Assignment 1 - Unnatural

9th August:

For my first level 3 assignment I need to make around 30 images and reflect on how my work takes inspiration or relates to a particular genre. "Don't spend too much time considering what you'll do - get started as soon as possible".

I have a couple of ideas that I want to explore for the duration of this course. Which one to choose first is the question. In the end I went online and did some brief research and this fired my imagination enough for me to want to start making props for one of them. This is always a good sign for me - to have a couple of strong visual images to get me going that will hopefully lead to a body of work.

So the idea that I am going to tentatively pursue is based on the abuse and murder of Gay men in Nazi concentration camps during WWII. There is very little history written about this minority group as at the time Homosexuality was illegal in most of Europe and their issues and treatment was considered inconsequential. Much of the information is anecdotal and has not been recorded - except in journals and autobiographies published decades after these events took place.  

This assignment is an exercise designed to get started and to practice creative play skills without worrying too much about where the project may lead. So I'm not delving too deep into the research at this early stage. I have a couple of strong visual images in my head that I want to make. These relate to the murder of a young Gay man in a camp who was stripped naked, had a bucket placed over his head, and was then mauled to death by the guard's German Shepherd dogs. Grim stuff...

I ordered one of the most famous autobiographies second hand through Amazon and will use this as source material for image ideas. But also, I don't just want to make literal representations; I want to conceptualise this information and incorporate it into the wider aspect of Identity and reference how representation by the majority can strip minority identity and enforce a negative 'Other' identity in its place.

It's early days yet though. I'm just going to order props, make work, and see where it takes me...

11th August:

The bucket's arrived. Time to get bashing! I couldn't wait to make my first shot so when the bucket was sufficiently dented I did a test shoot on my partner against a blank piece of wall.

I really like this image. I have in mind a friend who is much closer in age to the young man I read about. Hopefully he will be prepared to model some of the props for me. But I've made my first photograph and it feels good to pick up my camera. 

12th August:

I've accumulated a tub of barbed wire, some pink fabric to make pink triangles and some striped material to make a scrap of prison uniform. I'm sure most people are aware of the triangle categorisation used to identify concentration prisoners.

"Originally intended as a badge of shame, the pink triangle (often inverted from its Nazi usage) has been reclaimed as an international symbol of Gay pride and the Gay rights movement, and is second in popularity only to the rainbow flag.

Every prisoner had to wear a downward-pointing triangle on their jacket, the colour of which was to categorise them by 'kind'. Other colours identified Jewish people (two triangles superimposed as a yellow star), political prisoners, Jehovah's Witnesses, 'anti-social' prisoners, and others the Nazis deemed undesirable. Pink and yellow triangles could be combined if a prisoner was deemed to be Gay and Jewish."

13th August:

I've fashioned a barbed wire necklace to use as a prop. This image uses metaphor to connote suffering as one possible meaning rather than any literal translation of something I've read. 

17th August:

My model, Rik has come over and we've improvised some shots against a tiled backdrop that I've concocted from a roll of wallpaper, a piece of hardboard, and some clips. The shoot was a great success in as much as Rik was a very willing participant in my craziness. I'd also made some props from the barbed wire, got hold of some fake theatrical blood and some fresh flowers. Apart from the bucket allusion to a historical event, for the rest of the shoot I went with a free-flow of thoughts and ideas to see where they would take me. I felt a bit nervous doing this. I am usually fairly meticulous with my planning.

18th August:

I've made some more images. Apart from the bucket shot I'm not sure about the others. They are very literal interpretations mostly. I need to keep reminding myself that these are not the final images. They are a starting point. There is a part two to this idea which I haven't detailed here yet. I'm at that point when self doubt is creeping in and I have to hold out rather than make any knee jerk decisions about the work. Where am I going with all this?

One shot that I do like is of a briefcase I took down to Folkestone and flung against a wall. In order for the Nazis to begin to strip away a person's humanity, various new societal restrictions needed to take place. The loss of freedoms, unable to do certain jobs, travel to certain places in a city, and curfews are all a part of the process that led to the concentration camps. 

This shot refers to medical experiments to 'cure' the Gayness. It doesn't quite work. I have an idea for another shot and will redo this one at some point.

I made my scrap of prisoner uniform and tried some shots against a fence. No pun intended!

I can't say that I really like them that much. I'm at the stage were I need to think about sending what I have to my tutor, detailing my concerns and hoping I eventually find a way to move forward. I'm still undecided.

On our way out for coffee I was discussing the problem of the literalness of the photographs with Gerry; how I need to be more conceptual in my thinking. My critical ideas around identity that have brought me to this point in the course needs to be more incorporated into the work somehow. I'm not making work about Nazi concentration camp victims alone. It is more than that.

