PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.5 CONTINUING THE TRADITION

Read the interview with Marcus Bleasdale in Eight magazine (V4N3, Dec 2005). See also the article in the Guardian magazine 16 January 2010. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:34)

Notes: Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary photographer who uses his work on human rights and conflict to influence world decision makers and global policy makers around the world. The last ten years he has covered the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighting both the reasons for and the effects of that conflict on the Congolese population. He has published two books: One Hundred Years of Darkness in 2002 and The Rape of a Nation in 2009, he believes that photography can bring positive change.

Points of particular interest:

He doesn’t believe that photojournalism and conflict go hand in hand and cites the work of Eugene Smith and the Spanish Village abut a country doctor and midwife as events such as famines and natural disaster that aren’t conflict but have a conflict edge to them.
Following the talk Anna fox gave where she explained how fiction affects her photography, I was interested how Bleasdale takes inspiration from writers such as Conrad saying that his language is very visual
His disappointment that media conflict of conflict is often ended due to financial reasons and that foreign news is often limited in favour of the lucrative celebrity market.
He explains that he shoots what he wants for NGO first and then edits towards their brief later
When asked if he thinks people understand both individual and series of images he says yes, but particularly cites the impact of the single image particularly “the one moment of clarity or the question raised by the work that touches people” and this may motivate people to do something
He says that respect for those you work with and them for you is paramount for the success of an image and that he spends a lot of time with subjects to achieve this.
When asked which of his work represents what he wants to achieve as a photojournalist he cites his work in Sakura Lisi in the Congo, where he showed the desperation with dignity. This image below I think shows the way that he has gained the respect of the people to capture an event:

The washing of the body at the burial of the eight-month-old Sakura Lisi, the daughter of a gold miner in Mongbwalu, northeastern Congo. 2004

(Congo. Bleasdale, 2004)

My response:

Having viewed his website, I was amazed at the aesthetics in his images as well as the strong portrayal of desperate realities. I particularly saw this in his colour images such as the one below and yet I can see that when he presents in black and white the images seem more gritty and dramatic, somehow more honest and stronger– I should bear this in mind when choosing between black and white and colour.

*Child miners* from the series Unravelling

(Congo. Bleasdale, 2004)

My Learning:

At a simple level I was amazed at his work and will follow it carefully.
Consider taking inspiration from writers and fiction
Be aware of the power there can be in a single image when it comes from a part of a longer project
I come back again that respect for those you work with and them for you is paramount for the success of an image

References:

Bunyan, D. M. (2020) Bill Brandt Packaging Post for the War – Art Blart. At: https://artblart.com/tag/bill-brandt-packaging-post-for-the-war/ (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Marcus Bleasdale – Photographer (2020) At: http://www.marcusbleasdale.com/new-gallery/xkmh9vpp30pcmk22247v95ws62wljk (Accessed 21/05/2020).

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: RESEARCH

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

SOCIALLY COMMITTED B&W PHOTOGRAPHERS

Do your own research into the work of the socially committed B&W photographers discussed so far, both British (Exit Photography Group, Chris Killip, Nick Danziger, Bill Brandt) and American (Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine). Was this social documentary work their prime focus? How does it fit with other work done by these photographers? Make notes in your learning log or blog. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:34)

As I have previously researched the Exit Photography Group: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/coursework/part-2-the-bw-legacy/project-legacy-for-social-change/exercise-2-2-survival-programes/

and some of Bill Brandt’s work https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/exercise-2-3-brandt/

which I add to a little here. Then I will look at those I’ve not researched before……

BILL BRANDT (1904-1983)

He had a multifaceted carer, shaped initially by a circle of friends in the surrealist movement in France, including spending time in the studio of Man Ray; he later moved into fine art photography.

His work The English at Home exposed ironies in the British Class system (Johnson, 2012) and his book A Night in London also looks at the British class system. Brandt also photographed the depression compassionately in the North, especially the miners in Northumberland:

1937 A Snicket in Halifax (Bunyan, 2020)

Northumbrian Miner at His Evening Meal 1937 (Bunyan, 2020)

He was commissioned to take photographs of the many underground bomb shelters during the second World War:

Liverpool Street Underground Station Shelter (Bunyan, 2020)

After WW2 he investigated themes portraying poetic sensibilities displayed in contemporary art photography and as he increasingly arranged things for the camera, he took the nude from the studio and placed in domestic situations , even on the beaches of England and France. He used a wide angle camera lens so that he could photograph whole rooms; and was recommended one but he found that it distorted and the images of distorted abstract nudes came from this accident, he describes them as abstract sculpture. His surrealist abstract photographs were not popular at the time but are now. He describes some of them as lucky finds but I believe it is down to his eye.

