Dream Task

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

'The Ring'

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

Martina Hemm

Dries Bonte

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.

rachelleahwhite Photography ©

Work In Progress

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.

The Way We Live Now: Gillian Wearing

Images and Screenshots from http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/mar/27/gillian-wearing-takeover-mask

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.  

Images from http://www.maureenpaley.com/artists/gillian-wearing

The Way We Live Now: Hellen Van Meene

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.

Images taken from http://www.hellenvanmeene.com/photos/

The Way We Live Now: Sally Mann

From the series 'Family Pictures'

From the Series 'Family Pictures'

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. 

The Way We Live Now: Ralph Eugene Meatyard

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. 

 'Dolls and Masks'