Final Project idea

For my photography project I was thinking about taking photos of different landscapes, and the natural decaying process that occurs within nature. By this I was thinking along the lines of old trees and rotting vegetation and pretty much anything else that seems to be decaying or rotting in the woods. I wanted to work with the 4x5 camera and make pretty large prints, probably around 11X14 or maybe 16x20, depending on the final images I decide to shoot. I’m thinking about printing 4-8 photos, each matted on ply board but without any borders or anything; again this depends on the final shots. Also, I’m really hoping for some mistakes in the darkroom or with my film or printing in general. I really want to have a sort of nostalgic, dream-like presence to the images, almost scary but not quite to that level and I’m always hoping for mistakes in my images in general.

Overall though I think this Is what I want to try and work with. I think that by showing what I love to do with photography I can invoke any sort of response in the viewer. I also think that with these photographs I’ll be able to show something not necessarily about my fears or desires, but the fears and desires of whoever looks at the images; which I hope to see in their reactions to the photos. I also really think that the photos will alter my audiences’ perspective on a lot of different things, especially on the topic of decay; either that or it will just invoke that perspective even more.

Final Project

Alright, so I have to admit I sort of stumbled across one of my ideas for my final project, in fact, it found me. I was at a friend's house over break, and through some extraneous circumstances, came to be in his guest house. Unfortunately for my friend, the last guests had not been too kind with his possesions. My friend's dad was a doctor, and all his scholarly things had been strewn through out the house. This included his selection of medical slides. I guess you can see where this is headed.

Anyway, I selected three that I thought would make the best triptych. Actually, one image I pulled out and was immediately drawn to, and the other two I selected to work with the single image. To me this project would be an interesting statement on the editorial process, and the questions surrrounding ownership in our digital age. Additionally, I feel like this project would ask interesting question about the role of the artist as the 'man behind the camera.'

Another idea I had for this final project, would be to take a picture of a shrouded piece of art in monty, enlarge so that it would be as big or bigger than the original painting, and then frame it. We're doing this project for world AIDS day where we shroud all the art in monty, because world AIDS day is supposed to be a day without art, (this project has to be secretive and kept under wraps though, we can't tell anyone we're doing it). My teacher selected me to be the token photographer, but the only problem with this would be I currently don't have any 4x5 film, and world AIDS day is tomorrow.

I think I might end up doing both ideas and just going with which one I like best.

Final Project Ideas

Lately, my dominant interest in photography is with taking landscape photography, where I seek to find new and hidden characteristics in nature by shooting close up images to try and reveal the minute details of my subject, and to uncover almost another worldly dimension. As a result, my images tend to be less about capturing nature but more about depicting my discoveries.

For my Final Project, I have been contemplating various ideas and I know the only way for me to narrow them down and focus on one ideas is to start shooting..

1st idea: Black & White is also Color
I rarely take black and white photographs so I want to use light (natural & artificial) to be my color source.


2nd idea: Joining Heaven & Earth
Here in SMCM, I have witnessed some spectacular sunsets, and I am always fascinated by each one of them. Now I want to capture these sunsets and expose the cascade of purples, oranges, reds, blues etc. The print sizes of the photographs will be big 24 x 33 or 44 in. I guess the image will make the decision.


3rd idea:
An artist I looked at, at some point in the beginning of the semester was Stephen Lawson and his image The Year of the Drought.



I want to recreate this image but whereas the photographs were a collection of images taken over a year, mine would be taken over 24 hours..


4th idea: Skinned Landscape
I will first take photographs of the landscape and then project the images on a person’s body part such as their hands, face, arms, leg, stomach etc. I am thinking of shooting in black and white so the forms/shapes of the projected image can have a more surrealist effect on the body part.

Project Proposal

I hope to explore the medium by trying to printing on aluminum surfaces. I’d like to explore textures and its relationship with the viewer; specifically how changing the medium can alter this relationship with the subject’s textures. I hope that by changing the surface I can objectify the image, distancing the subject matter from the viewer and it to be seen more formally.

I don’t have much of plan for subject matter yet, but want to explore different subjects with different textures to see how using metal portrays them. I have an idea of a few images of varying subjects on metal and similar images on paper, too expose the metals effect on the textures. 

However I am still trying to work through the process (they are coming out mostly black) and hope that I will be able to accomplish this in time.

Final Proposal

• Photography in search of self→ “the camera gives you the license to strip away what you want people to know about you to reveal what you can’t hide” (Genius of Photography: We Are Family)

• Use photography as a way of living the moment without worrying about forgetting it → “be there and get lost at the same time” (also from Genius Of Photography: We Are Family)


I think I’d like to focus on people for my final project. The two quotes from the Genius of Photography series I have included above are intriguing to me, and since I do not normally like to photograph people (nor do I feel particularly good at doing so). Now, I’d like to challenge myself to do some sort of work with portraiture, and use photography as a way of making a comment on how photography has become a way to display to the world a certain “pre-packaged self”, as many celebrities and the like have done. I want to experiment with how photography deals with truth of identity, display of identity, and perception of identity.