(Bill Brandt, 2020)

However despite his photographs of the Depression and social class, I’m not convinced that his work went beyond the artistic portrayal of their sooty blackened bodies and wouldn’t label him as socially committed.

Chris Killip (b1946)

Photographed the heavily industrialised areas of the north during the 1972 and 80s, steel works, shipyards and coal mines; these were published in his book “In Flagrante” (1988). He spent a long time in a place whilst photographing, sometimes years, often in closed communities, but not always of those he knew. He says his photographs changed as he got to know people. He says “history is written, my pictures ae what happened” ( Smyth, 2017) ). Killip says that he was interested in recording people as part of history rather than to blame politicians. He seems to me to be a socially committed photographer as he portrays in an unromantic straightforward way what he sees and knows from learning about a place and people.

Father and Son Watching a Parade, West End, Newcastle; Chris Killip (British, born 1946); Newcastle, England; negative 1980; print 1986; Gelatin silver print; 34.7 × 26.5 cm (13 11/16 × 10 7/16 in.); 2014.36.22

(Smyth, 2017)

Nick Danziger (b1958)

Danziger’s Britain was published in 1996, it focused on under privileged members of society; he lived among the homeless and unemployed in many of the ruined manufacturing “no-go” areas of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England where he slowly won the trust of the street children and got to hear the stories of hundreds of society’s outsiders; it was a powerful and disturbing documentary.

The British (2001) contrasted the worlds of the upper and under class, showing the inequalities and polarisation in the upper and underclass; a vivid portrayal. In 2003 Danziger travelled with Times editor Peter Stothard for a month to document visually the Prime minister Tony Blair; here President George W. Bush and Blair make eye contact as if both are looking into a mirror, taken the day before American troops had entered Baghdad, this was an important document of history.

President Bush and Prime Minister Blair at Hillsborough Castle, 2003 (Nick Danziger | Widewalls, 2020)

He establishes close relations to his subjects, though not impartial; however he does aim to give those who rarely feature in the media a voice. He believes that photography can bring positive social change for individuals and local communities.

He has done much of his work abroad often in war torn places, recording the ordinary people caught up in the conflicts; here you can see his social commitment.

References:

Bill Brandt (2020) At: https://www.houkgallery.com/exhibitions/bill-brandt-the-nude-a-centenary-exhibition?view=slider (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Bill Brandt | The Nude: A Centenary Exhibition – Exhibitions – Edwynn Houk Gallery (2020)

Bunyan, D. M. (2020) Bill Brandt Packaging Post for the War – Art Blart. At: https://artblart.com/tag/bill-brandt-packaging-post-for-the-war/ (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Johnson, W. et al. (2012) A History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present. Taschen.

Nick Danziger | Widewalls (2020) At: https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/nick-danziger (Accessed 06/07/2020).

PhotoVoice (2016) Ten Questions with… Nick Danziger – Ethical photography for social change | PhotoVoice. At: https://photovoice.org/10-questions-with-nick-danziger/ (Accessed 06/07/2020).

Rob Hooley (2013) Bill Brandt BBC Master Photographers (1983). At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3KuY0quBsk (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Smyth, D. (2017) Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante. At: https://www.bjp-online.com/2017/06/now-then-chris-killip-and-the-making-of-in-flagrante/ (Accessed 06/07/2020).

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.4 Discussing Documentary

Read the introduction and first section (pp.105–10) of the article ‘Discussing Documentary’ by Maartje van den Heuvel (Documentary Now! 2005). Write a short summary in your learning log. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:33).

Mirror of visual culture

A summary:

The author believes that the debate about documentary in an art context should take visual literacy as a starting point to enable the value of documentary photography in art to be better assessed; are these practices effective and legitimate or has the border into fiction been blurred too much?

