Group Exercises - 28/9/2015

Exercise 1 

For the first exercise we were asked to look at a series of "mug shots" and determine who were writers, and who were criminals. As you can see, my team didn't do so well; we didn't have much reasoning behind why we chose each one. First of all we thought of stereotypes, when we saw the men with glasses we assumed they were writers, we also imagined tropes of a criminal, a strong, defiant look, possibly dead looking eyes. Stereotypes hugely influenced our decisions and it didn't work out well. I think this was the point of the exercise, our instant look of a photograph influences how we read and interpret it. Once our minds are stuck on an idea or thought it can be difficult to nudge that thought.

Exercise 2

For the second exercise we were given a few images and told to crop where we thought appropriate, the main reasoning behind the crops to draw attention to the main action of the photograph. When creating our own narratives we will have to think of what's relevant in the image, if there's something unneeded in the frame the audience won't know and will read into everything. When a writer sets a scene in a book they don't include background characters, and if there are any props in a film scene they usually hold some kind of significance in terms of creating more of a personality for a character. The crops below tighten the images, which makes them more effective. 

Visual Narratives

Narrativity

The process by which a story is both presented by the producer and interpreted by the viewer. The term must be distinguished from the narrative, which refers to the story itself.

Dina Goldstein - Fallen Princesses 

"The series created metaphor out of the myths of fairy tales, forcing the viewer to contemplate real life"  (Fallenprincesses.com, 2015)

Dina Goldstein controls her narratives impeccably, I think the fact that we know the princesses makes it easier to read and interpret. Goldstein has seemingly thought about her audience by using recognisable princesses like Snow White, Cinderella and Belle; we feel an instant connection to these women as they are from our childhood. We know their story up until the "and they lived happily ever after", we're meant to just accept this and move on with our lives but Goldstein has flipped our perspectives around and challenged the way we think these princesses have lived their lives. Belle obsessed with her beauty has turned into the beast by becoming someone who doesn't look like her at all. Cinderella is seen alone in a bar, possibly implying that she has turned to a life of alcoholism, and Snow White has reverted back to looking after a full house that's in disarray, this coupled with Prince "Charming" lounging on the sofa shows that she has no help about the house and that things are falling apart (see the hole in the Prince's tights). I like the way Goldstein uses Tableau Vivant - when a group of actors are staged in a particular pose, usually with theatrical light - but the pictures still have a candid quality about them. 

Speaking of Tableau Vivant, artists such as John Everett Millais and Tom Hunter have taken inspiration from Literacy; the image below by John Everett Millais depicts Ophelia from Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

John Everett Millais

Tom Hunter

Tom Hunter has clearly took influence from Millais' work of Ophelia to create this narrative piece from the series 'Life and Death in Hackney', the image depicts a young girl who was on her way home from a rave (a cultural motif used a lot on Hunter's work) but the journey was "curtailed by falling into the canal and losing herself to the dark slippery, industrial motorway of a bygone area" (Hunter, n,d); he possibly used "Ophelia" as his inspiration of choice due to the links of mental health issues and drugs such as Ecstasy and Ketamine.

Mari Mahr

"In her series Mahr combines photographs and drawings with assemblages of familial objects to construct visual narratives or evoke the atmosphere of a particular time or place."(Mahr, 2013). I particularly enjoyed the project "Tales from Within a Small Suitcase" which shows Mahr's old dolls arranged in a suitcase in such a way that it reminds me of old fables like Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. I think the framing of these pictures is beautiful and everything is packed neatly together which shows that she must care for these objects. I'm getting more and more interested in using themes from literature within my work from looking at these artists.

    

Areas of Photographic Practice A

Today we officially started year 2 of university, in the first half of the day Lawrence explained to us what was expected, and also went through the MIS guide. This was extremely helpful as when I first looked at the guide I had no clue what was going on, I was so confused!

He took the time to explain the Module Aims and the Intended Learning Outcomes, which was helpful in a number of ways; particularly in regards to the jargon used. 

What we'll be asked to do/ think of:

• Purpose
• Intent - the intent of the piece could be different to the actual outcome, you could have an image in your head but not have it work out in practice.
• Latent meaning/ significance
• Reading
• Interpretation
• Reception
• Audience/ Client - Throughout the module you'll have to ask yourself who the work is aimed at, the work is not for yourself. So what you understand, someone else may not - you have to be able to defend your work.
• Public Display - Where your work is displayed is as important as how it's displayed, a warehouse as opposed to a gallery could change someone's understanding of the work. 
• Modes of Dissemination

Work needs to be/ have:

• Conceptually driven
• Critically underpinned
• Informed research - getting information wrong can totally change the outlook on your project. Make sure any metaphors are known for symbolism, instead of assuming.
• Audience reception and understanding - Always think about your audience, a good reception means that you've been successful in your efforts 

Module Aims

Visual Perception

Visual Representation

Photographic Message

Assignment Details:

• Location
• Setting the scene
• Situation
• The message
• The audience
• Establishment of characters (if any)
• Creation of a situation(s) with possibilities of what might happen next
• Use of light suggestive tones
• The building of visual tension or cohesion from one image to the next
• Probable/ improbable outcomes