I don’t have much planned out yet, although I do know that I’d like to work with text and image (oh my!) – I have in my head a vision of the final presentation of my project: I see some sort of a series of portrait-esque images of a person, or an interaction involving more than one person….paired with a bit of text that will tell some sort of story about the person(s)……These will both displayed in the same area, so that the viewer can interact with them simultaneously. In doing so, I hope to make a comment on how we process and integrate stories told by the written (or spoken) word compared to how we process visual images and translate them into stories/narratives – and then use this to speak to how both of these can deal with different ideas of identity.

So, for this project, I am going to be relatively experimental (dealing with people, dealing with text and image) – whether or not I will end up with a successful work by the end, I am unsure. Is this too ambitious?

Final Project Proposal

When I look at photographs, one of the things that makes a photograph interesting and memorable is eyes. The eyes of a person show emotion, personality and life. They create a connection between the viewer and the subject and the emotions of the subject are projected onto the viewer.
A photograph can capture a passing glance and preserve it forever. When someone glances at the camera, they have not had time to think about how they look or pose for the camera. Sometimes the eye contact of the subject and the photographer behind the camera sets off a kind of instinctive reaction to take a picture. In a photograph, this glance becomes the door to this person's life. What seems like a blank passing glance becomes a meaningful portrayal of the person in the picture. We are given a chance to look back into their eyes and find clues to their thoughts or feelings as they are frozen in the expression of their face and the look in their eyes.

In my project, I want to capture the moment when someone glances at the camera, eyes full of the thoughts and feelings of that moment. I will try to capture this in one or two photographs and I want to print very large, life size or bigger.

Tenterhooks Exhibition opening-Karley Klopfenstein & Anja Marais

The artist lecture and exhibition opening by Karley Klopfenstein and Anja Marais was one of the most abstract and beautiful presentations ever given on a series of artwork. The dual exhibition showcased the work of Anja Marais who is an artist from South Africa who works with sculpture and the theme of storytelling and life passages in her work. Although she currently resides and works in Florida, Marais has artwork and publications all over the country. As her biography states, “ Through an ancestral portal she examines the fragility of life by creating biosphere content that touches on themes of cyclical elements of fauna and flora, memories, genetics and life-death.” This is very true with Marais’ work that she presented in the exhibition, with sculptures of the human head and torso attached to strings and other fabric materials. One specific sculpture showed a man’s head upside down, attached at the neck by a tied rope hung off the ceiling. The sculpture is hand sewn and Marais explained how she sews on each small portion of fabric to make the surface of the sculpture actually resemble that of the human skin. This, as well as glass eyes bought from a taxidermist make the sculpture resemble the human forms of life and death; it’s on the edge of reality but also on the verge of unreal. When I spoke to Marais, she actually said that this was something she was trying to get across in her artwork. Behind this particular piece was a collage of the different pieces of numbered fabric, pasted onto a sheer cloth with hints of blue water-like shapes. When you stand back and look at the work, it looks like a person submerging themselves into the water; its abstraction and beauty really do contradict each other, but give it almost a sort of nostalgic feeling. Karley Klopfenstein is also an artist from Southern Florida who has showcased her work broadly in the U.S. With Klopfenstein’s work, she focuses on an American military weaponry style sculptures; coupled with the cultural traditional factors of the area those weapons are used in. For example, one of Klopfenstein’s main works is a “fat man” bomb; a bomb specifically used by the U.S. on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. With this, she covered the exterior of a wooden “fat man” bomb in a latch-hooked cloth, with traditional Afghani and Iraqi symbols and motif’s. Klopfenstein also takes this same idea and applied it to an almost life size version of a military war tank; still covered with the traditional symbols of the country these machines are in, but this time In rug material. Each of these objects reminds us of all the violence and destruction that’s present everyday. Another particular work that she presented in the exhibition was her life-size AK-47 macramé gun. To actually see the gun life-size was pretty scary because it really is bigger than most of us; and to see it as a flimsy, cloth object-not capable of destruction is also interesting. By covering the objects and making them out of different materials, especially cloth which is a particular feminine and soft item, Klopfenstein makes the viewer aware of the potential and meaning that these militarized objects have.
Overall I really enjoyed the exhibition; I really feel that both artists’ works’ showed a broad sense of abstraction and unique creativity. From decorated military tanks to taxidermist life size human models, both artists’s decided to title the show “tenterhooks” which I found really neat due to the fact that tenterhooks were used to hold and construct woolen fabrics, which is essentially what both artists are doing in their works. Both Anja Marais and Karley Klopfenstein are two artists that clearly represent memory and place as well as the human form and mind.

