#5IMAG016W AdvancedMethods Journal Task 5IMAG016W AdvancedMethods Further Research

[melissauss]

Week 7 Student Engagement week/ Reading week

Personal Research materials/ deciding on essay research and reading materials, catching up with my reading list

I have really struggled with my essay choice. I wanted to focus on environmental changes as my photography project was based on the environment. But I was not focussed on the articles and the documentations and I felt I was unable to come up with enough material to express what I wanted to do. Surely, there was enough to go and material but I was not feeling it strongly. I decided to go for 3 artists and their exhibition catalogue. 

- Choose an image (or a single case study, such as a book, with a number of images) and discuss it from the viewpoint of the ethics, aesthetics and/or ontology of photography.

- Critically discuss one art project (for example, body of work, a photobook, an exhibition) using either art history and/or art theory as your method. 

My heart were in between the two. I did not focus on those because I thought they were easier, I strongly agree that they are, but simply because there was a lot to talk and write about it. More to put it my heart felt more strongly about the subject matter, this is not to say environmental was any less important. on the contrary, it is crucial. But I am leaving that to focus on my photography project and let images speak rather than my words. 

This week I focussed a lot on Cindy Sherman’s work. I have always been obsessed with her work and how she presents it. Her images are strikingly creative and powerful. 

This image is one of my favorites. Lighting, composition and the thought process went into it. The girl is wearing a gingham skirt suggests that she is a school girl or aged similarly, she has that shy/ growing up look on her face, then she has a scrambled paper in her hand, a love letter perhaps? She is lying on the floor but seems away from the world in deep thoughts. She has red flashes on her face and suggesting she is blushing of love?

-What is she thinking?

-What emotions have been possessing her to day dream like that? 

-Is that a love letter? Has she written that or been given?

There are many theoretical questions may arise by this image. 

Second images is about the women’s image a bit more feminist approach to it. 

From top to the bottom those images have different meanings on their own to on each contexts. First image focuses on the women in the kitchen. 

-Is that where women belongs? Is this is a protest against the oppression on women in those years, Postmodernism was the transformation from modernism. Image is so powerful and has a powerful message to deliver. Women has a well designed hair cut. She looks elegant and yet in the kitchen with an apron. 

-Does that suggests that women can be many things rather than being labelled to be a housewife and her rights stripped off from them?

Image below that represents more and fashion and expression of how it transformed in different styles. Women in different roles?

Last but not least we have women in the library, suggesting this a ‘librarian’ But 

- is it also suggesting that women are smart? Books can be also where they belong as well as the other parts of society settings?

- Could it be that women can multitask and work and be many other things?

Considering how Cindy Sherman approaches and presents her work, it is never fail to think she implies versatile meanings to her work. She has many messages to deliver to the viewer. Her images are mostly well thought and has implied meanings in every composition, colour, lighting and dress choices. She is intelligent and that intelligent speak more and more you look at her images. She implies the era and the cultural issues well in her images. Regardless of the feminist approach, she does touch the issues at hand during her time and her work. Message is loud and clear for those who want to see. 

RENATE BERTLMANN

In Renate’s work, one of the images striked me as provocative was this one as it is the representation of a protest against the accepted conventional beauty.  Beauty is very subjective and her work clearly screams of subjectivity and that beauty cannot be stereotyped and labelled as the accepted standards, desire to break free from the norms of conventional beauty. 

BIRGIT JURGENSSEN

Bodenschrubben, 1975.

Here is the artist, Brigit is significantly addressing the domesticity of three different women in place. Women’s domestic labor, in her work there is a representation and the sense of her time and the style appointed in those era. It is silent protest against how the women were perceived in those years, in kitchen, cleaning, cooking, free laboring and injustice directed at them. Among all the other things, Women’s job and responsibility of being a good house wife and raising children may have affected how they produced their work in those times. 

[nevecaddick]

Journal Week 10 - (27/11/19)

Advanced Research Methods - Seminar group presentation

Unfortunately, I was unwell for the presentation so I couldn’t attend, however having seen the final presentation and hearing feedback:

What went well?

The presentation was informative and communicated the idea of abstraction well, cohesively covering each topic and working well together throughout the process.

What needs to be improved?

Further research was needed, to confidently convey the idea of abstraction and to explain our idea in a theoretical analysis sense, instead of focusing on photo practice.

What was learnt from the process?

Presentation techniques and preparing/how to communicate your ideas to a group of people were learnt throughout the process.

How will this improve my work in the future?

Learning how to teach others about a subject they might have little/no knowledge on. It has also made me more confident to bring my own ideas forward, in order to benefit a group.

[sofiatopchishvili-blog]

#5IMAG016W #AdvancedMethods

In this lecture, we started off talking about the mono sensory and disembodiment. All the critical writing, philosophical theories that were describing human, constitutes within the visible eye, rather than a body. Exploring theories about the essentialism- the 19th century ( when the first appearance of the feminism started to emerge) essentialism covered the ideology of the human being determinate by their appearance, the shape of the body, the parts that would differ from the male organs would define and shape the rationality of the mind, the concept that would highly juxtapose with the ideas of feminism.

