Back in September I was given my second project to complete
for University as part of our introduction weeks. This was to take a trip to
Thee Cliff Bay in the Gower Peninsular and create an alternative postcard in response
to the area. My idea was to include the typical picturesque scene that is usually seen on
Gower postcards but to make it very extraordinary, but still in keeping with
the Welsh quality.
I decided to make it Doctor Who themed a I am a fan myself,
and thought it would be a playful and comical alternative. I planned what I was creating beforehand so I knew exactly what to take images
of. I took an image of disturbed sand, which I used in front of the Tardis,
then started to edit in the sky where I took the image from here. I then had to edit the water colour, the levels of the image so it matched with
the ‘time of day’ and weather that I added into the photo.
The original image - Beginning of the Editing process
Final Edit
I created two of these postcards, both with the same process but this was the final image I chose to present.
Yesterday I visited the Brangwyn Hall to look at the amazing paintings by Sir Frank Brangwyn. This was part of a task for Visual Studies where we had to sit and examine these huge, vivid artworks for one hour without any distractions or cameras, just with the act of looking. This came from a session we had in Visual Studies where we read a piece of text from Jeanette Winterson's Art Objects. There was a very important quote from the text which sums up what the task entailed.
Art takes time. To spend an hour looking at a painting is difficult. The public gallery experience is one that encourages art at a trot. There are the paintings, the marvellous speaking works, definite, independent, each with a Self it would be impossible to ignore, if…if…, it were possible to see it. I do not only mean the crowds and the guards and the low lights and the ropes, which make me think of freak shows, I mean the thick curtain of irrelevances that screens the painting from the viewer
My initial thoughts when being given this task were very negative, and had no real desire toward the task despite reading this text, it was something I had never done before and couldn't image it being stimulating or interesting. However I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised after completing this task. I found it very comforting and relaxing as I don’t think I have been left alone with only my thoughts, for just one hour in a very long while. It was nice to just have a break from everyday life, and I found that completely immersing yourself within a painting was incredibly refreshing and a much needed escape for myself. I think Frank Brangwyn successfully created another world and time with his powerfully detailed paintings. Not only are they detailed in how he captured the human body and foliage, but in colour and in a political way also. Here is some information and background of the paintings.
In 1924, the House of Lords decided to commemorate the First World War by commissioning new artwork for the Royal Gallery, Palace of Westminster, London, and Brangwyn was chosen.Brangwyn had been an official First World War artist and was a Royal Academician with a high international profile. His intention was to enliven the space with ‘decorative painting representing various Dominions and parts of the British Empire’.However, in 1927/1928 two of the supporting peers died, and in 1930, when the artist was asked to present his work to date, public controversy ensued; the scheme was deemed to be inappropriate, and was declined.Respecting Brangwyn’s reputation and his paternal Welsh connections, Swansea expressed interest in housing the panels in the new Guildhall. Successful in securing them, the Brangwyn Hall was inaugurated along with the Guildhall in October 1934. - Source
When walking into the Hall, it was very clear that these paintings were the heart of it, and I was quite surprised by the size of them. Especially these ones in particular (pictured below) as they captured my attention instantly.I don't think
these images, or any images in fact give them any justice at all. Looking at
them in real life, towering over me created an ambiance that these images just don’t
produce. Their scale adds to the technique of creating another world, one that
you feel you want to interact with and jump in to. What I found remarkable was
the detailing of these paintings. When you look closely they have just as much
detailing as smaller paintings, and the more you look at these paintings new
things appear. Even after an hour I was noticing something new within the
paintings. Thoughts and feelings during the 1 Hour period These paintings initially created a sense of Utopia, unity and harmony from the integrating of races and species seeming to be working as one. With the help of the vibrant and cheerful colours used. However one section of the 5th panel stood out to me in the upper right corner. It depicts White men cutting down trees, and another taking a photograph of what appeared to be a tribal man, who is clearly very different from the white male. This in particular didn't display the unified Utopia I initially experienced looking at these scenes. It somewhat reminded me of the Iron Maiden song 'Run To The Hills'. This song is though of as a political anthem and as the story unfolds it speaks from the two viewpoints of the White Europeans and the Native American people, and how the land and community was taken from the Native Americans. For about 10 minutes, this song began playing over and over in my head, unintentionally, and the scene became a different story to me. I then noticed the expression of the Red Indian in the very foreground of the image. He seems to almost gaze out to the viewer with a very unhappy, enraged expression which led me to then begin looking at other facial expressions and began to realize that most were the same and had an unhappy expression. I started to question if this was intentional, and if Frank Brangwyn wanted to subtly reference the true implications of the Common Wealth.
