georgiaharryroe-blog

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Evaluation

Evaluation

I began my project experimenting with three different themes: The environment, Worn and Distressed, and Boundaries and Edges. Researching each in depth from the imagery of the theme to the synonyms. I visited local exhibitions such as the Art foundation show and the A-level art show to gather inspiration to help me make a decision as to the progression of the themes chosen. Multimedia techniques were prominent within these collections and helped me explore a more hands-on approach to my project. Through this research I then chose Worn and Distressed as my theme. Whist artists such as Josef Schultz [1]interested me in the research of boundaries and edges, the theme felt limited to me. Other artists such as Don Mc cullin [2]were much more interesting, here is where the idea of emotional distress spun from. Mc cullin photographed scenes from a 1968 battle and a large amount of his work follows this suit of emotional turmoil.

I feel like my initial shoots were varied, however this did allow me to experiment with the different aspects of distressed subjects. Form using Photoshop to digitally manipulate images[3] to then crumpling up images and scanning them so that they become folded. A progression I liked was the use of embroidery, in my shoot 2 the edits were allowed to interact with the images, for example no. 1. Looked as if the subject was caged my thread and no.2 [4]looked as if the thread was within her, she was attempting to pull out the threads in a sense.

I began trying ideas in order to elicit an emotional reaction, the first shoot was based on music, I would control the music through my phone and changed it as I wished, however I decided it wasn’t extreme enough. Creating the stressed face is much harder than going to photograph someone in real pain. I then created my own soundtrack that was a mixture of music but rather than starting at the beginning of a song, I made it so that the audio would jump to the middle of a song, usually at its loudest point. There was a mixture of soft classical music and heavy metal. This worked to an extent, I did collect some images that showed the shock due to the change in volume. However, I needed something much more extravagant. The ides for this was to develop onto creating these images but not allow the audience to understand why they were in pain. For example as I progressed in my shoots it became less obvious as to initial reason, and keeping interacting with the subject out of the shot.

This experiment lead onto trying ideas such as reading Sophie Calle’s letter of “take care of yourself” [5]and another shoot of “what’s in the box?” however the next successful shoot I created was shoot 7, this was done out of a studio but against a white wall, the subject was made to sit still and have her legs waxed. This shoot one of my best, however the quality of the images wasn’t equal to the quality of the subject. From this I created a concertina edit named “distressed” here I also brought back the idea of stitching into the image, keeping the threads long at the end in order to reiterate the idea of worn and a bit untidy.

One of my most influential artists is Marna Clarke, her concepts interest me and have allowed my project to develop into a more explored theme. For example, one aspect I have taken from Marna Clarke is her composition, the idea of having segmented images, taking what seems like half shots. Images with segments of people and off centre subjects.

On the 9th shoot my project took a slight turn, I decided I wanted to look into the idea of worn bodies rather than expressions directly, however I don’t feel as if this was progression but more of a back step, therefore I looked back at shoot 7 and decided to improve that concept. Once again I brainstormed ideas on how to create such an exaggerated reaction but settled again on waxing my subjects as it was the most ethical way to create pain. Shot in a studio this shoot is arguably my best.

Personally, as I have used my strongest shoot I feel like my outcomes are just as professional. However, some research I haven’t brought into the final outcome is the multimedia aspect of sewing into the images, whilst my Japanese four-hole book does require the use of threading together the pages, the aspect of sewing into the image isn’t taken over to the final outcome.

Each of my artists have aided in the progression of my theme,I feel like it has developed into a more realistic and professional clean cut series. I have been able to full fill my intentions of portraying the emotional turmoil of a reaction or an experience, whether the provoking instument it is known to the audience or not.