Goethe, psychological representation of colours, the mixing of colours, that create an optical illusion.  Colours are seen and processed at the back of the eye, colours are subjective and visibility of the colours vary in vision. Modern vision is the product of relations between the body and institutional and discourse power (cultural forces). The medical condition of the eye is affected by the period of the era, that human evolves (example. tribes would not need a short sighted for hunting (men), and long sighted (for women) as they do not require sharp vision for those purposes, form which juxtaposes with our generation, which requires longer our of focusing for higher intelligence purposes, our mind (the eye) is affected by our consistent life pattern. The social norm, the discourse shapes us, as the individual, which are forced on the society by social stereotypes.

Cognitive neuroscience perspective. You cannot separate the body and the vision( mind). Mind and boro man individual organism which interacts with the environment as an ensemble. Charles Taylor, explored theories of phenomenology, its not enough to have the mind and the body, you have to the world, the environment, that would shape you as a person. Body is affected by the environment, that two legged creature, that feels the vibrations and sees the world from the aisle view. If the body is limped and half of the body, or parts of the body have been displaced, the missing peaces affect the perception of the world, the mind blurs out the consciousness.

There are five main sense but what most people do not realize that we have additional three sense that are as crucial as others: phreasamption sense, the sense that locates our body in space, kinastethitic sense, the sense of movement, vestibular sense, that controls our balance, organ that located in our ear.

Embodied subjectivity, meaning, and meaningfulness. The meaningfulness that affects body and the mind. Affective response are the basics of the meaning. AFFECT = EMOTION. Silvan Tonking - explored ideas how particular emotions are linked to physiological response such as: dissmel, enjoyment/joy, interest/excitement, surprise/startle, anger/rage, distress/anguish, fear/terror, shame/humiliation. Emotion is the motivating response. Brian Massumi - Explored how the affect of uncontrollable environment, the material experience that reached through our senses. While looking at the image - the logistic response that we get while analyzing the image, is not enough to feel fully structured and connected- thats where the expression event comes in.

Resources to look at:

Dennis Del Favero, Parting Embrace, 1998

Antony Gormley, Blind Light, 2007

Darren Almond; Anthropocene: The Prelude, 2010

Cildo Meirles, Volatil, 1980-94

Joana Vasconcelos, Passerelle (catwalk), 2005

[dylclintsphotography]

Advanced Research Methods - History as a field and Method

In this day’s lecture we learned about History as a field and method of Photography. History had a large effect on photographs in different context, how they were taken and potential conflicts. The most famous example would be the moon landing by Apollo 11, crewed by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, in 1969. This became one of the most iconic moments and images in history which showed three people looking the home of just over 3 Billion people at the time (over 7.5 Billion today). This also added historical context as this was during the Cold War between the USA and USSR and both countries were constantly developing projects to be the first into space and the first on the moon. The USSR won with the first man in space Yuri Gagarin in 1961 but it was the USA who did the first crewed moon landing in 1969 a year after Gagarin died.

A further example of the USA and USSR conflict that created historic but harrowing images was the Vietnam War between the North and the South. The most famous image in particular is an image by reporter Eddie Adams of the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém by General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan in the middle of Saigon. The image was captured just at the moment that the General shot Văn Lém in the head as a result of being found guilty of being a Viet Cong spy. This image was circulated and despite being a disturbing and harrowing image such as many images from the rest of war, it eventually led to a cease fire and the end of the war. The image often gets labelled as “The Image that ended a war but ruined a life” which is backed up by the image leading to the end of the war but involved in someone being publicly executed. Overall, these images demonstrate how history is an effective method of photography as it adds more context and educated young viewers how the world has changed since these events or been changed by the events that have taken place.

[capturingmaya]

Advanced Research Methods

Wednesday 23rd October 2019

History as field and method

Conceptual art movement over years had influenced a wider exploration with abstraction leading to the movement of abstract art.

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950. -> Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923.

FACT: The first world war helps to understand the context of history as method.

WWI ends 1918.

Communism takes hold in Russia/Soviet Union

Artists are largely enthusiastic about Communism, including American artists.

Lenin leads the Bolsheviks until he dies in 1924

Art, for Lenin, should be revolutionary/serve the revolution, but

Lenin does not regulate and control art particularly strictly

He wanted photographs to capture struggle and real life. Then  Stalin wanted all photographs to be positive towards the soviet union. Stood for modernity and all its “goodness”.

Arkady Plastov, Collective Farm Festival, 1937. Example of images that were produced in this era, all capturing positivity Starlanist communism capturing an illusion that there is no purges, gulags, negative connotations. American artists become disillusioned not merely with Stalinism, but with Communism in general. They began to co-opt cultural and art. The CIA conducts ‘a cultural Cold War’: a programme of promoting American culture in Europe in order to persuade European countries to choose the American model over Communism.

FACT:

Korean War: 1950–1953

Vietnam War: 1955–1975

But history as method of analysis/thought/research can significantly change/add to what we think the picture is of…?

Denotation: A road, street photograph of the working class, a business environment and working people. 