Mirta Kupferminc Lecture-La Piel De La Memorial

The artist lecture entitled La Piel De La Memorial The skin: Space for Repression and Expression was given by Buenos Aires artist Mirta Kupferminc. Over the years many museums have bought her artworks and she has even lectured to universities. While being the daughter of Holocaust survivors she uses her artwork to express the memory of repression and to bring about a change to her viewers. Although stating that her artwork is very Jewish, one wouldn’t know that at first glance. For example, one artwork from her Skin of Memory collection is the wing chair which is essentially a wooden chair with wings. Kupferminc stated that with this she is marking a certain place for the person who lived there, in that moment. With this she took two photos, one with her mother sitting in the chair with the common concentration camp number tattoo, and the other with a famous musician from Buenos Aires who is covered in traditional tattoos head to toe. The juxtaposition of the two is very evident, although Kupferminc continues to subject her audience into the artwork by placing both color photos in front of a large video screen of moving subjects. Although the video was in black and white there were instances of people wearing the color red who were subjected out. Visitors who came to see this exhibition also got to experience another aspect of the project where Kupferminc had each visitor get a semi-permanent tattoo of either a traditional symbol or to anyone dressed in red-an identification number tattoo. The subjects soon started to realize that they belonged to a group and were being singled out.
As well as this, Kupferminc has done many other artworks including a photo of her photo-shopped hand with traditional Hungarian cloth overtop. With this, Kupferminc embroidered her mothers’ identification number onto the cloth. One part of this artwork that I thought was interesting was the fact that she left the needle lying on the cloth with the string still attached. She exclaimed that this was an obvious reference towards the pain that both she and her family have suffered. I’d have to say though that the most interesting artwork that she showed was her video. Before watching, she told us to just relax and feel the video, and that it was meant to be understood afterwards. The first part was a scene of her poking holes through a balloon-like material with a needle to the sounds of classical music. The second part then shows her sewing red string though the balloon into the word “NOMBRE,” coupled with another scene of her stippling the number with a pattern onto wet paper and letting it bleed. The third scene then shows women speaking Spanish and making cloths. At the end it says “the name& the number; El nombre y el numero.” Once again this is a clear reference to the pain and suffering that her family has had to endure over the years and the repression of the pain caused by the memory inflicted onto the skin. One last statement that Mirta Kupferminc stated that I found interesting was when she referenced Picasso by saying that “art is the light to the truth.” This is something that I truly believe in with artwork because art has and will always be another mode for expression; especially from repression such as this.
Overall I found Mirta Kupferminc’s lecture to be really inspirational and beautiful. She really had a deep passion for her artwork and really seems to want her viewers to experience the uneasiness that she has experienced with her artwork and life. To me, by using subjects that are close to her such as her mother, she is really able to make her artwork relate to all of it’s viewers by using a subject that we all have experience with-our mothers. Lastly, I found it really interesting when she explained how she was uneasy with showing her mother the artwork, and telling her that it would be in a huge exhibition, only to which her mother replied with “nothing will ever be as strong and hurtful as what I already went through.”

Book Project

I think I am done shooting. I have decided that I am going to go with my original idea. I will have nine images across eight pages. The first page will say "A Lonely Man" (or something along those lines) and will be underlined. The underline will have a subtle arrow on the end pointing to the first image. The final page will have "An Angry Man" underlined just the same but with the subtle arrow pointing in the opposite direction informing the viewer that they can flip backwards. Two images (image 5 & 6will most likely split page six. For my cover page I am thinking about burning all of my props. Some input on this would be great. I will have all nine images electronically viewable today.

BARTHES

For me the clearest way to relate to the Barthes reading was to think about my own personal Winter Garden Photograph. I was about four years old when the picture was taken, holding my teddy bear next to the side of a lake in the common in South Hampton, England, where my grandparents live. I can remember every single detail of this photograph even though the only copy is on the wall of my grandparent's house which I see at most once a year.
To me this photograph has come to represent my childhood. This photo, let's call it the Lakeside Photo, helps me form my memories. It helps me place myself in situations my parents tell me I've experienced. This Lakeside Photo is central to my concept of how I've developed over time. I think the fact that the photo isn't on the wall at my house, or even at my grandma's on my mother's side is very important. Each time I visit England I view the picture anew, re-evaluating my progress compared to the little boy in the picture. Some small part of me will always remain that boy in the yellow jelly sandals standing by the water.
However in keeping with Barthes' understanding of the Winter Garden Photograph, it would be useless for me to reproduce the photograph. In fact, it's actually physically impossible for me to post it on this blog as the only copy is a print 2000 miles away in a dirty corridor in #6 Kineton Rd. Instead to demonstrate my understanding of Punctum, I will post pictures from five shows I've been to. A concert is an intensely personal experience, a one way conversation between you and a band, and as such each photo has an intensely personal meaning. However, the Studium is bound to interest at least some readers of this post as musical taste is a very concrete way to place someone in a cultural context.

