Research the current activities of Photovoice (www.photovoice.org) and also look into archive projects such as New Londoners: Reflections on Home.
Briefly reflect on the documentary value and visual qualities of the work that you research. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:107)
A current project is Care leavers in Focus (CLiF)
a 3-year project exploring the perspectives of those leaving care. Through workshops using photography and storytelling as a tool for self-expression, care leavers can reflect on what they need from support services and other providers. These insights are then shared with local authorities and organisations to improve their responses. Participants make captioned images with advocacy stories and images to share at exhibitions:
A message for other care experienced people: Your seat at the table might be upside down but you’re capable of turning it around. A message for policy makers: Sit us down, and listen. Don’t hinder opportunities for care experienced people.
Moving into my flat wasn’t easy but it wasn’t hard. It was a rocky road knowing you’re going to start a whole new journey all over again. Especially knowing myself in the big world we live in. Moving was the light at the end of the tunnel.
Friendships: Friends can have a really positive impact when you’re having a hard time but It’slonger in care and live independently, it can be really lonely. I feel I could be better supported to meet new people and form friendships so that I have that support network.
(PhotoVoice, 2008)
The visuals here are thought provoking and have punctum which causes you to stop and look for meaning, even without the text.
Looking through the archive projects I found that generally the overseas projects show less interesting photography than the UK projects; by interesting I mean unusual visual perspective or a more conceptual viewpoint.
And We Shall Find Tales in the Shadows” project in Jordan in 2014.
An exception for me is this project. Here Photo voice worked with a group of 14–20-year-old Syrian refugees and their host community in Jordan.
(PhotoVoice, 2008)
Their work shares insights into the way I which their childhood has been snatched from them and they believed that “politicians would help change things & that if people listened to what they had to say, that the world might change and they may be able to one day, return home.”
The New Londoners project (2006-8)
was a project with young refugees aged of 16 to 23, from over 10 countries as they settled and began to integrate into the UK. The aim was to help young people see themselves not as ‘New Londoners’ rather than refugees. This work shows more of a variety of quality and in the work, which is probably representational of the photographic work form across the projects:
(PhotoVoice, 2008)
This work is more of a mixture of quality, some being blurry and some well shot as well as some interesting representation of aspects they want to share.
Overall, the documentary value of the Photovoice projects is high, it presents a reality and a viewpoint. It gives people the tools and the skills to express themselves through photography and carries strong messages. The visual messages are strong and create impact whether they present as unskilled “snaps” or crafted images.
References:
Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.
When researching for my assignment, amongst others I identified the photographers below who I have researched in more detail to analyse where their work and practices would fit into my critical review.
Nick Danziger(b1958) is a British photographer and film maker.
He has photographed disadvantaged across the world and has been recognised as “raising public understanding of contemporary social, political and environmental issues through documentary films and photography”(Danziger, 2021). Whilst doing this he often steps away from impartial reporting in order to “give a voice to those who rarely feature in the media” (Widewalls, 2021).
In 2001 he made a photographic study of people living in extreme poverty in eight countries to share the impact of armed conflict on women; this was to see what progress was being made towards meeting the eight ‘Millennium Development Goals’ set by the United Nations to eradicate poverty, end hunger, save lives and improve education by 2015. This work “Eleven Women Facing War” provided a powerful insight into the world of women caught up in vicious conflict in Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel, Gaza, Hebron (West Bank), Sierra Leone, Colombia and Afghanistan. Danziger said
“We often talk about the victims of war,…I hope these images and stories are a tribute to these women’s indomitable spirit, endurance and bravery” (Imperial War Museum, 2016).
The International Red Cross (and promoter of international humanitarian law) called the images “incredibly powerful and a true testament to the horrors of war and the power of the human spirit” (Imperial War Museum, 2016). His images are illuminating:
However the power comes from their testimonies that he provides alongside his images. It is not clear from his images how other than by raising awareness, he has created impact; but there is evidence of impact. 10 years later he followed up the subjects to reveal their stories on short films and stories. One, Mariatu, whose hands were amputated by guerrilla soldiers in Sierra Leone, is now safe and well and living in Canada and has fulfilled her dream to be a Mother. Mahu Bibi, a 10 year old from Afghanistan, looking after her brothers against all odds, unfortunately was not found. He originally shot in black and white and shot a decade later in colour to show the passage of time, a useful idea.
In 2018 Danziger photographed substance-users and treatment centres around the world, focusing on issues surrounding substances that are often not illegal. His work was exhibited at the commission on Narcotic Drugs event in Vienna. He hopes that policy makers will be affected by the images “because of the people within the pictures…I think it’s really important to understand how …it shows a variety of individuals that have been users, or currently are dependent and receiving treatment” (anyoneschild, 2018), as a greater understanding could bring possibilities of rehabilitation through treatment centres where those are available – He hopes his pictures and the exhibition may lead to policy changes.
