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Link to access presentation of Understanding a photograph.

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Draft of the photo essay

Quote: On Photography by Sontag

P.3

Photographs furnish evidence, Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it.

Even though we all know that photo editing has been around for a long time, we still usually believe that photos are evidence of something.

In 1841, a man named William Henry Fox Talbot invented a new way to take photos called calotype. It made it possible to make many copies of the same photo. Then, in 1846, Talbot's friend Calvert Richard Jones changed a photo in a famous way. He took a photo of five monks on a roof, but one of the monks was in the wrong spot. So, Jones painted over that monk using ink. When the photo was printed, it looked like there was just sky where the monk was supposed to be.

The Book of Veles is a project about fake news production in a small town in North Macedonia. During the US Presidential election in 2016, some people in this town made lots of money by creating fake news websites. The fake news was spread on social media and may have helped Donald Trump get elected. The Book of Veles project features computer-generated images and an AI-generated essay that raises questions about how easily fake news can be created and believed.

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Note from the lesson:

We look at Dob mccullin interview and understand his way of seeing photography.

For my project, I am currently exploring the concept of truth in photography and how images can be used to manipulate public opinion.

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The iconic photograph "V-J Day in Time Square" was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945. When I learned that we needed to pick one photo to write about, this was the first one that came to mind. In my opinion, this photograph captures a moment of joy and relief. Although the woman, a dental assistant, being kissed said that she actually has no idea when the kiss happened, I think the image shows a sailor in uniform kissing a young woman in a nurse uniform, which is a perfect reflection of the war situation. The composition is framed by a sea of people, all reveling in the end of World War II.

In "On Photography" by Sontag, she said, "As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure." "V-J Day in Time Square" did a good job of showing the hope and happiness on the day that the war ended.

Overall, "V-J Day in Time Square" is a powerful image that celebrates the end of the long and difficult war. It has nothing to do with romance but rather celebrates peace. The contrasting figures of the sailor and the dental nurse, along with the lively background, combine to create a powerful visual story of a moment in time.

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Animals are not art supply

Will you claim killing is a form of art? This article argues that animals is not art supply and they should never be killed for making art. This article examines the art of Damien Hirst as an example. Damien Hirst, a British artist known for his controversial works, has been criticized for his use of animals in his art. He killed estimated 913,450 creatures , according to Artnet. Many animal protest groups, e.g. PETA, RSPCA. 100% Animalisti( the Italian animal rights group) had raise their concerns and complaint towards Hirst.

In 1990, Hirst entered the public attention by his work “A Thousand Years”, first exhibited at the warehouse exhibition ‘Gambler’, in 1990. Showing a real decaying cow’s head under ac fly-killer. At that time “Killing animals has nothing to do with art, it just shows the arrogance of people who literally will stop at nothing for their own interests,” a PETA representative said in response to the work. This installation made him 

A Hundred Years. 1990 in The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg 

 Another Hirst’s most famous pieces created in 1991, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living .He paid a fisherman to caught a 14-foot tiger shark in Australia, then put it in a glass of 5% formaldehyde solution. However, the shark was preserved poorly at the beginning. It began to decayed and the liquid in the glass became grey and muddy. When a collector brought the work, Hirst offer to replace the shark, captured and killed).

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living , 1991

Within one million creatures killed throughout Damien Hirst’s career, mostly are Butterflies. He used real butterfly wing to make a stained glass. Trapped 9000 butterflies in a gallery room in United Kingdom as an art installation.

In 2008, he used real wings to create stained-glass again, named The Rose window. And Hirst said. “I love how it’s turned out; I wanted to create an optimistic kaleidoscope of hope and light and butterflies and I think the result speaks for itself.” Why would he think killing thousands of creature can represent hope and light? Hirst has also used other animals in his works, including cows, sheep and fishes and most of them are capture from the nature environment.

