Moving on to G&M Section 3

I have now concluded section 2, not to my complete satisfaction, but I feel I've made a good fist at it, as the Irish would say.

I've sent Assignment 2 to my tutor and am awaiting her response and in the meantime I am carrying on with Section 3 which you'll find by clicking the link below:

Section 3

At this precise moment, there's nothing in it as I'm yet to start the reading.

Assignment 3 will be found at the following address, but the same applies as I have yet to get stuck in:


Assignment 3

Ex 2.7 Contemporary awareness #2

Look briefly at the website of each of the photographers to get a general picture, then pick five or six artists (more if you have time) to explore in more detail. Present your findings along with reference images in your learning log or blog.

My chosen photographers were:

Zarina Bhimji:    www.zarinabhimji.com

Zarina’s website was fairly difficult to navigate and even her selected works were, to me, disjointed and not easily linked.  Her main body of work, which was the first one on display, was taken in association with the Journal of the Association of Physicians.  I had expected medical pictures of gruesome illnesses or disjointed limbs but it seemed to be pictures composed using flowers or parts of plants.

Her ‘Yellow Patch’ completely baffled me, as again there seemed to be very little linking the images together.

Elina Brotherus: www.elinabrotherus.com

Elina’s website, on the other hand, was clear to see and easy to maneouver and her strong relationship with her models achieved the solitude, light and colours she sought.  I understood her need to have the model facing away from the camera as this would invite peaceful contemplation not confrontation.

David Hockney:    www.hockneypictures.com

David has had several styles in his painting career and has now moved back to Yorkshire from LA and concentrates mainly on starkly realistic pictures of the Yorkshire Dales and hills, etc, devoid of superfluous detail.

His work is wide ranging from single images to collages of landscapes, people and places.  His use of contemporary media, ie, the iPad, shows an ever willingness to try new things.

 Jeff Wall:         www.mariangoodman.com/artists/jeff-wall

Jeff Wall’s pictures seem to bear no relation to each other yet are show as selected works.  I would have thought that images clubbed together as such would have some linking theme.  Jeff seems to have exhibited his work around the world but not too much my style.

Jane Bown:         www.janebrownphotography.com

Jane worked for the Observer for over 6 decades and made sure she kept her camera equipment to a minimum, ie, Olympus OM1.  Her simple approach using natural light if possible blended iconic with informal poses which became her trade mark.  Her ideal sitting was when she used no more than a roll and a half of film.

My portrait work has been compared to Jane’s in previous modules and I take that as a great compliment as I admire her work immensely.

Exercise 2.6: There's only one . . .

For this exercise, use either a mobile phone or a small but cheap digital compact. No DSLR or bridge cameras. You’ll also need a large lump of Blu-Tack or plasticine to put your camera on or stick the camera into. This is your tripod – it will stick into corners, on shelves, etc., where you would struggle to put a full-sized tripod. 

Photograph yourself for three days. If you can, take roughly one photograph per hour.
If you miss an hour you can’t take two shots in the next. And you can’t repeat it if it goes wrong, if somebody moved, etc. Aim to show your feelings, your moods, your quirks, your belongings, your environment – the things that make you into you. 

Produce eight images that, together, create a profile of you and explain what there is to know about you when read from left to right in a particular order.

17 December
This exercise is going to prove a real eye opener on my life.  To start it I felt I needed a selfie-stick to use with my iPhone so went on to Amazon to source one and ordered it to come withing 48 hours as I wanted to get on with the 3-days of pictures.  I just happened to mention it to my husband only to find that he had queued for over 3/4 of an hour in a local shop to buy one.  The only problem is that I'll have to wait until Christmas morning to start taking pictures unless I want grossly distorted images which is what usually happens with my selfies as I have such short arms.

 17 February
I've got several hobbies that I cover every week.  My first selfie was when I got up at 7.30 am and got the breakfast on Boxing Day morning.

 

 On my start day we opened one or two presents in our living room and went out for a walk along the sea front as we live in Lyme Regis.  We tend to go for a walk regularly at the weekends and occasionally in the middle of the week depending on the weather.  This winter has been abysmally wet and windy, so much so you had to take extreme care not to be flown off your feet.

