It's All In The Edit

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Stop puffing mediocrity!

I've been to various shows over the summer, but so far haven't really felt a driving need to write anything about them. Perhaps I will, but perhaps I am a bit bored of my own 'critical' voice. However, I have been reading bits and pieces and I thought that I would share something with you.

It's an extract from Linda Nochlin's 1971 essay, 'Why have there been no great women artists?', well actually it is from an extract of the essay as re-produced in Amelia Jones, 'The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader' (2nd edition, 2010). Bed time reading it isn't...

Nochlin writes about how there really never could have been any 'great women artists' because of society, culture and history. The arguments have been made over and over, and even if you've never read them, you will be able to work them out for yourselves... What I want to share with you is the clarion call at the end of the extract,

"What is important is that women face up to the reality of their history and of their present situation, without making excuses or puffing mediocrity. Disadvantage may indeed be an excuse; it is not, however, an intellectual position. Rather, using as a vantage point their situation as underdogs in the realm of grandeur, and outsiders in that of ideology, women can reveal institutional and intellectual weaknesses in general, and, at the same time that they destroy false consciousness, take part in the creation of institutions in which clear thought - and true greatness - are challenges open to anyone, man or woman, courageous enough to take the necessary risk, the leap into the unknown."

Take a deep breath, dear readers and LEAP!

Monday, 18 June 2012

Sorry for the delay... Last one of the year!

Where to start with the final 'le pub' of the year – after all, I missed the penultimate one and my rhythm has been knocked, I am out of kilter. I could work through the evening chronologically, but I started typing this on a plane to Italy (off on an exchange to Florence, if you are interested) and I didn't take any notes... I am reliant on memory, which I must confess is a little fuzzy. So, I shall do the best I can with my limited resources; please forgive any omissions.

Harry Rose – and isn't that a name that could have come straight from Ulysses - is a boy usually full of bravado and offering images of semi-nakedness that make this reviewer blush. However, this sharing introduced us to elements from a 10 volume work entitled 'Recovery' in which he bared his metaphorical soul and let us glimpse through the work into the personal process of mourning.

Nipping out from the hospice for a brief minute at a time, to make images which did not speak of morphine drips, hospital smells and the ache of watching someone you love die, Rose's project was at once very personal and yet went beyond his own experience. The bright blue of southern county skies, the regular architecture of suburban homes and shadows and plastic iguanas scuttling across the frame made for a set of pictures about silence, absence and at the same time, hope. In each image was a stillness, a moment of reflection and a point through which the viewer could escape to ponder issues about life itself.

Single teacher-ties shot against a crumpled bed-sheet (the last one his father slept on at home) were poignant markers to a career which should have ended with retirement and not a hospice. The choice of backdrop could have been mawkish, but the lack of artlessness in the images, the deliberately straight strategy using natural light made for an effective naivety.

The last series presented was for a university holiday project and had something to do with islands (I did warn you, no notes and cider affected memory...) this series as it stood at the time of showing did nothing for me. It lacked the soul and the depth of the work on his family. It was however, simply a taster and I hope that Rose finds a way of bringing some life into the project and in doing so, make it work. When dealing with the personal, the boy has obvious talent: more of this please.

To see Rose's work yourself, go to the Recovery section on his website.

Now – who else? I remember the lyrical beauty of Rosa Harvest's work about 'Finnish Disease Heritage', you can read all about it and the project by clicking here

The edit comprised one portrait – of the scientist who discovered the genetic pattern of disorders back in the 1960s – and a mix of interior scientific spaces juxtaposed with the cold and harsh Finnish exterior landscape. The slightly de-saturated palette of blues, greys and whites made for some beautiful images that made me think about sterility. Everything inside the research institute seemed so perfect, no finger print smudges to spoil the chrome, no footprints on tiles to suggest a bustle and reality. The images look almost too pristine, a magazine feature advertising the perfect clinic... The Finnish landscape, as captured in Rosa's frame, is snowbound, feathered by ice. A pile of snow blocks a path into the trees, ice holds a lake captive. The land is empty of people. Where are the sufferers of FDH? How do they suffer?

These questions will no doubt be answered in the next stage of Harvest's project: it is her intention to develop the work further and I am really looking forward to seeing the results of future trips.

p.s. Harry Rose and Rosa Harvest. Nice names.