This is where I point out that these images are only intended to form the first part of my project. I want to take my photographs and conceptualise them in some way. I've just recently returned from an extended trip around California, Oregon and Washington State in America. Because we are both creative types, my partner Gerry and myself wanted to do an art project as part of our travels

We conceived of the idea of making small structures in the landscape using whatever natural materials might be to hand. We decided to call them 'Citadels' as a sort of reference to a Gay couple living in a world that is mainly aligned to the Heterosexual majority - and how that affects our rights and freedoms. I usually refer to this model as the 'Heterosexual Binary Gender Matrix'.

Here are some of the images we made along the way:

The  last image is particularly special to me as it was made to memorialise the Orlando 49 who were murdered in Florida while we were on our trip.

What I wanted to do was to incorporate my photographs into new structures, a bit like the Citadels. I would fold the photographs that I've made and sew them into pink cloth triangles. These would be incorporated into structures and placed in reflective spaces, like woodland or alongside streams etc. 

My thinking on this is not totally clear at the moment. I can't help but feel this is all a bit cobbled together and tenuous to say the least. But what is it that the assessment says about risk taking? I always score highly for taking risks that have successful outcomes. Maybe I should stick with it for now...

August 19th:

I know I have the skills to make something of this work if I wanted to. Is it because I am not fully committed to the initial idea? Is it a grain of an idea that has run out of steam early on in the process? Having the confidence to know when to toss an idea into the bin and start again is also something I have learnt to do on this degree pathway.

Either way, I will send what I have to my tutor for advice and document my concerns along with it.    

August 20th:

Okay. A complete and utter turnaround has occurred. I doggedly pursued my concept and printed out my images onto A4 photo paper and began experimenting with folding them into triangles. This was initially to show my tutor how the images would be sewn into the pink cloth triangles for the new 'Citadel' type structures. My notes would explain how little enthusiasm I had for the project...

As soon as parts of my images began to fragment I could see that I had something! The literalness of the images dissolved into something much more interesting! They became fragmented parts of the narrative of violence and dehumanisation that I was alluding to! I did not need to sew them into cloth triangles and make new 'Citadel' structures. I had something right here with these paper triangles. 

I spent the rest of the day experimenting and getting inky black fingers from paper folding. 

These are the preliminary shots I'm sending to my tutor for assignment 1. I'm feeling very pleased with what I have so far and now it is definitely time to send them off and await tutor feedback. 

October 30th:

I had a Skype session with my tutor Keith Roberts. I'm still not sure how I feel about video sessions as I am so used to dealing with the written report and reflecting on it. This isn't a criticism. It just takes me a long time to get used to changes like this. Luckily my tutor also summarised the session and supplied in written form the references and links that we spoke about. The feedback was positive and the references will be very useful. I will particularly find useful a PHD thesis that references art's response to the homosexual concentration camp experiences - rather a surprise to be know that this work has been written about. There really is nothing new in art. With this and the other references I will be combing through them all in the next couple of weeks before I begin my next assignment and I will make separate posts for each one that I will link to here:

The question was raised on the literalness of the triangle shape. Do I need to think of different ways in which to progress this work? I'm quite stuck on the physical shape of the triangle. It is such an iconic emblem of Gay politics. We spoke about using two images with the viewer making up the final part of the triangle. This is an interesting idea that I might try to explore for the next assignment.

I feel that I'm progressing through the two courses, although it does take some getting used to switching between the assignments on the different modules.

Suggested reading/viewing

As discussed …. Go back to Jenkins’ ‘Re-Thinking History’ text … perhaps in specific relationship to bias (Page 44)

In addition to this you might want to get copies of the following:

Hirsch, M. 2012.Family Frames:Photography, Narrative and Postmemory. Cambridge. (Mass). Harvard University Press

Edwards, E. and Morton, C. (2015). Photographs, Museums, Collections : Between Art and Information. London. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Conceptual Photography

Conceptual Art began as a rejection of the aesthetic and Fine Art principles of the traditional art world. Marcel Duchamp's 'Readymades' in 1917 could be considered the first attempt to break away from the importance of technique and skill when making art. It wasn't until the 1960s that Conceptual Art really went mainstream and became known by the wider public - although that isn't to say that it was well received or accepted. Since this time photography has frequently been used as a tool to engage with ideas and make conceptual work.

Conceptual Art has to be about something, rather than just an aesthetic or pictorial ideal. To quote the Source video "What Is Conceptual Art" It has to "come with a rich collection of ideas, analysis, intertextuality, and or historical referencing." That these rich ideas cannot always be instantly read when looking at conceptual work, and usually has to be accompanied by an artist's statement, can be a cause of complaint by the viewer. The idea overrides everything else. Although that does not mean that work made within this genre cannot have anaesthetic appeal; it is just not a primary consideration.