During our Visual Studies session we were given a task to
respond to a random dream we were given from a hat. From the dream I was given,
the focal theme of it was the sense of being lost and afraid. From this I began
my research on the simple notion of being afraid. I began thinking of the relationship
of being afraid in nightmares, and what we see in horror movies.
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror but also despair,anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror. Sufferers often awaken in a state of distress and may be unable to return to sleep for a prolonged period - Source
I had the initial idea of shooting myself in a space that is
often a scene in nightmares and horror films such as forests, lakes, alleys but
soon realised previous images I already shot that were like this. As I was coming
to an end of my project, The Way We Live Now, I took a few experimentation
shots that had no actual objective to them, but to create an eerie atmosphere. This
wasn’t my initial intention for these images taken, however looking back at the
negatives and from the rejects of this project; I felt this particular scene
that interested me and suited what I was looking for.
Coincidentally, during my
research I came across this piece of text which I found quite relevant for my
work. It speaks of nightmares being used in terms of real life experiences, as
well as a dream situation.
We frequently talk about an experience being a “nightmare,” meaning that it was frightening, dreadful or terrible, and this is nothing new. For example, as we near the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI (Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28th, 1914), we read 100 year old descriptions of the “nightmarish” fighting that took place in trenches. I am sure that many of the soldiers that went ashore during D-Day 70 years ago also described their experiences as being a nightmare. And the list could go on and on with “nightmare” or “nightmarish” being used to describe all manner of barely tolerable situations, both personal and societal. - Source
I then proceeded on the notion of connecting real life with dreams and not knowing where one starts and the other ends. The state of dreaming where you’re in transition of
dreaming and being awake, otherwise known as Hypnagogia.
Hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the hypnagogic state of consciousness, during the onset of sleep. In opposition, hypnopompic denotes the onset of wakefulness. Mental phenomena that occur during this "threshold consciousness" phase include lucid dreaming, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. - Source
From my research I wanted to create a very eerie and disturbing
image incorporating the theory of Hypnagogia, which I feel I have done relatively
successfully. I have drawn inspiration from the images I found of Dries Bonte,
Martina Hemm and The Ring and recreated these images into one single image. I
also referenced the previous text that spoke of the real life nightmares, such
as WWI/WWII by using a Gas Mask. As the image I used was taken beforehand, I thought it needed to be digitally edited to capture what I wanted.
Here are a few of my final images that I will be including in my The Way We Live Now project. I'm producing 2 series of images within the theme. The bottom two are from the same series, while the one on the top is from the other. After looking at my final images, I'm finding that they look better with a white boarder around them. I feel like they bring out the detailing in the images, and even though they are part of a series, it gives each image a clear division so they can also be viewed and analysed separately as each image tells a story. These images are not my my final edits.
Gillian Wearing’s self-portraits are very unusual, but
innovative. Her use of a mask is very different from the usual. Instead of
wanting to become someone completely different, she often changes into herself,
but her past self or different versions of herself in the form of her family.
Above you can see the process of her work, how and why she is interested in
what she does. I’m inspired by Gillian Wearing’s self-portrait work, and I will
be working with self-portraiture and masks also.
These images below are self-portraits. Instead of becoming
someone completely different, she becomes herself, again. She relives how she
was, even how she is now. Her use of masks have become somewhat of a memory.
She is replacing original images of how she actually looked in that moment in
time, to this moment in time with how she looks now. What I find in particular
very interesting is that she wants to become herself. The masks could represent
how she feels. She may not know who she is now, but she knows who she was, and
who her family are so she becomes something she knows. Masks have that quality
about them. You know who the mask is, given it has a face. But with a gas mask,
which I what I will be using for my project, that quality is lost. A gas mask
replaces the identity with a vacancy. Gillian knows her subjects and knows who
she is becoming, but I won’t. As the mask I have chosen is one without an
identity. I’m replacing the familiarity with the unfamiliar and creating an
identity of my own, which won’t be as obvious.
Hellen Van Meene is one of my favourite photographers of all
time. Her images are a constant influence throughout my studies and work as a
photographer, no matter what my project may be. What I love about Hellen’s work
is how effective her photographs are even thought they are incredibly simple.
Nothing appears too forced within her images; they kind of seem natural even
though some are staged. Hellen uses medium format for her images, often in
squared format. This can be a very challenging yet interesting technique in
having to only show so much information in the image, while keeping it simple.
Her colour palette is in keeping with her simplistic theme, and is often very
neutral and very effective because of this. Her images are highly driven with
the subject’s importance and just enough of the environment surrounding the
subject to tell a story or situation. I feel Hellen’s work; especially her
Environmental Portraiture is extremely effective and is a huge influence for my
current project. These elements of Hellen Van Meene’s work will tie into my own
environmental portraiture work.
