Assignment 4

The main purpose of this assignment is to begin to think about editing the sequence of images that form my body of work. This means that decisions need to be made regarding what images are strong  (if any) and to use the opportunity to appraise the project. If any changes need to be made at this late stage then now is the time to do it. I am happy with my choice of subject matter. I knew even at level 2 that I would be working on some element of LGBTQ representation. By narrowing down the scope of my subject to the oppression of homosexuals by the Nazis in concentration camps during World War Two, I have chosen a subject that has much opportunity for research - much of which has been wilfully ignored by professionals for decades.

My next task was to appraise the visual element of the work. The aesthetic form that my images have taken have undergone a number of changes before finalising on the concept of the triangle (the pink triangle being the badge that marked out Homosexual prisoners in the camps and also an adopted symbol of Gay political activism during the AIDS crisis years). I makde images that were inspired from events that were witnessed by and perpetrated upon Josef Kohout, a 22 year old Viennese homosexual, and the subject of the biography 'The Men With The Pink Triangle' by Heinz Heger.

When I made the initial images it was apparent that they were not working. I liked the concept but they were not visually arresting, seemed rather one dimensional in form, and too literal.

 

I began to doubt my project and wondered whether I was on the wrong track. But having the experience of the previous OCA courses behind me has given me the knowledge that it is best to work through creative problems and continue to explore alternate avenues before giving up quite so easily. Coming to a dead end and finding an alternate path or jumping to a completely new path is all part of the creative process. Experience has taught me that this is not a time for negativity!

So I lived with my research ideas circulating around my head for a few days (with the option of the freedom to abandon the subject and start afresh) when I hit upon the idea of incorporating the triangle into my imagery. I printed out some of my test shots and began to fold them into triangle shapes. Once the images became fractured their literalness faded away and some of the images retained the intent of what I was trying to communicate with my photography.

I still had a number of false starts with my creative exploration. I began photographing my folded triangles on a tiled backdrop. Although the images were all different there was a certain uniformity to this typological approach. I wasn't sure this is where I wanted to go with the work. I attended a number of Student hangout crit sessions and in conjunction with my tutor feedback I decided to look again at the work. I then began exploring the possibility of taking the triangles to a woodland setting and photographing them in an organic space; the intention was to reference this juxtaposition of natural and man made objects, as a metaphor for the terrible Nazi ideologies that tried to justify hatred and bigotry, all the while claiming that some kind of warped 'natural justice' gave them the right to imprison, torture and murder homosexuals.

I think that the woodland setting adds an extra level of conceptual depth to the imagery. My 'medical experiment' images in particular are made extra lurid because of the garish colour tones against the natural green and brown backdrop. I also began to experiment with prop-making at this time, taking the concept of the triangle and incorporating it into other ideas that referenced events in the 'Pink Triangle biography'. The reason for this was to avoid repetition and break away from any attempt by the viewer to read the work as typological.

I made a number of props, some more successful than others, and scouted out woodland locations for each of them. I photographed images during the course of a full season as the conditions changed. This was not intentional although the images can be read as marking time, and indeed, Josef Kohout worked in the slave-labour camps in all weathers for over 4 years.

To enable my concept to be completely visualised I would need to use some text from the biography 'The Men With The Pink Triangle' to accompany some of the images. This adds another layer to my work creating depth. When it comes to exhibiting the work I would rather that the textual information is not placed beside the images but printed in a small handout booklet. This allows the viewer to approach the work from a variety of intellectual and creative viewpoints - choosing to read the text before or after viewing the images, or not at all! As we all know images are polysemous and it is up to the viewer what they bring to the imagery and how the works are incorporated into their own creative, social, and political world view. My booklet indicates the artist's intent should the viewer choose to read it.

I've made a rough first copy of the booklet; it contains the text descriptions and not much else at present. I envisage that it will eventually include an artist's statement of intent and some contextual information that helps the viewer to navigate the historical aspects of LGBTQ hidden history.