I have reported on Mendel before when I attended an AOP breakfast Club meeting in June 2020 (South, 2020). My subsequent research has shown Mendel to use visual activist alternative ways of storytelling. When discussing his work he said he still believes that photography “has the ability to make positive change in the world”. His photographic projects have challenged apartheid in South Africa, perspectives on AIDS/HIV globally and latterly climate change (Tank Magazine, 2012).
His work Drowning World begun in 2007 which he describes as an art and advocacy project about flooding, his personal response to the climate crisis (Mendel, 2021). This work has been used in climate change activism in collaboration with Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion, exhibited in galleries and published in magazines. Interestingly Mendel combines conceptual and metaphorical photography with activism. Initially he shot images of two floods, one in the UK and one in India, but has since captured flood zones worldwide, poor and affluent. His work includes “submerged portraits”, symmetrical liquid reflections, water damaged photographs, video footage, as well as photographs of his images in actual demonstrations.
(Mendel, 2021)
In his video installation The Water Chapters explores individual, family and community responses to flooding, which also gives environmental context.
In the 1990s Mendel used an award to help him fund his work “Broken Landscape” documenting HIV/AIDS. He says that just as his ways of story telling broadened so he shifted from photojournalist to visual activist; in particular including individual’s stories in their own words with their own images.
A chapter of this work “Framing aids” was made into 13 posters which were used by organisations to raise awareness about HIV issues. Part of this project “We are living here” documents the effect of lifesaving antiretroviral treatment on poor rural communities, one of the key projects that established a model for widespread rollout of HIV treatment across South Africa. Mendel’s showcase of the positive impacts of the Anti-viral program set up by NGOS and the local health department, “provided a model that others could learn from and a reason to expand similar programs” (Ritchen, 2013).
In 2003 he was approached by the HIV/AIDS alliance to photograph some of their projects world-wide, where he made documentary images to show their works including, testing, counselling, providing clean needles to injecting drug users and educational programs. The final chapter of this work “Through Positive Eyes” was a collaborative global advocacy project; here he gave the camera to HIV subjects, in seven cities around the world, so they could tell their own stories and add another layer to their representation to try to reduce the stigma which stops many from accessing medication.
(Mendel, 2021a)
Mendel says “I feel a personal responsibility to make this project speak as loudly as possible” (Mendel, 2021b). He shows long term commitment in his work and uses alternative ways of story telling to reach audiences, raise awareness o issues and stimulate others to take action.
Ritchin, F. (2013) Bending the frame: Photojournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen. (s.l.): Aperture New York.
Marcus Bleasdale (b1968)
A British documentary photographer who increasingly uses his work to influence decision makers and global policy makers worldwide. He focuses on human rights issues using photographs to highlight issues and engage people, the issues are more important to him than the photographs (Durbanova, 2017).
His work on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlights the effects on the people of the exploitation of natural resources in a book “One Hundred Years Of Darkness” (2002). “The Rape of the Nation” (2009) documents his work on the issues around minerals, their use in technical products and how they finance conflict. “The Unravelling” (2015) documents the brutal conflict in the central African Conflict.
Bonded workers crush rocks in Mongbwalu, eastern Congo. Whole families work in slave conditions for warlords, controlling huge amounts of land, where gold is extracted to finance their military campaigns. 2004
The rape of the Nation, 2004 (Bleasdale, 2021)
Bonded workers crush rocks in Mongbwalu, eastern Congo. Whole families work in slave conditions for warlords, controlling huge amounts of land, where gold is extracted to finance their military campaigns.
Gold at a mine near Mabari. The rebels claim a share for “security”. Gold is plentiful in the Central African Republic, but corruption and political instability have kept the profits from benefiting the people.(Bleasdale,2021)
The Unravelling, 2005 (Bleasdale, 2021) A Muslim rebel stands guard as men and boys dig for
He is a frequent collaborator with NGOS such as, Human rights Watch, Medecins Sans Frontieres. His previous profession in banking gives him useful insight into audiences, he gave up his half a million pound a year job to pursue photojournalism. When Bleasdale worked with Human Rights Watch on the exploitation of Gold Miners In the Democratic Republic of Congo he exhibited it in Geneva to the financiers of the industry (Ritchen, 2013:105). He believes its important to work with Human rights lawyers and advocacy groups and that the media should have a complementary relationship with them (Durbanova, 2017); then use social media and other avenues to communicate with impact.
He is great example of a photographer who knows how to target hie audiences effectively. His work on human rights and conflict has been shown at the US Senate, US House of Representatives, The United Nations and the Houses of parliament. Ritchen points out that such collaboration with NGOs helps to provide information and logistical access and credibility, “They can amplify the impact of what is produced” (Ritchen, 2013:105). In an e mail to Ritchen he explained “The work I have done over the past twelve years for Human Rights Watch is not about financial reward but about how effective we can make the work we produce” (Ritchen, 2013:105). He believes that photographers and NGOs/advocacy groups together can influence policy makers.