History of Method: Once you read what Haussmann has said about the image, the idea of how you see the photograph or the power of it changes dramatically. At first the photograph seems a basic street photograph, but after reading the historic context that contradicted what was captured in the image, the photograph begins to hold a more power aesthetic as it is defending the working class and the idea that Paris as a whole can be more than an centre of intellectual and artistic activity.

History as a method of photographic/art historical research is close to the earlier question:

Why did it happen? (Seeking the objective causal background of some event/s.)

Using history as method is about actually researching the timeline of the movement, how they got there and discussing the intentions you begin to understand more about a conceptual art piece. Explaining the causes of art/photo historical events often requires:

1)    Quite a lot of reading and thinking

2)    Thorough visual research of the work(s) at issue

3)    Archival and library research to uncover conceptual and detailed chronological connections, first-hand documents etc.

Task:

“Historical research studies the meaning of past events in an attempt to interpret the facts and explain the cause of events, and their effect in the present events.” Understanding the events that took place prior the contemporary event you are analysing will help the understanding the viewer has on that specific subject. The history of most things has an impact on the way people perceive things in many ways. A perfect example that the historical research can have an impact on the way the viewer engages with a photograph is, Richard Mosse, from Incoming, 2016. This photograph is very conceptual as the research into the history of the making will guaranteed changed the viewers interpretation. At first this series gives the impression the artist had maybe intended to photograph these people for his own acknowledgement or further purpose. However, the real purpose of this photographer was “something designed to help hunt and kill an enemy” and in doing so the nature of the project arrived “manipulating it to capture and comment on the most pressing subject of our times - the great migration of so many people.”. This shows that understanding the history of the situation at hand, will change the influence the work has on the viewer. A lot of different questions begin to occur when you understand the history you begin to question things such as why it has change? Why the situation changing needed to be documented? How and by who is it being documented? The history of an image is what makes the image (contextual) this is why it is important to consider which methodology is appropriate as it can change our understanding of an image.

[alessandracardenas]

Week 2: Philosophy as Method: Ethics, Aesthetics, Ontology of Photography

Blog task: Discuss what you learnt in class today: how can philosophy assist in analyzing photographs?

407 words

Philosophy is characterised by 3 main fields.

Philosophy is one of the main method used by photographs to analyse pictures.

Philosophy is characterised by

-          logical argumentation

-          systematicity

-          rigour in terms of continuity

-          Logical steps

We analysed three main branches of philosophy: Ontology, Ethics and Aesthetics.

Ontology leads us questioning the definition of the subject which in this case is photography, with questions like: ‘ what is photography?’ – Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida.

In the 1849 In the Photo Theory book made by f/64 there was a list which showed how a photograph had to be:

-indexicality

-  iconic

-  truth

-  objectivity

-  realism

-  definition/ sharpness

-  reproducibility

Utah Barth was in disagree with the list above and later the picture ‘ View of the Boulevard de Temple’ by Daguerre proved that an image has not to follow the criteria of above.

The main part that I’m more interested is the Ethic part, which deals with the morality of the actions and situations themselves.

Ethics is related to the images which presents situations like: famine, war, violence, torture, terrorism, exploitation, slavery, pollution and natural disasters. The viewer of the pictures, will analyse those pictures under a moral point of view, in a particular way to the reason which brought the photographer to take the picture, if he/she really should have taken the picture using the victims of a natural disaster or victims of war, etc.

Certainly the photographer took those picture to bring us the attention to that particular topic but in reality we do need to face the morality of things and ask ourselves ‘ Should we do something?’ and regarding the photographs of the events, ‘who benefits from those photographs?’ ‘ who should benefit, the photographer or the subject?’

Two main subcategory excel in the Ethic field which are: consequentialism and deontology.

The first one follows the quote ‘ the ends justify the means’ so basically if the consequence is good even the action was good. The second one is quite different because you need to do what is right in the first place regardless the consequence.

 Last but not least is the Aesthetic branch. Aesthetic is often thought to be the theory of the beautiful in art and nature.

Regarding photography, the aesthetic theory has a different approach.

‘any aesthetic value possessed by photographs would be the aesthetic

value of the objects depicted in photographs, not of the photograph itself’

[fionaharnett]

Journal Guidelines

Electronic Journal Guidelines

Your Electronic Journal is a space in which you are expected to record regularly your engagement with the module and its themes. In the first half of the module, there is a set journal task for each week. You must fulfil these tasks, and they form the primary basis of how your journal is received in assessment. Every journal entry should include references to relevant textual and visual sources, and clear reproductions of the images discussed. You should also record research, engagement, and reflection in additional entries. So every week of the module you should write at least one entry in your journal.

Required Length: The set journal tasks must be between 300 and 500 words long, and the length of any additional entries is, naturally, up to you. However, consider your readers: it is not possible to read overly long texts, while a mere sentence or two provides very little evidence of thoughtful engagement.

Presentation: Consider the presentation of the journal carefully and follow these guidelines as a minimum to assist your readers to navigate. Any omissions of the following will result in difficulties finding your entries and thus in appropriate deductions in assessment.

