subjects I have shot in these shoots, both dolls and the posable bear from shoot 13. I fear the connection forming between the bear and me is going to obstruct my vision. I like the way I feel disconnected to the dolls but yet still connected to them on a human level. Its the strangest feeling that they seem to promote.

Shoot 16 Contact Sheet.

©samanthajaneriley

The Night at the Museum.

Now believe me, I was reluctant to use this as a form of research, admittedly its not a traditional way to approach a project in photography by analysing a popular film and it can’t really be called artist research but it relates heavily to what I am trying to portray. However I am not looking a technical techniques but on concept ideas and the relationships that have formed between the selected archived objects and how they come to life within the storyline.

There are three night at the museum films and to give a general plot summary it is about a guy who lands a job working the night shift at the museum. During which he realises by some mystical power the museum and the objects inside it come to life during the night. Admittedly this is a similar adventure story to ‘Toy Story’ but with one starkly different element the human is involved and is allowed to construct these relationships with the characters. Being a slightly more adult version of ‘Toy Story’ empowered my use of more adult objects such as china dolls, things you would find archived and collected in later life. They have relatable human elements like the statues and affects in this film.

Each character brings something to the table and as a team they connect together to solve each adventure. In the last film ‘The Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb’, the one I am most interested in, is where the very life of the objects are threatened. The journey we follow them on is more of an emotional roller coaster as they travel from New York to Britain to reunite the objects with other affects they belong with. Whilst some of them decide to stay in Britain some return home but at the very end they are not coming to life anymore and we are forced to sever our relationship with the select characters. But like all movies they don’t die they manage to stay alive at night but the guard gives up his job and the movie ends.

What I am most intrigued by is how each of the elements of the museum comes to life. Objects that we archive have personalities and traits which we can relate to in the film. The Dinosaur skeletons behave like dogs playing fetch and we form sentimental bonds with each character. It upsets us greatly when it ends as the affects become irrelevant just like objects do when we move on in our lives. This film seems to embody the things we place on our objects and a reason for collection and archiving.

The idea of loss is also a significant theme, from when they try and reunite the Egyptian objects from New York and Britain together, the notion that an object can be discarded by people who don’t connect with it and be placed away from what it once was. Something which I will try and do in my shoots. Taking the objects out of their original context and most importantly allowing the viewers to create their own definitions of the images.

The Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb. British Columbia: Shawn Levy, 2014. film.

Vanitas Paintings.

Our recent trip to the National Gallery in London fuelled my research into these Vanitas paintings. Upon looking into some of the historical portraits I saw I came across an interesting fact; that in the 17th and 18th century portrait artists used to paint objects to keep their skill in whilst waiting for commissions.

More often than not they would represent their subject using a range of  objects in a painting that resembles still life. These objects each held their own symbolism or range of meanings:

Pieter Claesz Vanitas Martwa Natura 1625

• Skull: Death, this is a clear memento mori message or the transience of life, a universally recognized symbol of death.
• Watch or hourglass: time is limited and is passing, therefore, use it wisely.  See a typical one-handle XVII century watch at the lower right of the photo.
• Books: Human knowledge and its temporary nature.
• Artist’s instruments e.g. Palette, brushes, easel: Indulgence in the arts, very few could afford to be painters let alone patronize the arts.
• Shell: they were normally exotic ones not commonly available in the Netherlands. They were a symbol of the vanity that comes with wealth, as these were exotic items at the time, only a very wealthy person would have one of those.
• Insects, decaying flowers: transience of life. They were inserted in paintings depicting expensive objects as a reminder that life is temporary and moral considerations deserved more attention than material things.
• Broken or tipped over glassware: transience of life or life is fleeting.
• Musical instruments: indulgence of the senses as a luxury. Sometimes they are present as artistic inspiration, as music would inspire artists.
• Silk or velvet tablecloths: vanity, as these were expensive things. Silk being the ultimate fabric material and purple the most expensive dye, hence the Roman emperors wore purple tunics.
• Oriental rugs or carpets:  These were prohibitively expensive items, carpets were placed on tables to avoid stepping on them and causing decay in their colors or integrity. They were a symbol of wealth but also a sign of pride as they were items brought into the United Provinces through trade and commerce.
• Jewelry, clothes or mirrors: remember the temporary nature of beauty, wealth and wisdom. Earthly riches are temporary and therefore life should be carried out according to the modesty traditions that were in place at the time.
• Mirror: a clear symbol of the vanity that should be avoided.
• Jars: Stoneware or porcelain were used for water or oil, both substance sustain life at the time.

(Sourced from http://levinrodriguez.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/symbolic-meaning-of-objects-used-in.html)

The image above is one painted by Pieter Claesz in 1625 and from the information above we can begin to read the painting. Noting that the subject he was representing was both wealthy due to the compass which signifies that he was well travelled and the pen and paper which meant he could read and write. Something that at the time only the wealthy could do. The skull and the flower represents his mortality. The fact that we select objects upon which to place these narrative is what I am intrigued by. This notion was born in the 17th century and is still present today in the relationship we have with our affects.

This unique depiction of human life has defined people for centuries. And I can’t help but connect this historical technique to what I am exploring within this project for portraiture. Picking objects to show their representation of humans. Having the symbolism defined here is essential to the objects I select. Taking them out of context as the painter does is also something I want to be playful with.

Rodriguez, Levin. ‘..The Berkemeyer Project..: Symbolic Meaning Of Objects Used In Vanitas Paintings’. Levinrodriguez.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

National Gallery, London, Visited 4th February 2015