The Rose Window, 2008

What Damien Hirst doing is just showing the world that animals are nothing more that objects to be used for human purposes. With the Natural History series, Hirst said that he, ‘just wanted to do a zoo that worked ... because I hate the zoo, and I just thought it would be great to do a zoo of dead animals, instead of having living animals pacing about in misery ... I never thought of [the works] ... as violent. I always thought of them as sad. There is a kind of tragedy with all those pieces.’ (Quoted in Damien Hirst, pp.122 and 134.) Note 1. However, if Damien Hirst hated the zoo, 

why would he took all those animals away from their home in nature and used them for making art ? He made himself the United Kingdom's richest living artist, with his wealth estimated at US$384 million in the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List by abusing the animals.

Although some people in the art industry had high comment on Damien Hirst. 

"Damien's work always grapples with really essential themes, sort of art and science, life and death, fear and beauty, religion. And he's thinking about these sort of bigger picture ideas, and they're really all really beautifully incorporated in this body of work," says Millicent Wilner, Director of Gagosian Gallery. Many artist also explore the topic of life and dead without abusing animals. For example, Marina Abramović, a Serbian conceptual and performance artist, also explores the topic of death in her art. However, her approach is quite different from that of Damien Hirst. Abramović's work often involves herself and endurance, rather than the use of dead animals. In 1974, her work” Rhythm 0”,  Abramović performed with 72 objects, allowing the audience to decide what to do on her. 

One of her most notable work, “The Artist in Present”. (2009, MoMA).During the art performance, Abramović sat in a chair for over 700 hours, while visitor were invited to take turns sitting opposite her. Both art performance explores the themes of time, life, and the human connection. Abramović’s used her own body as a medium which need great courage.In comparison with Damien Hirst, all he did was paid for someone to capture the animals, then killed them in the name of art. 

Rhythm 0, in Naples in 1974.

In conclusion, Damien Hirst is only an example of abusing animals for art. Sadly, he is not alone. More research and discuss about Animal rights should be conduct. When more people aware of it and join the protest against abuse animal in art. We all have to think if artist expression are more important than a life. 

Note 1 :Manchester , E. (2009) 'away from the flock', Damien Hirst, 1994, Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-away-from-the-flock-ar00499 (Accessed: January 25, 2023). 

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This is the manifesto about sleep. Surprisingly, the group project went well . I enjoyed working with my teammate, Marta, Alex, Josgua and Quinn. Luckily we can agree on the topic quickly and devine the work clearly. I apperciate my teammate output. I responsible the disvantage of the sleep part and also the overall design of the powerpoint. I want the powerpoint to be align with our frame- sleep. So I pick black color as bachground and colorful image represent the dreams.

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I wished you to be persuaded, that success in your art depends almost entirely on your own industry; but the industry which I principally recommend, is not the industry of the hands, but of the mind… We may go so far as to assert, that a painter stands in need of more knowledge than is to be picked off his pallet, or collected by looking on his model, whether it be in life or in picture. He can never be a great artist, who is grossly illiterate… He ought to know something concerning the mind, as well as a great deal concerning the body of man.

Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, Discourses VII, 1769

I found the manifesto of Sir Joshua Reynolds attracts my attention as this manifesto engaged with what I learned from the university.

Before university started, I always draw what I see in life drawing. No matter how I am thinking, I tried to get everything accurated using the same method because I think the model is the only thing that mattered. In the life drawing sessions in university, Aldous always tell us that what we draw represents what we think. He tried hard to ask us to stop drawing what we automatically think of, for example, when I see the arm, I draw it with my hand knowing it is an arm. He keeps reminding us to focus on what we learned to do, which is to see the line, position, and volume of the object. Now, I enjoy putting my thoughts and emotions into the life drawing. The principle is very similar to Reynolds, "We are not to suppose that when a painter sits down to deliberate on any work, he has all his knowledge to seek; he must not only be able to draw extempore the human figure in every variety of action, but he must be acquainted likewise with the general principles of composition, and possess a habit of fore- seeing, while he is composing, the effect of the masses of light and shadow that will attend such a disposition. His mind is entirely occupied by his attention to the whole." Reynolds, J. and Johnson, E.G. (1891) “The twelfth discourse,” in Discourses on art. 