1.  Josef looks at the boundaries between countries e.g. border control 

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Blog task 4

Some new artist that are helping my project develop:

My first artist I have chosen is Jill Greenberg. Jill has a series called “end times: epilogue” I find this series particularly interesting as it is wholly dedicated to taking photographs of crying children. To make her subjects cry required no provocation at all, Greenberg didn’t intentionally set about a direct contact but even just through the use of photographing the young children (aged from 2-4) it made them agitated and cry. Photographs of these children look almost cartoon-like and are set in a studio, very much like a school photograph would be taken. Whist Greenberg’s intention was to explore how only gentle manipulation could cause a child to cry, which is such a basic form of communication. I am using this exhibition to explore different types of stress anguish and body language. This is a fully natural response and through gill Goldberg’s editing the highlights on the child’s upper body look like she may even be sweating caused by the distress of having her photograph taken. with this type of photography there is something just so raw about the child's need for comforting, even seeing the child upset would create another empathetic reaction form an adult. it reiterates the idea that emotions such as these are used in times of desperation, and whilst this emotion may not have a long lasting traumatic affect it is down to what caused the distress as to the long term impact. whilst I like this artist due to her composition techniques I also feel as if her subject choice is consequently controversial.

 My second artist is Anna kuperberg . Anna specialised in wedding and family photographs originally, however her abstract take is what makes her so popular. Anna takes “clips” of her subjects, meaning she doesn’t take the whole person into the image but rather only a specific part, this allows her to focus on the most meaningful parts of a family portrait. This is a style I have used to help develop my theme, using her close-up methods will allow me to focus on only the most distressed part of a person’s body and emphasise the important elements of the shot, like expression. I like this photograph particularly due to the freeness of it, its outside a studio and the simple act of hugging is innocent, and again Kuperberg has included the most important close up of the image, the hug and the expressions that the family have toward each other. I also love the idea of her shooting in black and white, as if the colour around them is irrelevant and takes too much distraction away from the photograph. images like these could be composed into a collage of emotions or special moments.

  The last artist that I have looked at is Martin Scholler and his series “in ya face”. These works are featured in the National Portrait Gallery. Scholler specializes in close up portraits of famous figures. I like how there is only a plain background and there is a plethora of light that allows every single wrinkle and every hair to be seen, this hides none of the natural distressing of the ageing process. Martin schollers works have inspired a development in my own project, I plan to photograph aged skin, distressed and wrinkled, not just on faces, but arms legs hands and feet. I will use the macro lens, much like Scholler has done. This will allow me to look into the intricacies in the skin including any little bits of dirt or see and miniscule skin tone changes.

Scholler says “we are invited to see more than the naked eye could ever see” however I feel like I could take this concept further and make it so the audience can’t tell what they’re seeing because the image will be so close up and abstract.

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Blog task 3

A risk I Took  

For my 4th shoot I used headphones to elicit a reaction from my subjects, projecting strange noises through to them. I feel as is this was a risk I took because it had an air of uncertainty around the whole idea. Were people going to laugh at the unusual noises or were they going to be angry at the shock? This made my shoot difficult as I couldn’t predict their outcomes or whether their reactions would fit my theme. However, from each person I took 4 best and created an outcome to display the whole range of emotions they expressed from shocked to laughing, to uncertainty.

To progress from this I am going to take inspiration from Sophie Calle. Her exhibition “I wish you all the best” is based around an E-mail that she received from her partner, breaking up with her. I will take the exact letter that was addressed to her and give it to subjects of my own. This time rather than taking images of subjects, I will video them. Hopefully by videoing their reactions rather than photographing them it will encourage the subjects to fully engage with the letter and resolve the issue of distraction that happened when I used flash photography.

To develop this even further I will place a blue film over the lens of my camera to create a sombre colour scheme. I have chosen the colour blue as it is directly linked to sadness and being sombre. However I will also experiment with editing images so that they have a highlight of colours too such as red rather than integrating he colours within the shoots. I could also collect a range of facial expressions and afterwards connect it to a colour overlay, for example if my subject looks inquisitive I would use yellow. I think this could be too obvious and my work may lose its subtlety though, I will evaluate this as I work and abandon it if it doesn’t work. I feel like Sophie Calle has helped me develop my theme as in the beginning I looked at using shock to create a reaction, hopefully now I can look at more personal emotions such as sadness. usually when reading a letter such as this it makes a person relate it back to their own life and their own personal experiences, this is what I want my subjects to do. and by asking them questions about the text it allows them to really think and emphasize with the people involved with the letter as well as relating it back to themselves. this takes a look at the long term and long lasting emotional distress and damage that emotions can do to a person.