Next to pop back into my mind is Ania Jack's 'Heavy Metal Family'. The portraits are of heavy metal music fans who come together once a year at the Bloodstock festival, and who 'meet' regularly via an on-line fan forum. The set is an affectionate portrayal of Jack's alternative family. One of Jack's intentions was to challenge the stereotypes that surround this group and she was/is very successful. Subjects gaze away from the camera, eyes and faces are soft. No-one is seems particularly scary. Even when looking straight at us, the gaze is diffused through hair or by distance. Jack varies the shooting strategy and emphasises the individuality of each subject. There is a tenderness in the picture-making, you can tell that there is a mutual respect between photographer and subject.

http://cargocollective.com/aniajack/Heavy-Metal-Family

This was the last le pub when we got to hear Alexander Norton talking about his work. As usual, most people loved his slightly idiosyncratic presentation style. My friend Tom, who graduated last year from Gloucester thought that it was the most interesting and unique photography thingy he had seen in a long time. Tom loved Norton and the way that he spoke about his images. Don't get the wrong idea, it wasn't a bromance sort of love, but an appreciation that someone was actually talking about work in a 'character-full' way. The images and accompanying commentary told the story of Norton's trip to Sweden to visit a girl that he liked. Through the small and quirky polaroids, Norton gave a hint of the confusion and distress that are features of unrequited love (sorry, have I spoiled the ending for you?) Following the presentation, there ensued a lively discussion about whether or not the work stands without the commentary. Although he had some staunch defenders, the general consensus seemed to be that it is the combination of words and images that works; the challenge now for the graduating photographer is to find a way to make this happen in the real world, and in a way that does not rely on him always being there to present the work...

p.s.

http://cargocollective.com/alexandernorton

p.s. I almost 'forgot' to mention Eugenijus' 'River's bisectors'... This work was made in response to last semester's 'Strategy' brief and is a landscape project in which Giena explores the River Usk and its environs. Each shot is made in response to a mathematical formulae which sees the photographer marking the bisectors of each of the curves in the river.

I'd heard Giena talk about this work A LOT. In fact, one seminar he spent an hour and a half trying to explain it to us all... Luckily, he had fine tuned the chat and communicated the premise of the work with clarity and brevity this time.

To appreciate 'River's bisectors' properly, you really need to get your hands on the book. The design and construction is fabulous.

http://www.giena.lt/books/rivers-bisectors/

Friday, 4 May 2012

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the fabulous Chiara Tocci and Thomas Dryden-Kelsey for their inclusion in the Fast Forward list of emerging talent. The full list of winners can be found at http://magentafoundation.org/books/flash-forward-2012/ and also includes ex-Newport graduate, Jocelyn Allen.

The following images have been craftily 'captured' from the photographers' websites... Forgive me for pinching them, you lovely people...

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Teargas, Targets and Tiny Teeth

After the Haiku reviews for the last le pub session, I wasn't sure what to do for the latest offering. My favourites ideas were: in the style of James Joyce's, Ulysses (breaking conventional rules of punctuation) or as a series of Who's Who entries... But with a 3,500 word lit review outstanding and two projects to finish, I thought... Don't try to be clever, just write something/anything. Apologies for the delay in getting this up here: I've been a bit busy.

The evening's photographers were Ryan Grimley, Louise Hobson, Jack Latham, Sam Laughlin and Tim Sayer. For some reason, no Photo Art students nor PFA students chose to show this month...

I'll start with Sam Laughlin. What do I know about Laughlin and his work? Well... He has the reputation of being incredibly detailed, precise, well organised, thorough, knowledgeable about kit and processes. He can talk about the way light can hit a lens or paper like a zealot peddling the afterlife. Some would say he's a bit of a photo-nerd, but I think it is more than that, it goes deeper: he's a man in love with Photography. Watch out any future partner – you will have stiff competition! Anyway, his work reflects this ability to focus, to seek for perfection. In this, his final year at Newport, he has worked with black and white large format. He has worked at night with long exposures, or in his home-made studio, with meticulous detail. If his work is 'Documentary' it is definitely 'Conceptual'. He is an artist and one day his work will hang in shows that aren't just about the photograph.

So, it was a real surprise for many people to see the colour work, 'Teargas Landscapes'. I had seen them before and even on this second outing, they still made me smile. Although of a dark subject (he shot them during a riot in Italy), they are beautiful. Trails of mist-like vapour soften the landscape; there is no sign of riot police, nor protesters and it is only the title which gives a hint of what was going on. Many photographers, especially those with an education that includes 'the narrative' would have made very stereotypical shots, of arms raised in anger, faces contorted by screams and shouts. Missiles would have been caught flying, someone would have been grabbed by a policeman, blood would appear. Laughlin's pictures, made with a fine artist's eye avoid all of the clichés. Gorgeous.