Your journal must include the archive function, so select a theme that has it if you have not already done so in the first year. You must use date stamping for all entries. Again, use the appropriate settings/themes in the journal. You must tag all entries clearly, and as relevant, with the following:

5IMAG016W #AdvancedMethods #Journal Task

5IMAG016W #AdvancedMethods #Further Research

Blogs without tagging or with obscure tagging will not be accepted. All written elements in the entries must be typed. E.g., mere photographs of handwritten lecture notes will not be accepted as legitimate entries. In general, avoid replicating lecture notes in the journal and try to synthesise and explain your learning in reflective writing, and attempt to apply the relevant ideas to image analyses.

E-Journal Tasks

Week 1: Exploring the Image Blog task: Discuss what you learnt in class about methods. Why do we need a methodology to analyse visual images? How does such a method help us understand visual work better? Use interesting visual examples of your own to illustrate your response.

Week 2: Philosophy as Method: Ethics, Aesthetics, Ontology of Photography Blog task: Discuss what you learnt in class today: how can philosophy assist in analyzing photographs?

Week 3: Gallery Visit 1 Blog task: Write a reflection on what you saw today. Which methodology/ies could you use to analyse images from the exhibition?

Week 4: History and Theory of Art as Method Blog task: Discuss how you might use areas of the history and/or theory of art in analysing some appropriate images.

Week 5: History: Methodical Contextualisation Task: what does historical research mean and how can it change our understanding of an image?

Week 6: Gallery Visit 2 Blog task: Write a reflection on what you saw today. Which methodologies could you use to analyse images from the exhibitions?

Week 7: Reading week, no set blog task, but you are of course expected to keep blogging about module themes and your work around them.

Blog task for seminars: write a reflective passage on your own group’s presentation: think about questions such as, what went well; what would you improve; what did you learn from the process and the discussion; how will this assist you in your future work, including the essay for PDP3?
 Week 8: Workshops

Week 9: Seminars

Week 10: Seminars

Week 11: Seminars

Week 12: Submission of electronic journal/blog

Electronic journal assessment criteria The blog will be assessed based on the following criteria

Critical engagement with taught sessions through written responses, analyses and visualisations Quality of responses to weekly tasks Reflection on seminar preparation and presentations Frequency of posts and responses Level of self-reflection and appraisal Additional relevant research undertaken

[katiaelizabethanderson-blog]

Advanced Research Methods: Week 3 / Gallery Visit

Blog Task Re-Post see 

> https://katiaelizabethanderson.tumblr.com/post/179291681129/gallery-postdocx

7th Oct 2018

Thoughts on the “Shape of Light” Exhibition, Tate Modern

Aptly named the exhibition showcases abstract, modernist, minimalist, and surreal images; conjoining the work of many photographers over a century.

There were many works which all seemed to link together very well. Following the pattern of experimental, artists & photographers created art through alternative practices. Such methods used were: cyanotype, gelatine silver prints, positive films, chemigrams, and manipulation of perspective to achieve the abstract image. In many cases the objective seemed to be able to go as furthest away from the reality of the subject as possible. I feel like the exhibition was aiming to see how ‘far’ photography could go into, and has gone into, art. When does it stop being photography and start becoming art? This exhibition doesn’t seek to answer this question, but it makes me wonder. I would say that the show is a celebration of light and its manipulators (aptly named); and how vast the medium can be.

One photograph stood out to me especially, because I have a fascination with eggs (fig 2). What drew me in was the perfectly natural forms & shapes of the egg, and old still life ‘look’. The way Hans Finsler has photographed these eggs is like how Edward Weston shot the pepper. Finsler shot it like it was a dinosaur egg, significant. I like how the second egg is pointed up towards the ‘main’ egg in my eyes. The subtle framing (egg positioned in top left corner, and bottom egg halved near perfectly and near centred to middle third, definitely intentional to represent ‘natural’ form of egg, so called for a off centre positioning to be less of a exact framing. The shadows are dark and harsh, almost like a strong sunlight is beaming onto the eggs. The tonal range in the image set it apart from some of the more abstract photogram photography, where the focus lies more on form and lines rather than tonal range and subject. The soft shadow on the side of the top egg is enough to highlight the texture of the egg, along the line of where shadow and highlight meet. Somehow its texture reminds me of the surface of the moon. This could also be because of the positive film giving the subjects an extraterrestrial-luminescent glow.

 Three photograms (figure 3,4,&5) exhibited in the Tate’s collection, made by photographer Luigi Veronesi. Veronesi dedicated many hours of his career to the practice of experimental techniques, such as the photogram which we see here. This process involved the placing of objects onto photographic paper, then doing a long exposure to light to create the image. Here as the title suggests, he is focusing on the topic of movement, and so has moving the objects while the paper is being exposed to light to create the what he calls ‘kinetic’. What is created are un-recognisable images of objects. What I like about Veronesi’s work is that you don’t know what it is that you are looking at, or rather the imprint of something. This ‘unknown’ quality leaves me to investigate the image further. My favourite (fig 4) reminds me of the bokeh affect made from lights in the distance and a low aperture which blurs the light into soft circles of light. However here they appear in squares. A similar look could be achieved by attaching a string to a penny and at intervals and varying speeds drag it around the photo paper to create a trail of the object

to make the shape of a square repeatedly.  