Much of our experience is not direct but found through the media so we are becoming more visually literate and able to interpret things
Documentary images are part of a wider movement including journalism, advertising, games, pop culture and film where art is functioning increasingly as a mirror of visual culture

The author reviews the classical documentary tradition and then shares examples that show a documentary remix, as artists free themselves from traditional documentary images:

2 historical visual traditions: Western Anglo-Saxon human-interest film and photography and the Eastern Communist/socialist Russian and German.
Documentary as a militant eyewitness, from around 1900: Jacob Riis (1849-1914), Lewis Hine (1874-1940) with reformist ambitions
Documentary was connected to film, when John Grierson designated a film non-fiction. Documentary as a realistic counterpart to fiction as film a recorder of social conditions: FSA, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange. Magazine images in Life, Picture Post magazines, and the investigations of the Magnum agency.
Documentary as a picture tradition in communist and socialist countries to support revolution for the working class.
Documentary for left wing activism in the 50s and 60s with coarse grainy black and white 35 mm film images
Documentary as art as from the 1970s moved from a belief in realism and transparency with the easy accessibility of TV and advertising in different forms as people learnt that media images could be manipulated. A move away from the traditional black and white grainy images previously associated with authenticity awareness of subjectivity in documentary
Documentary with technical, stylistic or narratives, sharp detail and colour: Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff. This included functional directions such as topographical or architectural photography.
Documentary with social narratives: martin Parr on the middle class, Karen Knorr on the wealthy. Nan Goldin on her own surroundings
Documentary with depth: Allan Sekula’s project on economic and trading routes, Fazel Sheikh on people (Ramadan Moon). Giles Peress on the genocide in Rwanda (The silence)
Documentary photographers focusing on the publicity and distribution channels of photography: Susan Meiselas on Kurdistan (In the shadow of history)
Documentary using inside knowledge: Julian Germain collaborating with Don McCullin (Steelworks)
Documentary questioning images: Hiroshi Sugimoto on how the suggestion of reality is constructed, and any artificiality that simulating documentary images in artificial surroundings such as waxworks and any artificiality that suggest reality
Documentary that is staged: Jeff Wall imitating media pictures.
Documentary through re-enacting: Pierre Huyghe Third Memory; it has three layers of time and imagery, original journalistic media about a bank robbery, the 1975 film (Dog day Afternoon) and his own images of a re-enactment of the robbery. Christoph Draeger (Catastrophes) where he imitates disaster scenes, and his Black September on the terrorist hijacking and murder of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games

The author suggests though the artists differ as to how much their work reflects upon he documentary tradition, what these works have in common is that they analyse and comment on the structure and effect of documentary images in the mass media which testifies to increased visual literacy amongst the artists and appeals to the viewers to be visually aware also.

MY LEARNING

I should consider carefully visual literacy and how much the viewer has.
It was really useful to have these suggested stages/categories of documentary set out, it helps to clarify things for me. I may use this as a starting point to develop some ideas for assignment 2, in particular to research further, documentary as art and manipulation and documentary for questioning images.

Reference: Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.3

Read ‘Bill Brandt’s Art of the Document’ by David Campany. Write a short summary in your learning log. How did B&W become such a respected and trusted medium in documentary? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:32).

This article illustrates how on image can play different roles at different times especially when presented in different ways, or as Company calls it “mobile images” (Company, 2006: p51). It also gives an insight into the career of Bill Brandt.

The image that the article discusses is shown above “Parlour maid and under-parlour maid Ready to Serve Dinner”. It first appeared in Brandt’s first book “The English At Home” (1936) a pictorial survey across the social classes. The book presents images from across a social divide through pairings of images, though it is not an in your face revolutionary document as the previous work I discussed “Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities”, Brandt clearly presented these disparities in one book for a viewer to see if they wished to see. Company calls this “poetic realism” pictorial artfulness that tried to assume social authority. However, in this one image in particular you can see the tension between classes contained in one photo. Company says that The English at Home was a picture of the English that they struggle to recognise themselves (Company, 2006:54).

In 1938 Brandt published in Verve photo- essay styled as “day in the life of” though this image was not included essay style, possibly as he thought the image too powerful; these images work together but not on their own. After the 1940s Brandt moved away from the photo-essay either to singular images or those juxtaposed to add strength to his meaning. This image was reprinted in “Shadow of Light” (1966) and placed opposite an image of a Kensington drawing room, emulating the juxtaposed images in his 1936 book.

I was interested to read that Brandt changed to a more surrealistic approach to the photographic document as he was not convinced that a photograph could give straightforward social description and was wary of its use for social reform. Surrealists approached documentary in a more ambiguous way leaving more room for viewers to make their own responses. Company explains how Brandt is sometimes viewed as a historical and sometimes a contemporary artist, sometimes a documentary photographer and sometimes and artist though he would call him documentary artist.

I’m not sure how this article relates to the back and white document, though it does mention that black and white defines the details in a photograph. Also, perhaps to say that there is no such thing metaphorically as a black and white image and that as Brandt always worked in black and white. It has however reopened my eyes to Brandt’s work and reminded me of the fluidity of images over time.