These photographs are my favourite images of Sally’s. As I am a fan of her work, I
think they are beautiful images in my opinion, however can be very
controversial to others. My initial thought of the photographs are at how
atmospheric they are and each one of her images captures a special ambiance.
This particular project is heavily based of children and their world around
them. I’m interested in this concept for my project theme, how our governed
system can affect children in our world today. Her images reflects how they
interact with their surroundings without facial expressions. This is something
I find very interesting, given that in photography you assume this is a very
reliant element in expressing the situation. However, other elements are giving
away that information, such as body language and posture. Throughout these images
I am reminded of a theme of ballet. The elegant poses of the children, the
slightly wispy backgrounds that suggest slow, smooth movements. Even the hair
in the middle image has its symbolic significance. This is highly represented
in another image of Sally’s where a young girl is recreating a ballet pose on
the table. Another thing that features in her photographs is how ghostly they
appear to be. I feel that this effect goes well with the atmosphere of the
photographs. These are all techniques i'd like to incorporate into my own
project. Especially how body language, styling and the surroundings can tell a
story, instead of facial expression. The one aspect missing from my images will
be the facial expression, and the familiarity of a humans face can be. So I
will be relying heavily on styling and body language to express my feeling.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s work is very inspiring for my
current project. I’m very interested in his use of masks, as I am using masks
in my work, and what they represent within his images. He experimented with
multiple exposures, motion blur, and other methods of photographic abstraction
and most of his images include family members enacting symbolic dramas, often
set in abandoned places.
His haunting images are often constructed in a ‘family
photo’ kind of approach. Contrasts that
are very effective, and make you question the photographs implication. A mask
is often used to become someone else, and to hide your true identity. What I
found most noticeable was the mask that was chosen for the image. This mask has
a very aged face, in contrast to the young subject. It makes me question if the
image was that much fabricated that the photographer chose this particular mask
to create that contrast, or the child choose it. But why would the child choose
this particular mask? The image seems to be quite accidental, in the sense that
the subject appears to have been playing with their doll and mask carelessly,
but these images were constructed. I find it fascinating that the body language
actually matches the age of the face. The subject appears to be very limp and weak.
Ignoring the fact that there is a child under the mask, it almost seems as
though the ‘character’, the mask, is reliving and reminiscing it’s childhood
days, and being young again. To me, the contrast seems to be representing the
negatives that do occur in childhood, but are never acknowledged. Ageing, decay
and death.
My initial concept when responding to this title was to create images based on how we are controlled by the government, how corrupt and how their brainwashing system surrounds us. I thought of ways I could question capitalism and how it affects us through the media and the commercial industry. This is something I have a strong opinion on and I want to share my thoughts and opinions through my photographs. I also felt this was a very strong concept to work with as it can have a strong impact to viewers. We live in an age where the younger generation are heavily influenced by technology and social media. These very influential methods control our generation a great deal and is very difficult to break away from. Photography can also have this impact and be very influential, therefore is a strong method in breaking that system. For my images to be successful I want to gather as much research as possible from many aspects of the 'status quo'. Whether it be political issues, riots, big brother, social unrest, poverty and economical issues.
My main inspiration for my The Way We Live Now project came from this music video by the Manic Street Preachers. The song Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds is from their album Generation Terrorists. The whole album is a politicised focused theme with the album's songs regularly incorporating a critical focus on global capitalism and the struggles of youth. For a lot of my research, I have focused on many areas of the 'status quo' such as political issues, rioting, big brother, social division, poverty and economical issues.
What I find most inspiring about the album are the lyrics of Richey Edwards. I'm often drawn to his work and also himself as a person. One song that stood out to me in particular was Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds. Apart from its obvious title, the lyrics are very much questioning the banking system, and how we are controlled by them and money.
Carried away with useless advertising dreams Blinding children, life as automatons....
Black horse apocalypse Death sanitised through credit....
They give then take away,
repossess and crucify The more you own the more you are, lonelier with cheap desire
"Black horse apocalypse" speaks volumes. Its an obvious link to the logo of Lloyds Banking and also is a metaphor for the 'hypothetical' apocalypse we are currently in. How much we are controlled by the banks and how they affect our own lives and lifestyle. This lyric is also very relevant to the news today as it was recently announced that Lloyds Band will be closing down a number of branches, with a loss of 9,000 jobs. "They give then take away, repossess and crucify"
This is also echoing the downfall of the banking system and the recession, the 'apocalypse' we are currently in.
"The more you own the more you are, lonelier with cheap desire"Suggesting the poor are only valuable to the rich if they are profitable to them.