 Figure 6&7: Barbara Kasten, cyanotype prints, information label provided at the gallery on next page

 Made by Barbara Kasten, Cyanotypes of fabric and plants are hung in large scale. I really liked these pieces because they reminded me of the sea. In the use of fabric over photographic paper, Kasten has created a fragile yet almost daunting image (due to its size). Each piece was about a meter long and half a meter tall. Altogether there were 5 prints. One print was a sand colour, the rest, blue.

 I appreciate the size of the piece and I liked their presence in the room. I find it adequate for the type of imagery it is (ocean is well, big… so it seems apt the prints are also big). The thing it seeks to represent is vast itself so why not have a big print to have a similar presence to the viewer. And being reminded of the sea, by the blue of the cyanotype process, and the wave of the fabric, as it is pulled (or positioned) to take full advantage of it’s texture; I can’t help but think that the ocean in its beauty, is symbolic of death. There’s something about imagery which is symbolic or representative of the sea (or water) which seems to symbolize death or something bigger than oneself, to me. I think there is a natural fascination with water for living things. Be that to do with death, life, or survival, I’m not sure which or why.

Figure 8:

Another work which I found interesting, or rather the display was more interesting than the photography itself (to me). I love the use of glass plates which then have this transparent quality, making a beautiful display of the works when light is shone onto them. I just think it looks so nice that I didn’t even really care about the photographs themselves. I think it would be a good project all on its own – a study of the effects of light on glass.

Speaking of light and glass – this piece by __ really stood out to me amongst the photography and other works displayed at the Tate. I felt like this mixed media (glass and photogram) was different – even the box in which it was kept at a safe viewing distance in was cool. I liked that the glass had stayed a part of the thing which it had been used to create, rather than just showing the print on its own, the broken glass is also featured with it. I am interested in this (image?) because I was meaning to do a project/shoot a broken wine glass which I have kept safe for almost a year, so this is probably why I was so interested in its presence. I also liked the sepia tones, that it had some colour to it unlike most of the photography displayed within the first few 5 rooms, not fully black & white.

Figure 9: Kansuke Yamamoto, The thrilling game Related to Photography, 1956

 Overall the gallery was an interesting and diverse set of artists, by that I mean artists which do not follow a set style for their photography, creative artists who wanted to make something different and not like the usual photography we see today. They used a variety of alternative and historic techniques, as previously mentioned. My favourite technique is the cyanotype, and the photogram, and I found that I was more drawn to camera-less photography methods.

One bad point about the exhibition – there was a lot of labelling in odd or inconsistent places. The works displayed on each wall were of many different artists, one wall had the work of 8-11 artists and there were even more images on the wall than that, so it was quite overwhelming as if you liked a number of those images you would have a lot of artists to then find on the label, with the corresponding number and so on. Furthermore, the numbering of the images in the diagrams imitating the layout of sets of images, which would aid you in discovering its author, was not always linear. It would jump a round quite a bit as each numbering was slightly different per wall or set of images.

Altogether the gallery was a thought provoking one and I was interested by a lot of the artist’s work and methods, how they ended up with that photo. I was specifically intrigued by the diversity of the works. There was a lot of surrealist, modern, fine art-y type work but there was also a lot of colourful, more graphic work which had more of a design (and more current) feel to it rather than exploration of photography methods, like the last wall mural piece. (pictured below)

Figure 10: last ‘image’ in the gallery, big wooden door is exit back into rest of the tate.  

[nevecaddick]

Journal Week 9 - (20/11/19)

Advanced Research Methods - Seminar group presentation

What went well?

Working with my group today was helpful, as each subject concerns abstraction; we are able to discuss our ideas and develop them through what each other have learned individually within our own topics.

(Such as) Architectural abstraction - Limiting (fragmenting) what you can see in architectural abstract photography, to focus primarily on the essential characteristics of the structure.

All we had a lot of interesting and enthusiastic ideas, which we shared, so it was reassuring to know we had lots of ideas to play with.

What needs to improve?

I think we each need to improve our theoretical analysis by conducting further research into what theories are involved in abstraction and how it affects our individual topics.

I think we also need to improve our communication with each other when working independently as when we come to together to discuss ideas, it seems disorganised and unclear on how to link it all together. Discussing our ideas coherently will eliminate any time wasted and confusion.

What was learnt from the process?

After presenting the draft presentation to my group, I was initially planning to have photographs alone, with little visible text, to instead talk about the images from my notes, to emphasise the photographs. However, after discussing this with my group, they thought it better to include text, to conduct the presentation with a clearer structure.

How will this improve my future work?

Finding structure within my work is essential in creating a presentation, or work in general, to be the best it can be. A clear flow with clear points and findings will help me evolve my work and points across.

In-class seminar presentations:

The first presentations, that were presented today, further helped me understand the flow and structure of presenting - when to talk, when not to talk, to include videos etc.

Today’s presentations also showed me, photographers I hadn’t heard of before, that connects to my project in beyond the frame, opening me up to different ways of thinking and photographing, which was really helpful.

Further abstract photography research/presentation prep:

Abstraction theoretical analysis - Abstraction is a process which pushes boundaries of art, to create a visual that isn’t so simply recognised. Distorting the shape and our perception of normal objects. MUST TALK ABOUT THEORETICAL ANALYSIS!