Since the 1960s Conceptual work has continued to evolve and the meaning has become blurred or encompassed more kinds of Art that may not have been considered conceptual before. The terms "anti-emotional", "anti-personal", and "anti-subjective" have been used to describe conceptual photography. While I can see these terms being useful as a rough guide to help categorise types of work I particularly take issue with the term "anti-subjective". How is that even possible? Some artists argue that all work has an idea behind it, so therefore all work is conceptual. I would say that the framework of ideas that surround conceptual art photography has become generally incorporated as a working method for many art photographers.  Work can be aesthetically pleasing or not. But work that does not have a strong concept can be weak.

The image below is from a Gesture & Meaning assignment. I made it as part of a series that looks at stereotyping in advertising. I used digital cut-outs from old advertising campaigns to construct a point of view on sexism, minority representation and other aspects of stereotyping by the media. The concept was foremost in my mind when making the work, although aesthetic considerations such as, composition were not ignored.  

This piece of work "Family. Armoured. Fetish. Consumer." also from the Gesture & Meaning course, looks at identity groups that make up aspects of our personalities. As the whole sequence was made to fit a concept I believe that it can be considered conceptual in outlook.

Psychogeography

The Filbert Steps, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco.

"Mindfully engaging with a physical place, looking at the geography, landmarks, and architecture and responding to them in a literary or artistic manner."

I think most of us (photographers) have used these techniques many times when making work. To have a conceptual term like psychogeography as a framework for analysing and critiquing the work is useful. For previous assignments I've made images both at the location of my childhood home and were I now live. Both pieces were successful because of an ability to relate to the landscape in a personal way. Personal identification with an area or building adds authenticity that is usually perceived by the viewer and makes the work stronger.

OCA student Jodie Taylor's work 'Memories from Childhood' is a case in point. The images are used in the course notes for this section on genres and psychogeography. In the work I was instantly drawn to the similarity in environments in which I grew up. As a kid listlessly hanging around behind the public garages on a hot summer's day, is something I distinctly remember doing. Taylor's images connected me to that memory so strongly I could even smell baked concrete. It is through the photographer's subjective interpretation of place that connections can be made with viewers that may share a commonality of experience. Other viewers with vastly different backgrounds will pass over images such as this.

I do not think it is possible to provide an objective depiction of a place. Although many claim to do so. Bias is within all of us. We are influenced by our upbringing, culture, and formed points of view. And I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It is when points of view are presented as fact and objective that photographic works unravels in my opinion.

Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon's work 'The American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar' sets up interesting juxtapositions between the image and its text. Simon photographs American spaces or subjects that are usually off limits to the general public, such as government research and defence establishments, cryogenic research labs, and vials of AIDS virus.

Simon explains that the detailed text anchors her images and create an "invisible space between text and its accompanying image". The artist goes on to say that photographs appear to show objective reality but there are a number of versions of reality; namely, the photographer's intent, interpretation of the viewer, and context. It is in these 'invisible spaces' between image and text that multiple versions of reality can arise.

Photography is often used to assert a point of view, claiming that a photograph is 'objective proof' to back up an argument. Thinking about hegemonic control and representation of any society from a broader perspective than just photography, I'm reminded by a quote on American capitalist consumer society by Jean Baudrillard:

Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest [America] is real.

I find this a very intriguing concept. A sort of misdirection in play in order to pacify or deceive a population. Interestingly Taryn Simon was rejected by Disneyworld from making work there - as they wanted to preserve the fantasy for guests during troubled times. The notion that one 'thing' is represented as fantasy to hide the fact that another 'thing' (American consumer society, the American dream, democracy - call it what you will) is just a similar illusion is very thought provoking.

These ideas parallel with the science fiction movie The Matrix. In the film the main character is persuaded to take a pill in order for his mind to be unlocked from a vast fantasy (the everyday world). This illusion of reality is being fed to him via tubes directly into his brain from an embryonic gunk filled bubble in which he is kept unconscious as his energy is harvested by robots. When he awakes he sees the world for what it is and has an existential crisis with guns blazing in true Hollywood style. As enjoyable as the film is, its core message is not about robots and spacecraft and men in cool leather coats and sunglasses. The underlying message is to wake up and critically analyse the world around us; question the representations that are publicly made as fact or truth about the world on our behalf; and to ask ourselves who are making these statements and why?

I digress. To get back to Simon's other work "The Innocents" she photographs men that have been found guilty of violent crimes they did not commit. In these cases photographs were used for identification purposes by police. When the victim was unsure but saw similarities in an image, photographs were used again and again to direct the victim until eventually the images replaced the victim's own unreliable memory.

Simon says about the work that "photography had been used to create a fantasy  - contradicting its function as evidence of a truth. It furthered the fabrication of a lie."

Truth and reality is a slippery thing. Our memories are at best unreliable and self-deceiving. Photography both reinforces the lie and exposes it at the same time.