The following image from the series is a temporary addition... Until I can work out how to get real copies...

You can read a review of Laughlin's other le pub slot at: http://fothphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/night-of-concepts.html

Ryan Grimley is in the 2nd year of the Doc Phot course and has recently been working on a small Danish island (I won't tell you where – I wouldn't want to start a tourist invasion.) The selection of images he shared are part of a wider edit, with the final choices for the set yet to be made. The work clearly communicated that this was a quiet place, where the pace of life is slow. A man walks along the road carrying a tuba – it turns out that he hoped to start an orchestra or band on the island; football goals are placed close to one another, unused as the island's team no longer has enough players; and a child sits, solitary in a changing room, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

It is clear to me, that this journey was not just about finding out about the island and the life of its inhabitants (locals are worried about the school closing and the young people leaving for the mainland), but also offered Grimley a chance to develop his own working practices. Even in this edit, you can see the experimentation, the searching for a strategy and artistic style. The original two week shoot was extended to over four weeks, in response to this learning process and the images are stronger as a result.

Jack Latham's 'Pink Flamingo' series, shot along the Oregon Trail earlier this year is also about a journey, but this time an actual road trip of 5000 miles. During the course of one month he drove, parked up and photographed anything that he found interesting, from the familiar shopping mall 'parking lot' and fast food 'joints' to prayer gardens dominated by 30ft high models of the Virgin Mary. His work is about the landscape and what man has done to it, but also is about the people he meets and what connects us all. He's having a conversation with this part of America, and its a conversation which it is a pleasure to listen in on.

Now, there is nothing new about this sort of project. I am a big fan of Alec Soth's work and there were definitely echoes of Soth in Latham's project; the question is – could this actually be avoided when working in daylight on an American journey and shooting 10 x 8? I need to be clear at this point – the comparison and observation are not criticisms as ultimately, for me, the image is the thing: if I like it/appreciate it/am intrigued by it, well I don't particularly mind if it looks as though it might have been made by one of my 'heroes'. I haven't looked at Latham's work in enough depth and detail (it's hard to do this when images are presented as a powerpoint), but I think that there was a difference in tone between them and the work of Soth. Maybe it was the muted palette in many of the images, or the distance between camera and subject... I'll have to get back to you on this one. Or even better, check out the work for yourself (link to website is at the bottom of the review.)

The most lively debate about the pictures concerned one of Latham's portraits. Made of a woman and her small dog, the image showed the sign of a well known fast food chain in the background. The woman was rather large and one inference that could be drawn from the composition was that her size was directly related to a liking for burgers and fries. Latham was horrified by this – when making the photograph, his eyes were on the woman and her canine friend and he did not notice the sign with its negative cultural connotations behind. He plans to remove the sign from the image when worked on digitally. Although I understand his reservations – he doesn't want his subject to think he was 'making fun' of her, or that he was trying to make a statement about overweight Americans and their fast-food diet – I think he should leave the image as it is. To remove the sign would take away a couple of layers of depth.

You can read more about Jack Latham in a previous le pub review: http://fothphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/happy-valentines-day.html

Louise Hobson 's work has a particular and personal resonance for me: I am from forces stock. Grandfather, father, two uncles, aunt, two cousins – all served or are serving in H.M. Forces. I am an army brat. I get a bit teary-eyed each time there is a 'Welcome Home' parade, or news of another fatality. I just have to see a green uniform and I go all funny. So, Hobson's work about her brother and his life in the Marines interested me very much.

For those who haven't seen 'H Hour', this is not a piece of work designed to give us an impression of the everyday life of a soldier, in fact there isn't a single picture of a person anywhere within the set. But Hobson does give a sense of the waiting and the preparation that goes on before troops are deployed to combat zones. Her images lead us into the unfamiliar world of the training zones and she invites us to imagine how her brother and his colleagues interact within their environments.

Hobson's intention is to talk about the the journey her brother is making and it starts back at home. We see a target built in the woods behind their family's house, a wall hanging in their kitchen detailing an idyllic village. She then jumps to the impersonal details of a military bedroom before moving out into the training grounds themselves. For me there is a problem with the suddenness of the shift: I needed more images about his connection to the family home in order to really appreciate his new experience and how different it is. (We spoke about this at the end of the Le Pub session and this 'weakness' – my word and not hers – may be rectified in her final edit.)