MY LEARNING

Remember the ability of a photograph to be presented for different purposes
Research Brandt further
Research Surrealist photographers further

References:

Bill Brandt | Parlour maid and Under-Parlour maid Ready to Serve Dinner | The Met (2020) At: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265464 (Accessed 14/05/2020).

Company, D. (2006) The career of a photographer, the career of a photographer: Bill Brandt’s art of the document

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2:2 Survival programmes

Read the article ‘Survival Programmes’ in Eight magazine (V5N1, June 2006). (Open College of the Arts, 2014:32).

Between 1974 and 1979 three British photographers Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor set up the Exit Photography Group to record life in some of Britain’s inner-city areas. This work was published their work in the book Survival Programmes in Britain’s Inner Cities (1982). They chose black and white photography as they thought its seriousness and visual authority would add to the seriousness of their message of the need for social reform for race, religion, class and justice. the medium would strengthen the message.

“In aiming to create a lasting testimony that would resonate beyond the immediate political circumstances of the time, the three Exit photographers developed a complex and multi-layered response to the situation” (Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities – Exit Photography Group, 2020).

Sharing the same position that inner city poverty was endemic and leading to social disorder, they used oral evidence (people’s interviews) to capture such experiences. They worked in different cities, contacting community groups, walked around deprived districts, talked to people on the streets, and knocked on doors; Nicholas Battye commented that back then people were happy to talk to photographers. The images were sequences from frustration to anger on 4 chapters: through growth, promise, welfare to reaction. The book gave the same space to the interview transcripts as images, which they discussed and chose from together. I was interested to learn that they shot in black and white to save money. Their work certainly brought viewers really close to the truth.

MY LEARNING POINTS

Although times were different then they still must have worked hard to build relationships and trust with the communities that they photographed to get so close to them
Reminds me again of the responsibility of the photographer to shoot with Integrity, the images are intimate but respectful.
The benefits of working as a team and having a shared ethos
The impact that sharing the truth can have when laid bare

References:

New Writing: Exit Photography Group | Photoworks (2014) At: https://photoworks.org.uk/exit-photography-group/ (Accessed 13/05/2020).

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Survival programmes in: Ei8ht magazine 5 (1) pp.12–19. Available online at: https://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/Foto85.1_SurvivalProgrammes.pdf (accessed 13.5.20)

Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities – Exit Photography Group (2020) At: https://www.amber-online.com/collection/survival-programmes/ (Accessed 13/05/2020).

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.1

Read the 1939 article on documentary photography by Elizabeth McCausland. Write a short bullet list of McCausland’s main points in your learning log. Explain in your own words, in a single paragraph, why this article is relevant to this part of the course. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:31)

Notes on Elizabeth McCausland’s article:

Documentary photography has arisen from “creative impulses”
It uses photography to chronicle the external world, to expose serious issues, unlike previous applications which were comparatively romantic
Documentary photography uses realism using new eyes
Facts are more important to represent than a photographer’s personality though he can control the aesthetics by giving the facts a form
There are many opportunities for publishing honest images of everyday life
The work of the Farm Security Administration and the Federal Art Project “changing New York” series by Bernice Abbott ae the strongest precedent for documentary photography as the government has been the best sponsor of knowledge
Photography may have been confused with painting, is it art for instance; however, it is bound to realism, photographs give us truth.
Society now wants truth and even in art wants content and something that has something to say to an audience.
Photography can reveal much all at once and is not limited
Every subject is significant, and a documentary photographer should use technical ability to present in a simple and modest way the wider world, to inform people in a serious and sometimes shocking way.

My response: The premise of McCausland’s beliefs about documentary photography are that truth and honesty are paramount and that this takes precedence above a photographer expressing his personal voice. It must be recognised that this comes after the relaxed period of the 1920s before the serious times of WW2.

Nevertheless, this is mostly how documentary photography is perceived today. Truth, honesty and a message to communicate in the work holds true. I do believe however that we are now aware that it is naïve to believe that camera cannot lie and that a documentary photographer will always present absolute facts; in fact even in the work of the FSA cited as an exemplar by McCausland editorship and purpose was used to drive a certain narrative. Today we are more alert to the possible influences of purpose, editorship, audience and presentation on the bald facts. This article does however remind me of the importance of holding to an intention and my responsibility to the subject as a documentary photographer.

References:

McCausland, E. (1939) ‘Documentary Photography’ At: https://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/oca-content/key-resources/res-files/photonotes.pdf

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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