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Blog task 2

Maurizio anzeri

Mr Anzeri uses the term “photo sculpture” describe his portraits. The basis of his art is to photograph black and white images of people pulling their faces or stretching their bodies. Anzeri then sews over the facial elements to create the “sculpture” aspect, this essentially distresses the image even more. Therefore, you have the distressed facial emotions as well as the emphasis of sewing into the faces to look like they’re being pulled by other forces. Maurizio states that the “intimate act of hand embroidery is a ritual of making and reshaping stories” this is a concept I am interested in applying to my own work. For example, if I were to sew over subjects to make it look like they’re crying, I am therefore changing their story to make it seem like they are distressed when possibly the intial photograph shows them sitting in a perfectly normal manner. This could also link into social aspects such as anxiety and mental health issues that aren’t expressed in day to day life and are essentially hiding just below the surface. the idea of trying to express the boundry between what people tend to speak about and what is kept secret, this could be due to cultural or social issues within a group of people.i like the idea of usingf this technique to progress my images from being just a pose to something more structural.

Bettina von zwehl

Bettina von zwehl looks at portrait photography, for her earlier shoots she focused on taking photographs of her siblings and eliciting natural responses from them, whether it be scowling or laughing (unnamed).I like the idea of taking portrait photography, using negative space so there is a plain background and no attention is drawn away from the subject. I would like to take the idea of sensory deprivation from Bettina von zwehl as if feel like the idea of sitting in a dark room lets he subject focus solely of listening and smells, for example I would like to progress onto eliciting my own reactions from people such as surprised or disgusted faces. I may do this by using head phones and sending uncomfortable noises through, or I may make subjects read an exert and see what their reactions are. I would place them into a contained environment such as Von Zwehl and see how they respond to the stimulant without social or environmental pressures. The outcome of a shoot such like this coukd be used a sthe base of a more structural outcome as I mentuioned before with Anzeri. using these expressions I could enhance them using threads and mixed media to reflect hwo the subject felt in that exact moment. for me this refects my theme of qof worm and distressed as I am shoing the physical distressing of a person, I am intitiating the "fight or flight" reaction from each of my subjects. however I wont be freighetiitng them too much so that they wont act of their instincts

  Bill viola

Bill Viola was among the first artists to explore the possibilities of film and video in a fine-art context, his depictions of human emotion have risen in popularity. Bill Violas theme of raw emotions complement my theme as this is my aim, to be able to capture an initial reaction from people. I am very interested in the idea of an interactive exhibition similar to that which bill viola creates.

However, whereas viola has projectors displaying moving images (films) I will create a series of portraits along with an interactive set of headphones that will play the noises that I used whilst taking the shoot. This hopefully will create context in my work, giving the audience an understanding of the situation that the subjects were placed in. Viola also tends to display his exhibitions in very dark rooms this also links to sensory deprivation as he runs sounds through rooms, allowing audiences to experience exhibitions in different ways. This is something I may consider as my project progresses.

Essentially my work is interested in body language. By looking at genuine reactions I feel I am able to capture an honest representation of them at the time.

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Introduction- Blog Task 1. 

At the beginning of my project I explored the environment, the different types of ways it affects us as people as well as the way we as humans affect it.  However, whilst doing my three main shoots I have decided on a more varied subject of worn and distressed. Personally, I feel as if this theme lends itself to be more diverse and can be explored in different ways.

In my shoots I experimented with worn objects as well as distressed faces and then on to physically distressing images. I now plan on exploring further faces. Whilst I will keep with the worn and distressed theme I would like to develop other emotions too such as excited emotions and possibly delving into silly faces, such as pulling mouths and crossing eyes. My goal is to be able to portray one or many emotions through one photograph. I also plan on experimenting with different textures, bringing in the physically distorting images by crumpling them and using different techniques.