Ritchin, F. (2013) Bending the frame: Photojournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen. (s.l.): Aperture New York.
My learning:
This research has helped me to see different elements that exist in making impact with documentary photography.
Danziger’s work shows the power of the context, personal testimony from subjects and the text accompanying images. Mendel’s work speaks of the power of alternative ways of story telling to make impact and that of sharing positive actions. Bleasdale’s work exploits his networks and understanding of the business world to create collaboration and impact. All of these photographers believe in photographing to raise awareness of issues and collaborate with NGOS, advocacy organisations and then seek ways to communicate with impact.
VISUAL STORY TELLING WITH NGOS, FOUNDATIONS AND NON PROFITS WITH ED KASHI – vii Insider
Ed Kashi is a photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker and educator of 40 years. I found this talk on the Vii website when researching for my assignment 4 essay.
INTRO: PAUL LOWE: on Ed, he’s always thinking about his audience when working, who is he trying to reach and what’s the best way.
ED KASHI:
His motivation as a visual storyteller is to engage with the world and issues that he cares about. He choses the projects that he engages with underreported issues or to take new angles with issues that we think we know about. Suggests that
“we ask ourselves if we want to create work that has positive impact on the worldwork that has meaning outside of the media landscape” and says that “Sometimes its more important to reach a few thousand important people than 40 million people through the general media if you want to make change” (viiphoto.com).
He has learnt there were different outlets to get his work out, he’s a story teller not an activist ultimately but wants to effect change; so it’s important to partner yourself with the right organisations/people to effect change.
Nigeria: Niger delta 2004-2007 consciously partnered with NGOs and international organisations like, Oxfam Amnesty International, non-profit and academia, that could really make a difference to oil exploitation in West Africa; Oxfam used images from his book Curse of the Black Gold (2010) its work to advocate for a bill to create more transparency in gas and mining industries that was pending in the USA, a bill that was passed.
A report by Amnesty International suggests in the past 50 years at least 9m barrels worth of oil have leaked into land and rivers in the region
An oil spill, polluting groundwater and ruining cropland, from a well owned by Shell that had been left abandoned for over 25 years
(Tregaskis, 2010)
Vietnam: Commissioned by the Vietnam Reporting Project in San Francisco as they wanted to report on Agent Orange; this is passed down genetically. Made a film paid for by Ford which compelled the congress to give 4 million dollars to a city to clear up a contaminated pond.
As editorials budgets started to shrink and opportunities changed so he worked more with organisations like National Geographic but with a more deliberate focus on advocacy.
The open society foundation in New York commissioned him to work on police force profiling in several European countries, and how people were being impacted. He took portraits and their testimonies, which he believes is an efficient and powerful way to share a story.
Landmines in Afghanistan commissioned by UNICEF to make 3 short videos for social media
Work on the Kurds for National Geographic.
Malnutrition in Afghanistan, for UNICEF.
2013 He decided he wanted to do a project on mental health in Syrian refugee youth, as it was an issue he was aware and upset about. He knew International Medical Corporation were operating in the region; he pitched his idea to them, they financed his trip for his work and once it was done he got it published in Time magazine – an example where the paradigm was turned upside down as usually he would go to a magazine to ask if they’ll commission and finance a story; later it might filter down into non profit and NGOs to use. However some won’t publish work financd by an NGO because they think there may be a political agenda or it might not be objective.
(Kashi and Winokur, 2013)
A personal project on worldwide Chronic kidney disease around the world (CKDu a plague on the rural poor), that the Guardian have recently commissioned him to do a new piece; now there are some solutions happening.
Kashi says that when working with collaborative clients on advocacy work shine a spotlight an issue but also show how its being solved, which he sees as a more constructive form of journalism, “ solution journalism”.
He was asked whether NGO work could be seen as abandoning your journalistic stance or be biased; Kashi suggests that this can be countered by keeping your radar up for any pushing of an agenda or amplifying a problem for their fundraising, and if so making an ethical decision on whether to do the work. He’s never experienced that, and points out that there are many problems that don’t have two sides and simply exist.
Asked whether there is tension between working with different types of clients, that puts off editors commissioning him, he says he hasn’t noticed. He’s happy as long as he maintains a truthful ethical approach to his work.
The cornerstone of his work is to initiate his own ideas, but to do this he has to go after grants.
He suggests that you think/feel what you care about and immerse in that and from that work will flow. As an already successful photograher it maybe that he can afford to be less money focused in his work, but he does believe that better paid work will come from less well paid work, “If you make the work the work will come to you”.
“People out there care, and if you create powerful imagery it can make changes” (viiphoto.com).
He believes “deeply believe in the power of still images to change people’s minds. I’m driven by this fact; that the work of photojournalists and documentary photographers can have a positive impact on the world” (about- Kashi, 2021).
My learning:
It was good to hear how Kashi has suceessfully managed to work on issues that he finds important to create impact, especially with non-traditional editorial type clients.
His focus on authorship and maintaining creative independence.