The most successful images for me were the ones made on the gloomy days; the muted palette creates an atmosphere of calm and control and yet, of foreboding. Something is going to happen in these spaces and it's going to be serious. The square format holds the subject safe (does that sound a bit odd?) I really like her choice of format and the way the images are composed. I am less keen on the ones made in the mock up of the Afghan village. Shot in harsh sunlight (appropriate I guess), they almost seem to have been made by a different photographer. There is a brutality to many of them which is perhaps deliberate – after all, this is the true training ground for current conflicts. Hobson's brother is due to be deployed to Afghanistan and on a subliminal level, perhaps she is expressing a strong reaction to this.

Finally, we come to the phenomenon that is Tim Sayer. In the history of the Documentary Course I am guessing that there has never been a student like him...

But, where to start... Probably at the end of the le pub night... On the way home, I turned to one of my Italian guests (lovely students over from the Studio Marangoni in Florence) and asked what they thought of the night. They loved it. I asked which photographers they particularly liked and they told me. Then I asked what they thought about Tim's work:

Me: So... Urm... What did you think of Tim's work.

A: You can't call it work.

Me: Yes you can. He works hard to make his pictures. They are staged. He makes props. It

takes a long time to organise his shoots. It is work.

A: So, he 'works hard', but he does not make work.

And this for me is one of the central issues when considering Sayer's output as a photographer. I can see the effort he puts in, but like my Italian guests, I don't really appreciate the outcome.

Taken singly, some of the images are actually very funny (the mother snorting coke from the belly of her baby is so wrong it is hilarious), but I just don't get the joke in many of them. Without the narration that accompanied the images and powered the post-show discussion, they just don't make sense. This is perhaps a reflection of my own naivety, but also highlights a real problem with the work – Sayer needs his viewers to have a certain level of background knowledge or experience to read the details within the image and appreciate fully what is going on.

The fundamental premise of the work and how it will be presented – as a series of greetings cards available on-line is pretty clever. Ultimately, visitors to his website will be able to 'enjoy' cards that could be used to mark a range of occasions such as the birth of a child, or getting a new job. Clicking on any of the 'cards' will then lead the viewer along to a new thread and a new project. Choose a 'sweet sixteen' card, you will be led to a series of black and white large format nudes entitled, 'Decline of the Pubic Landscape' in which Sayer displays a variety of pubic barbering styles to comment on the deforestation of the Amazonian rain-forest. Select 'With Deepest Sympathy' and you go to the 'Polishing a Turd' series. Other cards will take you on alternative journeys into Sayer's imagination and view of the world. For many people, the site will be a very interesting and engaging experience.

Sayer's aesthetic style is deliberately crude, which suits the images perfectly. This is bad taste created by someone who really cares about it; there is no subtlety here. In many of the images, the lighting is hard, aggressive and obviously artificial. The 'I shot in 5 x 4 so it must be Art' Pubic Landscapes appear casually composed: we see crumpled clothes in the background which serve no purpose. Even though the lower half of a naked woman is prone for the camera, there is nothing sexy, nor beautiful about the images. If he's being truthful about the politics, then this is politics with no spin. If he isn't, then the irony is cheap.

When I think that Sayer is just about to graduate, I wonder how on earth the tutors are going to mark his work. I wouldn't like to be in their position. When I consider his future, I imagine a series of novelty books to be sold at Christmas-time; cards purchased and passed on by blokes with a dodgy sense of humour and a career as a stand-up comedian with photography and photographers as his subject. If he can fine tune his material, stripping out the jokes that are based on the most obvious photographic stereotypes, I can see the development of a unique comic act. Coming soon to a comedy festival near you: Tim Sayer Polishing his Turds.

If you want to see more of the work (and I am sure that you will) check out the following:

Sam Laughlin: http://samlaughlin.co.uk/

Jack Latham: http://www.jacklatham.com/

Louise Hobson: http://www.louisehobson.co.uk/

Ryan Grimley - site under construction.

Tim Sayer: Website is under construction. But you can check out another Tim Sayer at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/art-im-tim-and-im-an-artoholic-1074303.html

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Haiku Reviews Part III

Work by Kristian Saunders, owner of a most spectacular new beer-can crunching dog:

Stills - visit the past.
Raw, bold, monochrome tension;
Lost community.

And then there is one more...

Work by third year PFA student, Kaha. Unfortunately, she hasn't replied to my request for anything to post on the blog - so the review will have to stand on its own. In some ways, this was the hardest to write...

Even in haiku,
Nothing really worth saying:
Music Video.