- Continuing to explore the art of black and white abstract photography, I explored well-known photographers such as Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz.

(Photograph by Paul Stand - “Porch Railings”)

(Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz - “How I came to photograph clouds”)

Theoretical analysis: Both photographers have eliminated most surrounding context in each photograph, leaving the imagination to fill in the gaps of what it could be.

Only sections of the environment are shown in the photographs. For example in Paul Stand’s photograph, only a few instances of the subject matter are evident, instead, the structure is shown through fragments of line and shadow.

[nevecaddick]

Journal Week 8 - (13/11/19)

Advanced Research Methods - Seminar group presentation

After meeting my group and discussing several presentation topics, we decided to focus on the idea of abstraction. We chose to each choose different genres within abstraction, discuss our ideas in a presentation, link each of our ideas together and finally, present to the class as a whole. With each of us exploring an individual side to abstraction, we thought this would create a more diverse and extensive analysis of abstract photography.

“Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect.” - (tate.com)

The categories of abstraction we chose to explore were:

1. Architectural abstraction 2. Abstract expressionism 3. Art abstraction 4. Black and white abstract photography

What went well?

We worked productively to find a subject we all wanted to present. Sharing and discussing ideas about what we know about abstraction and what we could contribute to the presentation.

What needs to improve?

Exploring the idea of abstraction further, going into depths about how we can analyse abstract photography within a theoretical context and how we can clearly and confidently present our ideas to the class.

How will this improve my future work?

Throughout this process, I will learn areas of abstraction I never knew about, developing my theory knowledge and how I link it to my work effectively.

What was learnt from this process?

Once grasping the fundamentals of abstraction and exploring our individual’s topics; teaching these ideas to our group helped me better understand what I was learning about. My group asking me questions and vice-versa was me actively thinking about an informed answer which helped me to remember what I needed to know for my presentation. This is a good way to remember information.

I began my research by looking at photographers, I both knew and hadn’t heard of before, to generate ideas and look for the key elements I’d normally find in abstract photography.

(”Grass in Pond Water” photograph by Robert Berdan)

Elements I found: Line, pattern, shape contrast/highlight, mystery, value.

(”Test Pattern” photograph by Hans Wichmann)

Elements I found: Pattern, line, the sharp tonal difference

(”Tracks in Snow 2″ photograph by Joseph Romeo)

Elements I found: Line, shape, form, pattern, value, mystery, texture

This photograph is my favourite piece, out of the photographers I explored. The texture of the snow, on the interwinding tracks going off into the distance, provides effective depth and a strong sense of touch.

Presentation:

In my presentation, I want to present an examination of these key elements and demonstrate them in workings, perhaps my own??? Developing and explaining them as theoretically as possible.

[nevecaddick]

Journal - Week 6 (30/10/19)

Advanced Research Methods - Gallery Visit 2

“Feast for the Eyes” - Exhibition 1

Exploring the genre of food photography, "Feast for the Eyes” investigated how food becomes an art within itself. Food has always been an influential subject matter, especially in fine art regarding still-life; however, this exhibition uncovers the idea of food through different approaches. Mediums such as photography and videography are both evident, as “Feast for the Eyes” takes into account certain social distinctions and emotion, relating to the consumption of food and how it is represented within society.

The first floor of the exhibition preserves the influence of traditional fine art techniques, through the likes of Sharon Core, whose work at first glace almost looks to be a painting. However, as I looked into it further it was made clear that her work is a reproduction of still life images, found on the internet, which I thought to be an interesting concept.

I found floor two to be a wider influence on me. The incorporation of people, culture and identity were all represented through given foods. I found a photograph by Stephen Shore to be an image I was most drawn too and an image I made a lot of judgments about straight away. Instantaneously assuming where the photograph had been taken and where the food had come from.

A photograph of a highly commercialised product of food was something I could very quickly relate too. Already being familiar with Stephen Shore’s work in the United States, I would already conclude it to be American, however, the United States is branded as a place to consume a lot of fast food so this composition and it’s place of consumption all corresponds really effectively.

“Shot in Soho” - Exhibition 2

The final floor of the exhibition was “Shot in Soho” which captured the obvious life of people living their lives in Soho. Cultures and communities were photographed to exhibit the expansive diversities inhabiting this fairly dense area in the capital.

The exhibition captures a simple objective of photographing the flow of ordinary lives. The fundamental structure of this series is to document what it’s like to be in this particular environment and it does so, successfully. As a viewer, I found it captivating how each photograph was almost as if looking at a moving image. The authenticity of each photograph was so rich in detail and contrasting light, that I could very easily imagine myself being there. 

This is a tone that I hope to be present in my own work. I want the audience to be able to connect and emphasise to what is going on; to question their own thoughts and opinions on certain aspects of the photograph and process it constructively.

[melissauss]

Week 8

SEMINARS/ WORKSHOP week. I used this week as a research week.