How it is possible to effectively use the new paradigms for producing and financing projects and of expanding one’s skillsets to include audio and video as well as still photography. (viiphoto.com).
In a nutshell:
“It took me years to understand how my work was already having an impact, and that I could translate it more directly into collaborative relationships with NGOs, foundations, and nonprofits, and then utilize the media to reach a broader audience” (viiphoto.com).
During my research for assignment 4 critical review I listened to an interview with Ed Kashi on a podcast (Smith, 2018) and would like to add the following notes:
Kashi states that he is driven by the issue “how can I contribute something to the world that is meaningful?”, “I want to have impact”. If asked to go somewhere wants it to be something he has an impact with.
Kashi says he’s fuelled by either “an anger or belief that there’s an issue or injustice that I want to learn more about, I wanna find a way to tell a story about, to raise awareness and now increasingly to be a part of that change”.
Tries to be smarter with decisions and strategies.
He enjoys proposing ideas and getting them accepted by editorial, NGOs or others.
He knows that he must have the right partners advocate for change.
Must be open to broad range of commissions that can take his work and advocate for change.
Kashi suggest that for those starting out as a storyteller you need to create a body of work that you care about and also shoot video and collect audio. He suggests finding a grant award or crowd funding or own publication, as media is the dissemination tool but not where you’re going to make much money.
Do your own research into the bodies of work discussed in this project. Can you find any examples of work carried out amongst indigenous peoples that, in your view, honestly document the lives of their subjects without falling into some of the traps that we’ve been discussing here? If so, how has the photographer achieved this? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:64)
The “traps” that have been identified in Post colonial ethnographic photography:
Nostalgia – Romanticism of primitive beauty
Imbalances of power between photographer and subjects
Disciplinary cataloguing and comparing
Primitivism
Decontextualising
Infantising of non-industrial people
Peter Lavery’s work in “of humankind” does decontextualise his subjects; this seems to enhance the stereotyping, the power imbalance, cataloguing and comparing traps suggested above. Indeed even in the foreword of the book ‘Of Humankind’ by Robin Muir (2000) says that Lavery’s portraits remind us that photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and which no contrivance on earth can bring back”, underlining the nostalgic element of his photography.
(Of Humankind, 2000)
Conversely David Bruce’s work though sometimes posed against a backdrop is aesthetic, shot with dignity, and his subjects look empowered and generally look to be enjoying themselves.
Juan Echeverrria’s images of the OvaHimba tribe in Namibia could be interpreted as voyeuristic and decontextualised; whilst they are taken out of context they do have a realism about them and the subjects share some character and assertiveness.
Namibia_Paisajes_desde_el_tren (2021)
When searching for examples of work which don’t fall into the “traps” I returned to the work of George Rodger who took the image that struck me on the front of the Tribal Portraits catalogue. I was pleasantly surprised that although his work En Afrique was taken between 1947 and 1979 it avoids the pitfalls mentioned above; the nudity is in context, subjects are photographed in context and are certainly not romantised; indeed he gives detailed context with each image.
UGANDA. Wagasero girls wear strings of beads around their foreheads. 1948
KENYA. Masai Mara. Well befofe sunrise a young Masai candidate for circumcision stands the taunting of junior Moran who have already been circumcised at the age of 13 to 15. 1979.
UGANDA. Pygmies. “Dance of the forest people”. The Bachimbiri and Wagasero dance their own version of a courting dance, the “Kamundere”, before a semi-circle of men of the tribes who kneel before them. 1948.
(En Afrique by George Rodger, 2016)
I also thought back to a photographer whose work I came across when in the Philippines a couple of years ago, Eduardo Masferré (1909 – 1995) a Filipino-Catalan who made documentary reports about the lifestyle of native people in the region of the Cordillera of the Philippines in the mid 1950s. I was very struck with his work at the time, which is contained in his book people of the Philippine Cordillera (1988) and was interested how I would view it now I have studied these aspects of tribal photography.
Eduardo Masferre Paintings & Artwork for Sale (2021)
I was pleased to see that although there is a fascination with subjects smoking pipes, most of his images are shot with context in a documentary style which gives information about their way of life. Where there is partial nudity it appears as a natural part of their dress and the emphasis of the photograph is clearly not on this but another aspect, such as the girl with the pots on her head and the smoking woman above. Though there is the occasional image which seems to have been shot simply for the beauty of the subject female, male, old or young, there is no suggestion of imbalance of power between him and his subjects or infantizing of them. For work which was shot between 1947 and 1959. I would say the work is sensitive to the people and a good documentary record and agree with the review from the book cover that the people are shown with “strong faces that meet one’s gaze with great integrity – Masferre preserved all of these in timeless images that transcend ethnography and imbue documentary fact with deeper meaning.” (Masferre and Devilla, 1988).
David Campbell- Narrative, Power and responsibility (2010)
He talked about the theory and concepts behind storytelling and narrative:
The point of narrative is to relay information.