Double Dagger/Whartscape

Thee Oh Sees/The Black Cat

My Bloody Valentine/The National

Dan Deacon/Hirshorn

Health/Velvet Lounge

"The Skin: Space for Repression and Expression" - response to Mirta Kupferminc talk

I have always found tattoos, and the people who bear them, to be very intriguing. The concept of desiring, and also on the other hand, that of being forced to have a permanent mark on your skin has always interested me. I have done a lot of traveling in my lifetime so far, and I have come across many different people who have tattoos - and all for different reasons. When I went to New Zealand for a month in 2008, I was able to experience the Maori people - natives to New Zealand - who tattooed large portions of their bodies (their arms, chests, face) for cultural and ritualistic reasons. I have friends who are covered head to toe in tattoos and body piercings because they want to rebel against society and make a statement. I also know people who tattoo the names of beloved friends or family members who have passed away. I have also had the honor and opportunity to meet a Holocaust survivor in person as well, and I can definitely attest to what Mirta was propounding in her presentation - that a tattoo is and becomes a part of one's identity.

I personally have never gotten a tattoo just because of my phobia of needles (I can't even get a shot at the doctor's without crying for hours - before and after the process - and trust me, it is a process - both my brother and father have to hold me down to the chair just so that the doctor can give me a shot). Anyways, back to tattoos, I definitely agree with what Mirta discusses in the presentation of her current exhibition, "The Skin: Space for Repression and Expression", that tattoos give us an exposure to the identity of the person who bears them. Whether the mark is a creative, aesthetic design that was added willingly and intentionally by the bearer, or if it serves more as a brand, a forced identity – a tattoo is still indicative of one's ingrained character and personality.

Mirta’s parents, both of whom are survivors of the Holocaust are the main inspirations for her work. Although both of her parents survived the Holocaust, she only uses her mother’s number because her father passed away a long time ago and no one remembers his exact number. She doesn’t want to disrespect his memory by using an identity that wasn’t actually his. In her work she was working with the ideas of loss and pain and how her parents’ tattoos signify their suffering during and after the Holocaust, as well as how these numbers became now such a huge part of their lives and inner-beings. She connects tattoos and embroidery in a relationship that she conveyed through many different medias – sculptures, videos, photos, paintings, etchings, and embroidery. It was interesting to see how her individual pieces encompassed a combination of these different elements as well. The video portrayed, in a pretty disturbing manner, needles piercing canvas. At one point, it appeared that the needle pierced the canvas and then the canvas started to bleed, but what initially seemed to be real blood turned out to be red thread embroidering the canvas, which could have been representative of blood as well. A lot of her 2D images combined etching and painting with embroidery. And a motif that ran through a lot of her work was that of a winged chair. She talked about how the figures shown in the image were not actually sitting in the chair, and how this symbolized the figures’ fragility because the chair was meant to represent a very stable place. She later talked about how she really enjoys working from broken chairs in some of her other art projects, and how figuring out what kind of life the chair once had helps her create a new life for the chair that incorporates whatever disfigurements that it has now. This is a similar sort of concept with her current project, because in a way, the broken parts of the chairs that she works with are kind of like the tattoos on Holocaust survivors. The chair never intended to become broken, but now that is exists with this alteration, the alteration becomes part of the chair and helps describe the character and story of the chair’s life.

Mirta mentioned that when she was younger, she asked her parents about the significance of the numbers that were tattooed on her parents’ arms, and they replied “not to forget.” I found this to be very powerful. When Mirta’s parents and all other Holocaust victims were receiving these identification numbers, it was because they were being classified into a group that wasn’t important, replaceable, and utterly easy to forget and get rid of because they were not worthy or important enough to be treated as individuals, as people, as humans. But now that they have survived this horror, the numbers remind them of why they were given the numbers in the first place, but mean something different. They signify their survival and their strength through the process of the pain and suffering that they were forced to bear.

Although I found Mirta’s talk to be very interesting, it was in all honesty a bit troublesome to understand some of the points she was trying to get across, especially when she was answering people’s questions at the end. I know some of the meanings probably got lost in translation seeing that her native language is Spanish, but some of her logic and justifications seemed a little befuddled and confusing. And I also found some of her photo montages of hands and embroidery to not really fit in with some of her other imagery. I don’t know what it was about them, but they were just lacking something to me, and I wasn’t a huge fan of them, although the concepts behind them were intriguing.