We started the seminar research on different subjects, divided in different groups I had three people to work on Art theory and history and present a presentation. We started looking at materials from Modernism to postmodernism. My focus was on few artists that worked on feminist issues. I find it interesting that many artists did various work on the matter. As most them explored the same idea with different ideology, it was a moving journey and very informative for me. I started my research on exhibitions and catalogues until my focus shifted to comparing artists from different decades to these days. From Gillian wearing to Cindy Sherman and Francesca Woodman to Nan Goldin, many many more. I was recommended the book ‘’ The pictures generation 1974-1984 ‘’ by one of my lecturer. I found some interesting material to look at before I moved on to different resources. 

Conceptualism to postmodernism, artists explored art in many forms. Pop art to drawings, commercialised art work to collages. 

This image stayed on my mind for days. I looked at it over and over again. It is a commercial advertisement for four different products as the product changes, so do women and their appearances yet remains domestic. Four women, always cooped up in the house, always looking out the window as if yearning to be out there. We have them in the kitchen, in the living room, by the table. Basically, in different rooms of the house or the place where it was composed or staged. 

Why the women presented domestically?

Why the women are not in the office, outside or elsewhere?

Why only women are the ones who drinking the coffee in the add? How is it that only women associated with it? 

Is it a specifically designed target campaign? 

Why the age changes alongside the product?

Who was he inspired by producing those images?

All these questions can be asked by just looking at it. Four women in isolation, and there is sadness implied by them looking out the window. Conceptual theatrical art. 

CINDY SHERMAN

Untitled Film Stills series,

Sherman has a spectacular control of the medium from lighting to composition and images have a significant message to deliver. There is never a random instantaneity in her work, never a Henry Cartier Bresson moment. In this photograph, We see a women shot through the mirror, double sided representation of her aimed at the idea of her mental status. Beautiful blonde was in high fashion in the 1980′s. Short blonde hair with a sassy short cut, red lipstick and tight clothing that curved their figures. There is a representation of the visual culture of the 1980′s. Classical and postwar periodic style of beauty and the women’s representation in style, move, and Hollywood’s vision and how the women were marketed and labelled in the norm of beauty they had to obtain. The stereotype beauty that was accepted by the culture in 1980′s.  It was claimed that Sherman’s style of representation bared Neo-realism. 

LYDIA SCHOUTEN

Another image I came upon from text made ideology presented by the artist by performing arts. Performing a theatrical movement through this message could be so powerful and strong. It is the degradation of women, another role that women obtained through different objectifications. The artists sold kisses for 5 frank during her performance to make a point. Women’s body is weapon in this case and used as an object and the artist’s voice is used to protest it against the control, oppression and objectification. 

[melissauss]

Week 5 History as a Field and method of Photographic research.

Historical Research is highly important to understand an image as it tells us the environment it’s surrounded by how it affected the image and how we can reflect from it. Without understanding the culture, environment, political system and mass history behind a photograph we cannot analyse the photograph. 

Conceptual art by Ade Santora Resilient. 

Surrealism Man Ray

Postmodernism, pop art by Andy Warhol.

Communism, posters done by various unknown artists.

[melissauss]

PoinWeek 4

The History and Theory of art as method

I used few images to present an example of how I would look at the importance of their meaning to these days. 

Somme, in the late July 1916, The 23rd RI fighters in a trench. 

Here we are looking at this image and thinking about the importance of it and how it is relevant to this day and how we are affected by the consequences of our ancestors. 

Two color guards and color bearers of the Japanese-American 100th Battalion, 442d Combat Team, stand at attention, while their citations are read. They are standing on the ground in the Bruyères area, France, where many of their comrades fell. November 12, 1944.

Lyndon B. Johnson meeting with civil rights leaders Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, and James Farmer in the Oval Office in 1964

Princess Elizabeth II, aged 18, 1944

The Eiffel Tower, July 1888.

Mugshot and fingerprints of a young Marxist named ‘Benedetto’ Mussolini. Bern, Switzerland, 1903.

American troops prepare nazi Major General Anton Dostler for execution for killing 15 OSS men, Italy, 1945.

Lewis Powell in handcuffs arrested for his involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

This week’s reading was Lucy Scoutter ‘ Why Art Photography?’ I think it is one of the best books I have ever obtained. It was easy to follow and understand, free from academic jargon (no pan intended as we all enjoy a bit of academic theory) but it was a relief avoiding my dictionary to look up academic words and find their equivalents in daily English literature. This is not down to my intelligence and IQ levels (at least I like to believe so) but more on side the fact that academic readings may be overwhelming at times. Lucy’s lucid language was captivating. I specifically liked the beginning introducing with student debates about art photography and commercialised photography in different forms. Modernists, idealists, realists and the ideological point of their view - how right they are in their own ways.

[melissauss]

WEEK 3

Gallery Visit

Personal notes and impressions

Olafur Eliassion. I have already seen Olafur’s exhibition but I wanted to go again as it was worth seeing over and over again. My favourite part was in the end of the exhibition where there was a toom just before the exit with a massive wall full of papers, photography and articles. It was well documented & detailed and taken from other activists, authors, scientists, journalists. I started taking photos of every bit of it. I was so disappointed to find out that Olafur did not combined those in a book. It was rather sad as it was the best part of the exhibition to be frank.