Narrative is about making sense of something
Events have their meanings formed by the process of narration – the event is not what happens but what is narrated.
Narrative is about the relationship of story to an event, place or person which the photographer makes by providing a connection.
Context is important to narrative as mediation and representation- The event is not what happens but what is narrated.
There are limits to the narrative that can be given to certain events as narrative is based on a series of events where some things are included and somethings are not; the narrator will have a perspective and the narrative will never be complete.
Be aware of these limits and reflect on these
He commented that news happens in a day and is reported as a discrete event but is often not linked to context.
Traditional forms of narrative:
Time: Linear, or non-linear that breaks up time in certain ways
Characters/personification: who drive the story forwards
Connected events & drama
Space: Location
Causality: Accounts about how things came about
In narrative there will be moments of: Exposition – where things ae revealed or made clear
Conflict – climax or resolution
Campbell believes the most important thing in narrative is the relationship between characters and the context, how they reveal the story.
ASK YOURSELF, WHAT IS THE STORY YOU WANT TO TELL?
Why that place, location, time? What is the issue that motivates you? What are the characters? What is the context?
On power and responsibility and an image’s capacity for change and effect on the world:
Campbell suggests the more you can attend to context the more chance there is of change.
The amount of research that goes into a story will maximise the outcomes and prospect for change
My thoughts:
Any ideas of objectivity in documentary are false.
It was interesting that he mentions Marcus Bleasdale whose work I researched recently as a photographer whose work actually instigated change
I should follow up by researching Tod PapaGeorge’s work that he uses as an example.
This research came just after I began test shooting for assignment 3 focusing on the narrative of a small local car park. I was initially influenced by the work of Simon Roberts, in particular where he surveys scenes from elevated positions, Anna Fox’s focus on Englishness and the work of street photographers Peter Dench, Matt Stuart and Paul Rees.
I looked for other photographers and work to inspire me when this wasn’t working for me, and I realised I had strayed from my original idea of focusing on the car park rather than the people – It was then that I researched wider as below, and found the following photographer’s work:
Martin Parr The last car parking space
Between 2002 and 2007 Parr looked at the problem of where to park a car and photographed the last car parking space in 41 countries; the frustration of finding a car parking space is apparently a global unifier of the middle classes (photo-eye Bookstore, 2020). His usual use of high-saturation colour produces images that may at first glance may seem mundane, but given a context they are profound.
HOLLAND. Amsterdam. From ‘Parking Spaces’. 2002.
TURKEY. Istanbul. From ‘Parking Spaces’. 2002.
GB. England. Newcastle. From ‘Parking Spaces’. 2002.
(A Mini Tour of World Parking with Photographs from Martin Parr (2020)
(VIKA, 2020)
I particularly like his design concept where the book is presented as a wedding album, as something precious, just like a last parking space; this is genius. It points me towards more creative considerations of how to present m work.
This book of 61 photographs of 1970s America Uncommon Places (1982) included images of parking lots. He was at the forefront of using colour when many thought it vulgar.
Bengal, R. (2020) Edward Clay, D. (2018)
These images work much better in colour than they would in black and white, the colour adds a sureality and increases the already sharp detail I think. Shore describes how his then new large format camera made him work differently, with longer preparation time, allowing him to process large amounts of information which “condenses into an incredibly saturated and detailed image” (Editorial @ ASX, 2020); his work does have many sites of emphasis in each image, which takes time for viewers to unpack. Vogue described this as a time of seeing things in a new way (Bengal, 2020) in fact Shore described the work himself as “an autobiography of seeing” “the capture and projection of the delights of seeing” (Editorial @ ASX, 2020), which he transforms into fine art.
Bruce Gilden- People with masks grocery shopping during the Coronvirus Pandemic (2020)
Gilden has photographed people crossing parking lots during Covid 19. It was interesting to read how his work here changed from his usually candid style to him slightly directing subjects; particularly that he feels that subjects accept being photographed more so when wearing a mask and yet with that aspect missing it is harder for him to make a good picture, “you always need to find a detail that’s strong in any picture” (What Bruce Gilden Learnt Photographing in Grocery Store Parking Lots During COVID-19, 2020)
USA. Hudson Valley, NY. 2020. People with masks grocery shopping during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
USA. Hudson Valley, New York. April 27, 2020. Shawn with a mask grocery shopping during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
USA. Hudson Valley, NY. 2020. People with masks grocery shopping during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
(What Bruce Gilden Learnt Photographing in Grocery Store Parking Lots During COVID-19, 2020)
He is know for getting up close to his subjects but of course he couldn’t do this quite so much in this work. I admire his forceful photography, but it is definitely not my style.
Ed Ruscha -Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles 1967
This is aerial views of parking lots in black and white but not relevant o my current work
Chuck Anderson – Places you can’t imagine
In my search for photographic work based in car parks I came across this work. Anderson is a multi media artist who here has digitally manipulated this image with tungsten streetlights often with creating rainbow splashes of colour and light in an empty parking lot. Again not relevant to my current project.