I also agree with Sir Joshua Reynolds that to create a great piece of work, we need to read many references from books and online. Our personal experience is also contributing to the work. All the knowledge and experience we have will show in the art we made. 

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This week I choose Marina Abramović and Ulay as the inspired artist. The Great Wall Walk is the most poetic art I have ever seen. It was very touching. Initially, the plan of this art was to get married when they meet in the middle of the journey, however, after a long application time for art fund and permission from China. Their relationship has come to an end. So they decided to say goodbye to each other after meeting in the middle.

Compare to The Great Wall Walk which is very sad and romantic, I want a more casual approach and fun for this one. Every time I separated my dogs, they start to be upset. This is because they are from the same litter and were abandoned at two weeks old. They depend on each other a lot. I decide to do the project with them and record their behavior.

In this walk, My partner and I each carry one dog, and then we walked separately and record their response. We walked around the park so we will meet in the middle. While walking, my dogs keep searching for each other, at the end, when my dogs meet each other, they were very happy.

I made a short animation for the route we took and put it at the beginning of the video. Also, I add a title and edit it a bit to make it more finished. I put the video side by side, so you can compare their behavior.

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After researching, I decided to try Richard Long's Walking and Mapping practice. Although I found Cheng Ran and Dustin Yellin's work fascinating, I do not know how to imitate their practice. Richard Long's work using just natural material is fascinating. Also, the temporary nature of his work reminds us how frail our human beings are when confronted with nature.

I went to Richmond Park on Saturday. I stepped on the grass to leave a human track, a straight line. This is a walk about grass, a walk about feeling the nature. I follow what Long said" Walking withour travelling. While walking, first, I notice how strong the long grass are, the grass will rebound immediately after I steped on them. If I want to leave a track, I must push a little bit while walking on them. The second thing I notice is the moist of the grass, even I am have wear long trousers and shoes, I can still feel the wetness. Also, I enjoy the birdsong a lot so I keep the video raw instead of adding a music as background like Richard did.

After the walk, I think this activity is more about learning the world rather than the outcome. I totally what Karen O'rourke said " The walk itself rearranges the landscape and shows us things that from force of habit we have forgotten how to see"

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Research: Another artist I found fascinating is Dustin Yellin,

Research: Another artist I found fascinating is Dustin Yellin, I love how his work disassemble a human in to a sculpture.

On a gallery website, it describes Dustin Yellin as "widely known for his Psychogeographies". But I am not sure why he is a psychogeographies.

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Research: While doing research for Week 2 project, I found Cheng Ran, a modern Artist from China. His project, Diary of a Mad man. This is a project include three parts, each filmed in a different city, Hong Kong is one of it. In his video, his shows how we explore new city from a perspective of a outsider, which can lead to the feeling of isolation.

Although I am interested in his work, I need more research and time to tried his practice.

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PROJECT 1: KEEP WALKING INTENTLY

My dogs and I walk every day. While we walk, I am interested to know what they are looking at and smelling at.  However, I never feel the ground as they feel it. In this project, I plan to feel all the different textures of the ground with my feet that my dogs walked past. 

When we get out of our home, the first thing we touch is a rug, soft and warm. Then, we go down by a lift where the floor is cold and smooth. We then go into the lobby, the floor is made of ceramic tile which is comfortable to put the feet on. After we go outside, the concrete road is very rough, But after a turn, the concrete road is much smoother. Then, we walked on a surprisingly warm brick road. After 10 steps on the brick road, we walked on a path made of very rough sand that I do not want to walk on it with my barefoot. (I am curious how my dogs feel because they sometimes run on it) . We then walk down the stone stair and stand on the brick road. Finally, we arrived at the garden. The grass is moist and soft. 

I never realized that we need to walk over night textures to arrive at the grass field.