I do enjoyed the creative way of displaying various elements such as geographical, earhtly, then sensational. Climate change and Global warming was mentioned in many things, there video interviews and talks included in most corners of the last room by the exit. I was so impressed with the amount of research was put into it, and I was even driven to base my essay on Global changes and environmental but I felt very limited and incompetent on the subject. It is like many things, one of those things that I was certain, I was not equipped enough for it. How can we be? We live in the age where climate change has been considered as hoax by politicians who have the power to make an impact yet they prefer to neglect it as it does not really serve the agenda. Most believe the earth just will be fine by just extinction and evolving back again but they fail to remember that it means the extinction of the human kind. All this very overwhelming and another subject matter to discuss. However, this was the feeling evoked in me by this exhibition.

I explored it back and forth a few times. Up & down, going around different orders instead of following an order to feel differently about it all. I like the rain fall inspired water, and the rainbow inspired color reflections on it. I saw kids and families going under and taking photos. Now, I am not against people having photos taken as it is interesting but it was intended to deliever a message and I am certain most were not aware of it. It does require a high level of awareness to observe this kind of exhibition and a high level of intelligence. I am not clearly stating I am highly intelligent as I wouldn’t think I am incompetent to run a project by it if I had believed I was higher than I am. But I do carry a high level of awareness to things around me. They effect me deeply and throw me out of my zone for a while. I have to work hard to get my emotions in order to stay healthy. Seeing the world in a state that it is now, discourages me to carry on my daily chores. Sometimes I loose the point, sense and aim of it when I see things die slowly around me. Then again, we must hang on, carry on and keep moving as there is always the next generation who looks up to us for what we will leave behind.

On another note, after my rumbling, this exhibition was one of the best exhibition I have ever seen. It would have been nice to have the wall printed in a book. There was so much information to simply read on the wall that was covered with full of information.

[melissauss]

Week 2

Philosophy as Method: Ethics, Aesthetics, Ontology of Photography

Notes:

Lecture notes:

Philosophy “love of wisdom” derived from a Greek word according to Warbuton, N’ Introduction in Philosophy, The basics’. We love wisdom but we have become lazy learning, our brains deprived from the technology we have access to. One could argue we could use that to our advantage to reach vast amounts of information. True that, as said but we are overly distracted by the opportunities we have at hand and have become lazy in learning. Philosophy as method couldn’t be more relevant to our art and how we could question it in different ways. I am most driven to the idea of the ethics, and aesthetics of the art or a photograph.

I have this dilemma now, currently shooting a project in my other module and exploring the environmental damage caused by simple and single elements. It is super basic that it only starts with recycling, a simple task we could adopt as duty and follow. My project keeps evolving around how much garbage is dumped around and how we overwhelm the planet with our existence. Surely, it will survive once we kill it and it kills us then all shall evolve in depravity. My project has managed to be documented in a simple and raw context of thrown out trash. Then I started exploring still life and the trash started looking artistic and beautiful. Now there is a fine line inbetween the two styles as one wonders how to deliver a message when trying to raise awareness as an artist. If it is simply beautiful my viewer will simple admire and move on. If it is documented with pain and suffering they may be able to care more. This comes down to ethical standards and the aesthetics- how can two be existing together in my project!

Well, coming back to Warbuton’s observation and discussed in the lecture about right or wrong, killing is wrong and why, and what about self-defense and so on. Most of us believe that killing is wrong while we kill animals and/or eat killed by someone else by buying them in the supermarkets. It is because this is at our convenience. The act of killing remains the same since we are superior to animals we think we are entitled to kill them to survive. I, myself would be guily of consuming seafood, white meat on a regular basis however I avoid red meat. This alone will not justify the fact I approve them being killed by consuming the profucts. This is a simple philosophy that helps us question our actions objectively and apply this kind of thinking in our art making. By applying this, we could extend and even get stuck in endless dilemma. My right and wrong may not apply someone else’s right or wrong. It is extremely hard to agree on beliefs as they subjective to person. But there are beliefs that are accepted by society and applied in law that everyone has to follow or face consequences of their actions. This is due to keep an order and avoid chaos in one’s society, culture and belief systems. In order to avoid prejudices in our art making, we will need to implement philosophy sufficiently, we must not overdo it. We may really struggle with our objectives nonetheless, we need to remain calm and clear in our development.

By observing the history, we can help our philosophy evolve as we observe the mistakes have been made. We could argue that we do not have a good track record of learning from mistakes considering the political turmoils we are in and the repeated mistakes that shape us, drag us and take our art and use it as a tool. Now that however is another conversation, it remains relevant to our art and without it we would have nothing left to leave to generations to come in the hope they will be better in the sense of not repeating the mistakes we made.

Coming back to why Philosophy; one of the most important reasons of all is that it helps us questions our fundamentals and the meaning of our beings as Warbuton stated in his introduction. Yet this was always one the questions I asked as a growing up child. I never accepted what was given to me and kept questioning why I was here (still do to this day and I will certainly publish a book on that when I figure that out) Alan Watts will argue that “simply to be” according to him we are here just to be.

Art, nothing is certain until we examine it. History and philosophy hugely influence what we do and create in art.

We also need to remember that our lives driven by history & philosophy. We subconsciously apply that in skills, career, techniques in doing things. Same as art, we live our lives in it.