(How One Parking Lot Photograph Conquered The Internet, 2020)
This concluded my research into parking lots as I realised I should look beyond the subject matter to my concept.
Research Continued with a suggestion from a peer:
Jack Latham – parliament of Owls:
It was suggested I looked at this work by a per when I was discussing how my work is essentially about absence and presence. Latham’s work does explore what happens when there is a vacuum of context. It focuses on Bohemia Grove an elite men’s club, which is shrouded in secrecy, which Latham only gives brief glimpse to. It was interesting to read about and “The idea of a context vacuum is a fascinating one,” (Roberts, 2019) says Jack Latham, but the work isn’t relevant to my current project, though it make me think about how much context to provide, or not.
I think I’ve now disappeared down enough rabbit holes with this extra research; with the research that I’ve done in my course work as well as the many photographers and photography panel talks that I’ve covered and commented on over the period I’ve been developing my project I have more than enough background to complete my assignment 3.
My learning for this research:
Shore: “use many sites of emphasis in each image, which takes time for viewers to unpack”.
Gilden: “you always need to find a detail that’s strong in any picture”
Parr: How you can make the mundane appear very interesting.
The importance of a good concept, especially when you take this through to the presentation of a project.
Generally: The strength of saturated colours, to add to surreality and sharpness of detail.
POSTSCRIPT December 2020
Following this research I was more aware of the colour or lack of it in my subject/location and used this to communicate mood in assignment 3. I consciously tried both using many points of emphasis when shooting as well as looking for a detail that’s strong in each image, this wasn’t easy in a mundane subject. I asked myself the “Parr” question, how to make the mundane interesting?
Being Critical Tutor led by Andrea Norrington 20th July 2020
This was a really useful session, we discussed:
Bring critical on:
On the work you read – by peers and other academics/writers.
On the work you view – by peers and other artists.
On your own work in progress – use reflective practice to evaluate and move forward with projects.
On selecting work for assignment/assessment. Don’t rush decisions, it’s good to live with work before submitting. But when you submit be final in your choice, don’t leave it to tutor/assessor to decide on edits for you.
Being critical is not being negative. It is not designed to pick faults but rather to be a process where you engage with work and move forward:
How do particular texts work?
What effects do they have on the reader?
Who has produced the text, under what circumstances, and for which readers?
What’s missing from this account?
How could it be told differently?
Think: What? Who? Where? When? How? Why? And then move onto: • What if • So what • What next
This process allows to work through the following stages:
• Describe define terms: say exactly what is involved
• Analyse examine how parts fit into a whole: give reasons, compare and contrast
• Evaluate judgements: on success/failure, conclusions, recommendations
Critical thinking can also be used to ask questions about and assess other people’s writing. Try asking questions about a text to see how scholarly or scientific it is: What does it claim to be true? Can you believe its claims? Does it provide you with good reasons, evidence, or both to support its claims? And how ‘good’ are the reasons, or is it ‘good’ evidence?
Four questions to frame critique:
Describe- what do you see- explaining only what is in front of the audience
Analyse -how has it been done: techniques, formal elements
Interpret– what do the audience get from it, meanings, visual communication, mood, how do they feel about the work?
Judgement– now the audience know the facts what do they think? Does it work, what else can be done for it to be engaging?-
An important way to demonstrate the quality of your arguments, or evidence, is by referring to work by others:
“The status of work depends on how authoritative it is, look for ‘authority’ in references to relevant supporting work which has been published in academic journals, or text books (the content has been ‘peer-reviewed’, it should be independently evaluated by another qualified academic); this is unlike the material which may often be found in newspapers, magazines or from many online sources, where the content may not have been checked by anyone else, or where the work simply puts forward one person’s opinion.”
(Learning Development, 2010) The Critical Thinking PDF from Plymouth University is a very clear resource.
Suggestion: (Ossian Ward, writer on contemporary art)
(T) Time – stand still for a few minutes
(A) Association – can you relate to work
(B) Background – understanding context but no need to be an expert
(U) Understand – maybe you are just one step away from understanding
(L) Look again – second look, use background to inform
(A) Assessment –subjective but the process above allows for understanding and maybe appreciation
Make sure you have the whole picture before making judgments/conclusions
Have you got all the information you need?
How does the work fit as part of a series?
In evaluations/summaries you can highlight gaps in knowledge
My learning:
My notes from this session are now pinned to my wall, I shall try to integrate this line of thinking into my practice when researching and looking at photography – invaluable!
Investigate Murrell’s Constructed Childhoods and Starkey’s Untitled series. How do these photographers employ imaginative and/or performative elements to construct their narratives? In what sense is the end result ‘real’? What aspects of their work might you consider adopting in your own practice?(Open College of the Arts, 2014:81)
Hannah Starkey
Hannah Starkey’s photographs reconstruct everyday scenes with actors, usually of women pictured in banal daily routines, often placed as lonely figures “segregated with metaphoric physical divides such as tables or mirrors” (Saatchi, 2020). She repeatedly turns her subjects backs to viewers or puts them in heavy shadow, clouding identity features.