Opening presents

Walking along the winter beach

Cooking Sunday lunch

Checking emails and blogs

Meeting up with old friends to catch up

Working at the local library with silver surfers to introduce them to social media to counteract isolationism and loneliness

Throwing a clay pot on a wheel at a local potter's studio.  I've been making clay pots for 2/3 years but never thrown a pot before.  It was my ambition to 'have a go' so started after Christmas.  The studio was so cold I had to wear several layers of clothes to keep war,  Here I'm cleaning off and flattening the base.  i go once a week with two friends.

My life seems to be studying twice a week at a local internet cafe where they rent rooms out to students and give lessons on the internet.  Apart from general living I go to pottery twice a week, attend my local camera club one evening a week and walk up and down the local hills (of which Lyme has plenty).

Ex 2.2: Artistic Styles

Exercise 2.2: Artistic styles

Write up to 150 words about an issue that you feel worthy of comment. It can be immigration, finance, social deprivation, domestic violence or any contemporary issue that you feel strongly about. Then make an image that expresses your concerns in one of the three artistic styles listed below. This is not an easy task and you may have to do some research before you start.

Once you’ve completed your first image, have a go at a second image in another style. Try and make time to attempt the third style – or at least make some notes outlining how you’d go about it. You could then come back to this exercise later and put your ideas into practice.

Q: What are contemporary issues?

A contemporary issue can be defined as any event, idea, opinion or topic in a given subject that is relevant to the present day. Contemporary issues can be found in almost any matter of interest.

One social issue that I feel strongly about is that on equality of the sexes.  For too long women have been seen as inferior in society and right back to the 19^th century they have been pressured into managing the household budget, child raising and supporting husbands or siblings.

During and after WW1 and WW2 women proved themselves capable of holding down complex work situations.  Women over 30 were given the vote in the 1920s and gradually the voting age for them became lower and lower.  Now, similar to men, the age for voting is 18 and it’s now under discussion to reduce it for both sexes to 16, an age when people are considered capable of choosing to marry or smoke, etc.

Some things have changed for the better in that both sexes expect to receive compulsory education up until their 18^th birthday.  Whether they want to pursue further or higher education is now up to their own expectations and financial situation. 

Women still have to make a decision as to whether they want to follow their dreams and make a name in their chosen career and wait to have a family or choose a lesser job and follow their hearts into marriage, family and paying off  the mortgage first.  Some women choose the option to have a marriage and a family early in their lives and then develop their chosen career later when their families are adults.  Whilst all women think things have changed, it seems that history repeats itself and we go round and round the Ixiom wheel repeating the same pattern of life in perpetuity. 

Exercise 2.2: Artistic styles part 2

Then make an image that expresses your concerns in one of the three artistic styles listed below. This is not an easy task and you may have to do some research before you start.

Once you’ve completed your first image, have a go at a second image in another style. Try and make time to attempt the third style – or at least make some notes outlining how you’d go about it. You could then come back to this exercise later and put your ideas into practice.

Constructivist: Produce a composite image from several images that you feel fully express your argument or position.

Surrealist: From the same position statement, produce an image based upon surrealist notions of how the issue stands from your position. Why or how do you affect the issue? Is it ‘unconscious’ – just instinct that things should be different – or is it ‘repressive’ in order to provide what you see as a natural order of things? Produce an image that delivers your feelings from a surrealist viewpoint. (Re-read pp.281–82 in your reader if you need a reminder about what these terms mean.)

Conceptual: The issue you’ve written about may be able to furnish you with a concept. Try making a précis of it in about 15 words. Once you’ve realised your concept, plan a way of expressing this in an image. Think in either a literal or non-literal manner – logically or illogically. Anything goes provided that your methodology visually supports the concept and the idea is illustrated through the imagery. 

I've put this image together showing a woman endeavouring to puncture the 'imaginary' glass ceiling that men say doesn't exist.

 

Imaginary Glass Ceiling in Conseptual style

I need to produce an image using the surrealist style so I have gone for the same subject but included a stylized Barbie doll face as men seem to feel that blond women have no more brains than said doll.

I had a bit of fun with this image and tried to make it look as though the woman was actually breaking through but included some stylized imaging as well. See what you think?