The visual to this video was just as inspiring for me. I think the use of the Gas Mask is visually captivating, as well as how they use the surroundings and use of clothing. A gas mask is a very clever object to use for metaphorical purposes. This video tells a very symbolic story. At the beginning of the video, we see a man in an all-white suit, washing his hands and looking at himself in the mirror. He seems to be washing himself. Maybe to destroy something, something of contamination or stain. White represents purity and fresh, something he may want to keep, or become. This is a very interesting concept, considering the song is an anthem against capitalism. The man is then seen in a derelict town center where the words 'CLOSING DOWN' and 'LAST DAY' are seen on an empty shop window. He is surrounded by other similar buildings while he is dressed in a suit, and paired with a gas mask. This can either be a statement that the man in the suit, surrounded by a broken down society is protecting himself from this world he is not familiar with. Or rather the opposite. He is protecting himself from the surrounding destruction, which arose from the government.
Gas Masks
For my project, I want to create a series of images with Gas Masks in some way. Their symbolism can be very particular, however can also be quite broad. Symbolism: Fear of getting gassed, fear of being beaten down for standing up for truth, and freedom, and the constitution. A gas mask can represent war and anger. Police often wear them during riots while shooting tear gas. During the war, people wore them in protection of the gasses dropped by the government. It can be a symbolic message oppression, free speech and human rights. It can be a shield. A shield from the government gasses/pollution surrounding you, a shield from society as it can be very alienating from covering your face/identity. A gas mask is iconic and visually stimulating. It can emote various feelings and thoughts. It can also change symbolically due to its surroundings. Pair it with a man in a suit, it represents the government. Pair it with a naked body, it can suddenly ask questions as to why the subject is protecting their face/identity and not their body. It can symbolize being controlled by the government, and being stripped of personality and being.
My very first brief given was for a project called The Grid Project. We were put into groups, given an allacated square from a map of Swansea and were told to visist and research this area. We then had to respond to our surroundings through images, and produce one final image that represented the area. My area of swansea included the St Helens Road, spanning from Russell Street all the way to the very famous Joe's Ice Cream Parlour.
Before I visited the area, I wanted to research the History beforehand. As I know the area, and Swansea quite well, I instantly wanted to research the History of Joe's Ice Cream as it is one of the most beloved places in Swansea. Here is the History from the Joe's Ice Cream website.
Back in 1898, Luigi Cascarini came over to Swansea from the Abruzzi Mountains in Italy. In the midst of the industrial era, Mr. Cascarini was shocked to find that there were no cafes open to accommodate the early workers of the Swansea valley. So Luigi decided to open up a workers haven where he would serve them rich roast coffee from the crack of dawn until the darkness of the night. He worked every hour of the day making his cafe such a success that soon he opened another...and.... another...and another. Before long, Luigi had opened a chain of cafes that his children ran with him. When his eldest son, Joe, was old enough he brought him over to Wales from Italy and Joe ran the cafe at 85 St. Helen’s Road. As a passionate ice cream lover, Joe Cascarini sought to add a truly Italian flair to the Welsh cafes, so following a secret recipe from his home in Italy, he sourced the finest ingredients in Wales and introduced to Swansea the most unique tasting, luxury, Italian ice cream. Joe's sacred recipe remains unchanged and safe in the heart of his family who make the same ice cream almost a century on. Using select ingredients of the highest quality, Joe’s remains an ice cream of finesse. We experiment with our aromas, offering a blend of Welsh and Italian fancy flavours to our loyal Joe's following, but our ingredients will always retain the Joe's stamp of quality. That’s what makes Joe’s ice ream JOE’S. After all...Everything else is just ice cream! ( source )
St Helen's Road
While researching this very well-known parlour, I began to realise how passionate and dedicated this family were to their buisness, something I's like to capture in my images. Another fact I was surprised by was how far back the History went. I then had a basic idea of what I wanted to capture in my final image. I then started to research the History of St Helen's Road.
The St.Helen's ground at Swansea has several unique features, starting with the fact that it is laid out on a reclaimed sand bank and in places the soil is barely eighteen inches thick. The second feature has been that cricket and rugby have happily co-existed at Swansea for almost 125 years, with the ground staging International cricket, rugby union and rugby league. ( source ) In 2005, the venue could hold an audience of 10,500 seated before it was re-developed. The famous east stand, which had provided cloisters over part of Oystermouth Road, has since been demolished and replaced with a metallic stand unloved by locals. It also is the host of a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Night. I had an idea for an image inspired by St Helen's Road. I thought of ways that somehow incorportate the fireworks display into my images. I wanted to experiment with different mediums such as paint and photocollage, however I knew this wasnt ideal as we only had a little less of a week to create our image. Also, the field may have been related to my area, however I felt I should incorporate something was within my area. With this in mind, I decided to go along with my Joe's Ice Cream concept.