Starkey uses a filmography approach, large scale photographs carefully constructed with film lighting; though constructed her images are dynamic “their charge comes from the possibilities and surprises only a still image can yield, from the pleasures and challenges of looking carefully at an arrested moment” (Strong Women, 2020). The images are best seen at the scale she intended, approximately 4 by 5 feet, when you can see the small details they contain.
Her work is mostly “untitled”, with a date only which connects to a memory. Starkey says that she reimagines what she has observed and by carefully reconstructing them she can capture “the small gestures and glances of everyday experience while also subverting traditional notions of documentary and street photograph” (O’Hagan, 2018). She explains that she combines “documentary with the slickness of advertising and the observational style of street photography. I think I’ve become more reflective and considered, but the performative element has been a constant”(O’Hagan, 2018).
(Saatchi, 2020)
Is her work real? Her work blurs fiction and reality. Starkey says that she is more interested in psychological truth than the photographic truth (O’Hagan, 2018). Like Wall she is using the opportunity to recreate moments real and imagined in her own time so that she can present them in a controlled way. Like Wall she is honest about her manipulation, angled mirrors, perspective, acting, placing small details and post digital manipulation after the fact.
I feel much the same way about her work as I do Wall’s. It provokes questions about whether it is documentary, which for me rests on whether they are accurate reconstructions or seductive interpretations; from what I read they are the later and therefore for me not documentary.
Charlie Murrell
In her work Constructed Childhoods she explores the impact of images that surround children’s everyday lives, found in magazines, on TV, the Internet, adverts, and even products. All these images constantly present ideals and can negatively impact on their self-image and esteem.
Murrell’s images are Tableaux constructed in her and the children’s homes. The children are acting in adult roles, in adult poses, she reinforces the gender roles in her images by the use of pink and blue. The images are a mixture of children acting in a studio shot and manipulated exterior shots, but both are strange and cause you to look hard to interpret them.
Are these manipulated images real? The idea or problem of the projection of ideals is a reality, however these images are constructed. These images are documenting a reality but I believe are over manipulated to be documents; they too are images that provoke thoughts about truth, they may expose realities, but the photographs are fictional representations.
So with regard to the work of Starkey and Murrell:
They use imaginative and performative elements to construct their narratives. Though based in varying degrees of reality they are constructed stories, which may have a place on the edge of documentary as they point viewers towards real issues, I classify them as performative photography rather than documentary photography.
I’m not at this stage interested in using performative approaches in my photography, however I will consider some of the elements that they carefully employ, perspective, signs and symbols, small details when constructing my “real-time” images.
Do some independent research into the work of some or all of the photographers discussed in this project.
Compare and contrast the strategies that these photographers adopt in conveying a sense of local identity. Do you think this type of work is easier or harder if you come from the place that you’re documenting? Can you find any evidence for the view that ‘the same geographical space can be different places at the same time’? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:73).
Before starting on more in depth research I looked briefly at the work of Marco van Duyvendijk, Jens Olof Lasthein, Philip Cheung and David Goldblatt; from this I decided to expand my research on the photographers below to identify strategies used to convey sense of place and local identity.
Alex Webb– Istanbul: A city of a hundred names
Was born a raised in the USA and began as a photojournalist. He is best known for his colour photographs often in places with socio-political tensions. He has worked in many places the U.S.-Mexico border, Haiti, Istanbul, and a several U.S. cities. He says that his work is questioning, exploratory, and ambiguous (Alex Webb,2020, 1).
I have looked closely at his work “Istanbul: city of a hundred names” (2007), begun in 1998. Webb says “For thirty-some years as a photographer I have been intrigued by borders, places where cultures come together, sometimes easily, sometimes roughly”, Istanbul has certainly led a blended existence (Alex Webb 2,2020). In this work he definitely leans towards documentary art in a surrealist way, however he does give an everyday unposed pictures of everyday life there and exposes elements of their identity. Webb does through the colourful urban landscape address the history of the place, religion, politics and economy through the way people work and live.
TURKEY. Istanbul. 2001. View from a barbershop near Taksim Square.
TURKEY. Istanbul. 2001. Street scene in Ayvansaray.
TURKEY. Istanbul. 2004. Children playing in Cihangir.
(Alex Webb 2, 2020)
His strategy for conveying a sense of place and identity is very much in the style of street photography. He captures quickly, frames abruptly and uses colour to his advantage. It is his choice of subject matter that captures identity and place using this style.
Mikhael Subotzy- Beaufort West
Subottzy is South African born post-apartheid but his work is about the legacy of it. He moved into a showroom apartment called “future slick”, part of “Ponte” the regenerated tallest residential building in South Africa. With British Artist Patrick Waterhouse; he intended to document life in the tower before and after the transformation; Their work the book Ponte City, is described by Magnum as “An intimate social portrait of Johannesburg’s iconic Ponte City and its community of residents” (Ponte City (2018).