My work also finally has a name after being pressed to at least adopt a working title by one of my tutors! The work is to be called 'Target Practice'. I think this is a very arresting title and graphically connotes some of the events from the biography. The title was actually suggested by tutor Clive White during an OCA crit session at the Brighton Biennial way back in 2016 and I'm very grateful for his input. I do wonder if 'Target Practice', a title that has been knocking around in my head for over two years now, has subconsciously affected my image making. Images like the one below fit very well with the title.

I haven't posted any of the text to accompany these images on the wider Internet yet as there may be copyright issues - something that is on my to do list to check out.

I have made a first edit of my sequence of images for my tutor for this assignment and will be posting it off on Monday, even though I still have one or two further images to make in the woodland; the sequence is not in its final form by any means, but it feels like I'm now on the home stretch.

Edit 9th May:

My feedback from my tutor was that the work is progressing well and has a broad depth to it. He liked the use of text combined with the prints and said the small booklet format works well as a handout for an exhibition. If I was to use the text and images for a photobook then different design considerations, such as using landscape format, would be more suitable. I haven't got to the stage of thinking about a photobook yet. I have purely focused on exhibiting the work and what that entails, I will have a think about this for assessment.

It was once again highlighted that I need to justify the chosen location for the installation pieces. I discussed this topic with Keith and I need to make sure that my contextualisation is clearly shown prior to submission for assessment. I plan to do this in the 2000 word evaluation for the final assignment. I also will write a blog post on my learning log and try to sum up my feelings on the choice of anonymous woodland location.

I was given a number of works to look at. I have already read Shimon Attie's Writing On the Wall but not sure if I have made a blog post about this yet. I am a bit behind in my blog posts for this module because of focusing on finishing Contextual Studies. Anyway I will re-look at this book as it is always useful to reread pieces of work at a later time, post development of my Body of Work, to see if any further insight is gained. I also need to look at Vectors of Memory by Nancy Wood. I think I struggled with this on first reading.

Adorno's Dictum, regarding the aesthetic representation of the Holocaust needs to be read around as well. A lot has been written on this piece and I need to write a blog post on the discussion and development of Adorno's Dictum.    

Anchor and Relay Text

The course notes discuss the use of anchor and relay text in conjunction with images. Anchor text is mostly used in advertising or news photography to make a clear point. Anchor text attempts to direct the viewer and leaves little room for ambiguity. Relay text gives equal weighting to the image and the text. They both enhance each other to create meaning that goes beyond the first level of interpretation. Much successful work has been made using both of these methods. Feminist artist's such as Barbara Kruger have based their art practise on using text and image together to communicate political commentaries on feminism, cultural consumption, and Patriarchal ideologies that oppress.

In the image below Kruger appropriates a popular song title as a relay text to communicate a feminist message that girl's (and boys) identities are bound tightly to notions of masculinity and femininity that are culturally constructed and Patriarchal. The text directly opposes the cultural pairing of the traits 'boy/strong' and 'girl/meek' portrayed in the image. Kruger appropriates both image and text from popular culture and advertising to create powerful insights into western culture using relay text as a method of communication.

Levels of Meaning

One of the exercises for this module asks us to look at the non literal use of visual codes that help to define the deeper meaning of an image. Metonymy for instance is useful when making images; metonymic words are familiar to audiences that share the same cultural codes. For example, 'the bottle' as a metonym for alcoholism is clearly understood by a wide audience. Metaphor takes metonymy one step further and instead of using closely associated connections between objects and words the association is much more diverse and works on a deeper level that may not be readily apparent.

In an assignment for a previous module I did use empty beer bottles to connote 'alcoholism' for an assignment about my difficult childhood. It seems that this metonym for alcohol abuse is clearly understood from a western cultural viewpoint.

For my current body of work I am using metaphor to convey more complex concepts. My 'Ediction machine' is a prop that I made to connote the idea of ideologies and regimes that have control over mass populations. The addition of the barbed wire and dead leaves in the composition is intended to convey a negative impact as a consequence of the edicts issued by the machine. The image is hard to read on its own and is obviously intended as part of a sequence and with an accompanying artist's statement to help guide the viewer to decode the image.