Breaking through the glass ceiling

Write the three tasks up in your blog alongside illustrations of constructivist, surrealist and/or conceptual photography

Exercise 2.5: Every day icons

Choose a range of items that represent feminism as you see it and make a collage from photographs of your chosen items. Play with scale, perspective and colour. Black and white – spot colour – it’s your choice.

Feel free to use text to illustrate, i.e. as image rather than text. You can use parts of found images as long as the concept and major images are your own. 

Produce one photo collage digitally. 

Produce a second photo collage in a different, more tactile and responsive manner. Re- photograph the result.

Your collages should be 2:1 ratio, i.e. twice as long as wide. 

Write up the experience in your learning log or blog and comment on how well the two production methods worked.

This is my first attempt using 'everyday icons'.  I thought of womanly bits and pieces such as make up and hair prodicts using the L'Oreal adverts 'You're worth it' but, in the end that was too flippant.  This image incorporates two of the iconic women who work for liberty and feminism in the modern world.  I added the words' libety, equality, fraternity' epitomise how the world is feeling today as a result of the bombings and shootings in Paris recently.  The bullet holes add an extra dimension to the words.

I closed it down and when I reopened it the next day realised it was too 'busy' and needed to be refined to give over the message more simply.

 In my second attempt I wanted to make it much simpler so removed the three words for the text 'True Feminism'.  I thought by blending the two faces together it would show that generation of women joined together to fight for women's rights which are still being denied throughout the world.  The Iron bars behind the faces with bent bars represents how women have won the battle in some areas but have still to win the war for true equality.

Martha Rosler

http://martharosler.net/photo/index.html 

(c) Martha Rosler self portrait

  

I’ve just been looking through some pictures and montages (for which Martha is well-known) and found them very interesting.  Some of her montages are obviously put together with very little skilled melding but they show what she was trying to see.

Her images on ‘Bringing the War Home’ certainly strike a cord with one’s conscience on fighting a war and the consequences of said war.  Her dioramas show concern in how those ‘left at home’ avoid the effects of those brought home injured and with multiple amputations.

Her work on American life gives an insight to how some women want to play a serious part in trying to show how life can be grim for the have nots and luxurious for the people who have money to ease them through life.

Martha’s work has certainly made me think about a woman’s situation in the civilized world, where we are still bashing our heads against a glass ceiling even though men say there is no glass ceiling in the first place.

Exercise 2.4 continued: Stereotypes

 

Produce a set of three images, two false, one true. Show them to as many people you can and keep a track on the results. Can people spot the genuine image? Look for a pattern. Do people want the person to be something other than what they actually are? 
 

The aim here is to get people to question what a doctor or a student or a politician looks like.  

Write around 250 words in your learning log or blog reflecting on what you’ve found out about stereotypes and our need to ascribe characteristics to particular roles.

 

I'm finding this difficult to set up as most of my friends and acquaintences work or lead active lives, but not in paid roles.  I've been trying to think up which ones would be willing to help me cover this exercise of dressing as what they normally do and other roles which they wouldn't normally cover.

That's only half the work as I'll then have to trawl the images round to other people asking about which job my pictures show is the one that this person really does.

I found a friend who was willing to particpate in this exercise, thanks Rosie and Daisy her daughter.

Hooligan

House agent

Nurse

I've produced 3 for the purposes of this exercise.  I'll take the images out tomorrow to see what people think.

30th November Sample
I've been asking people I know and those who were strangers to me and the consensus of opinion was that the first image of this person dressed as a hooligan was way out of character for the person.
The majority of people, ie, 8 out of 12, asked thought that picture 2, the estate agent, was the correct job for this person.  Reasons given were that:

• she was smartly dressed
• looked like she was holding an appoinment book which would be essential in this job
• gave the impression that this was her job

Picture 3 of the nurse was given 4 votes and the reasons given were:

•  that she was dressed for the job and had the necessary equipment
• she looked caring

I know it's not a very scientific study but enough to show that wearing the correct clothes the majority of people can pass for something they are not but that they might aspire to.  American humorist Mark Twain said, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." Twain has a point. Often, before others know anything else about you, they judge your outward appearance.  It's often said that job applicants can win or lose a job in the first 30 seconds of an interview, just on first impressions.