(Ponte City, 2018)
The work at first takes on an architectural style, but showcases the lives and identities there that the building is integral to. He uses a range of approaches, documents, design blueprints, and portraits to reinforce the connections of the people there. Subotzy photographed each of the 467 apartment doors, and the views from them, and also portraits in elevators, a good way of meeting people, often lit by the fluorescent lights of the elevator. These were both awkward and intimate portraits; later he photographed more intimately from within their homes.
S
(Ponte City, 2018)
Subotzy explains that the building represents the residents and those outside, and is a microcosm of the broader city. He describes how the “project was always about these stories, the mythology and the ideology were just containers that, while of course interesting in themselves, were a way of containing the project.” (Ponte City, 2018)
His earlier work Beaufort West, was of rural South Africa, where he combined characters and social landscapes. This town is along a great highway; it has a prison in the middle of the town which is what first caught his eye.
(Mikhael Subotzky archive, 2020)
His pictures also captured those living outside the prison, some who rotate in and out of it. Here again his images capture the peoples lives and the injustices,
(Mikhael Subotzky archive, 2020)
He obviously takes time to gain trust and understand and becomes close to his subjects and communities as the images are not critical or exploitative.
Marco Van DuyvenDijk
A Dutch photographer who has photographed many places worldwide, especially Children and young people, such as Rumania, Mongolia, China and Japan. His work shows tradition, change and contemporary elements. His work in Mongolia we are told in our course book was commissioned by the Mongolian consulate to document the nation’s shifting identity.
(Marco , 2020)
He says that he sees art, and his own photography, as a means of communication between East and West, however these images speak to me more of aesthetics than getting under the skin of the people who live in a place.
I chose also to review his images of Manila as it is a place and people I know well:
(Marco, 2020)
I can see in his images some stories of their everyday lives, however they appear to me more as a traveler’s photography rather than someone who has taken time to engage, gain trust and become intimate with their lives to portray their identity; maybe the outcomes of his work depends on whether it’s being commissioned for something in particular as his work in Mongolia was.
Reflections:
You would think that this type of work would be more effective if you come from the place you’re documenting. Subotzy and Webb get underneath the skin of their own countries; Van Duyvenduk doesn’t achieve this as effectively. To me it seems that capturing a sense of place is dependent not on whether a photographer is local or not, but gaining a shared understanding of place a people is dependent on sensitivity, patience and empathy as well as a great eye. Because of this I believe that the same geographical space can appear to be a different place at the same time, when represented by different photographers.
My learning:
This underlines the importance of taking time to really get to know a place before and when photographing.
Before you start this exercise visit Peter Dench’s website www.peterdench.com. Analyse Dench’s style, looking particularly at his use of surrealism.How effective is surrealism as a visual and conceptual strategy in Dench’s documentary photography? (Open College of the Arts, 2014: 66)
I have explored Peter Denche’s work on his website which is predominantly highly saturated; both visually and conceptually surrealism seems to be central to his style, as is the subject of the English and Englishness.
In his work Sun Sea and Covid-19 (2020) he utilises the Surrealist elements of:
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition
Ridicule
Humour
The bizarre
And similarly in his work Alcohol and England (2016, comissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine) he uses:
Juxtapostion
Juxtapostion
Ridicule
(Neon Sky Creative Media System, 2020)
In this series he starts rather gently but moves quickly onto sad and seedier situations which he does not flinch from representing honestly.
Rather like Parr he highlights elements of Britishness, but in a very “in your face way”. The highly saturated colours in his work both draw you to it and jolt your senses, rather like some of the subject matter. I find his use of surrealism effective but rather irreverent and obvious.
After writing this I listened to an interview with him and this helped me to understand his work style better:
Told that photojournalists should have an idea and then find material for it; he disagrees with this preferring to have an rough idea but developing work as he finds it.
When working on a long term project he breaks it down into themes such as alcoholism, weather, love…
He has produced 3 books in 11 months and at the point of the interview was finishing off all lose ends and taking time to decide what projects he wants to do in his next few years.
His work has been influenced by the locality where he grew up, where poverty alcoholism and so forth were obvious.
He talked of the importance of “blending” when photographing and consequently as he gets older his subject matter is changing.
The humour in his work comes from his upbringing by the sea and seaside humour; he recognises that pictures can’t be funny alone but should have an effect/message; he believes this can be achieved by dropping images in between them that are different/serious/have impact. He beieves that people respond favorably to his humour because most can identify with it.
Dench believes that honesty is important in photography and helps to interest people.
His work uses surrealism and colour in a very effective way but I don’t identify with all of his humour and find some of of his images too harsh.
My learning:
Think about themes when developing a long term project
Acknowledge the influence of your upbringing and/or locality
Photography 2: Documentary 