Research Assignment 3 – Self Portrait

Fascinatingly the most interesting artist and the images that stuck in my mind were from a blog of a couple

Patrick Tsai & Madi Ju I say suprisingly as we are overloaded with Social Media and blogs and yet this short story of two lovers who met and without a happy ending captured my imagination. I am slowly learning that the best stories are in the everyday. Their story does not have a happy ending as the blog ends with the end of their relationship. Perhaps this says more about our society than their story. The images of simple moments were captured beautifully and stirred emotions as they reflected on my own everyday life as much as theirs.

Roland Barthes states that if the pictures do not ‘prick him’ then it is probably because the photographer has put it in there deliberately. Aside this refers again to Barthes belief the photographs by amateurs are nearer to the true meaning of photography.) These two are amateurs however they were already photographers and it was their images on the internet that drew them together and eventually caused them to seek out to meet. It is the amateurish style that gives them such meaning, the Punctum is strong for those who can remember these shared moments in their own relationships. There is a sense of trust in their pictures of two young people in love. Pictures that would normally remain untaken or private and they have shared them with us. I feel as if I am almost spying on their world.

Sam Taylor Johnson.

We look at various self portraits of the artist suspended, symbolising being caught between life and death, heaven and earth. the artist used ropes originally to stage the images which were removed later in post production. The images are pleasing and give us a sense of being in limbo caught between two worlds.

In her series Soliloquy not in the book however found on Taylor Johnsons website she uses historically imporant and religious images to recreate modern day scenes.

: STW 3

Zeneb Zedira

Bibliography:

Susan Bright (2005) Auto Focus: The self portrait in contemporary photography. London: Thames & Hudson.

Patrick Tsai & Madi Ju available at http://hellopatpat.com/galleries/mldd/start.html

Sam Taylor Johnson Escape Artist (2008) available at http://samtaylorjohnson.com/photography/art/escape-artist-2008

Sam Taylor Johnson (1998 – 2001) Soliloquy available at http://samtaylorjohnson.com/photography

Sam Taylor Johnsosn (2004) Self- Portrait suspended http://samtaylorjohnson.com/photography

Self Portrait – Research for Assignment 3.

I would like to do a portrait of myself that portrays the frustration of my life at times living out of a suitcase and constantly moving countries. I am not sure I could live any other way and yet given the change I want to fall into a scheduled routine. My idea was to show myself sitting in a suitcase overwhelmed by all the things I must fit in. Should it be witty I guess, sombre perhaps or totally bright and modern. I am looking to other artists for inspiration.

Claire Rosen. I recently sat in on a talk with Claire Rosen. She not only is a talented artist but a very clever business woman and a queen of social media. I learned much from her on using Instagram and Facebook, on how to become a professional photographer. I then of course had to look at her work. I am truly inspired by this artist. Examples of her self portraits.

Francis Bacon – Painter.

I recently visited the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and was fascinated by the studio which was all brought here and so you can see how the artist worked. I was as much fascinated by how he worked in such chaos as the results. Below are some of his self portraits where the poses can be compared to photographs taken of him by others. It is easy to see how he used them and then progressed to his style of painting.

Selfportraits I have already taken in the past however the quality is not great and so I want to work on somehting either fun or about myself but with the a style and quality this is the challenge. I really liked the composite image which was a challenge for OCA. I have a serious concern about peoples obsession with selfies and how the look. How much time social media takes over our lives when we could be living it. It can have serious implications for peoples images of their bodies.

The second image I took of a group of Irish Musicians, me my camera and I. It follows me everywhere. The Irish musicians is probably the nostalgia one feels when they have been away from their home for many years. I look at my home in a different light. I look at it as I would a foreign country. When I am exploring locations looking for the traditions and history for example recently in Bali there is an acute sense that soon their traditions will be wiped out by a westernisation, commercialism and moderninity. The young people see this as a good thing however the sense of community in Bali everyone knows their place. I looked at Ireland with the same eyes our traditions are portrayed mostly for tourists. However there is an undercurrent of traditional life that still exists in certain areas away from tourists. The portrait however is more about my looking for this my identity, who am I. My distance from my own country.

While keeping a diary and trying to think what are the issues in my life that could be of interest to others but also ahve a personal meaning to me. Initially I thought to do a portrait to show my stress at constantly moving for my job and not having a single base. After keeping diary I realised that one of the most prominent issues that preoccupied my thoughts was the issue of having children. It is most prominent as people constantly question me, advise me on everything from fertility, pills to take. Questioned by strangers as to if I have children and why not. I feel constantly like my privacy is invaded It is a personal issue and do not get why everyone feels the right to lecture me on this. If I am honest I have not yet decided if I will have children or want them as my current lifestlye would need to change dramatically. A recent bout of internal anger came when my own GP started giving me advise on what pills to take in case of getting pregnant when I had never stated trying to get pregnant but I silently nodded and kept this to myself.

How can I represent this the pressure on women to have children I have felt since a young age. It seems as if it should be a thing of the past. Men do not get questioned in this way. I wanted to take a photograph that would discretely question this. Without being invasive but to cause thought. I thought of Cindy Shermans film stills and how she questions stereotypes by recreating an era known for sexism. While also looking for inspiration the image of Edith Piaf by Cosette Harcourt ( The Photo Book, Phaidon.) The image a style of 1930’s typical for the era showing a soft image of an almost religious depiction of her. It is explained how this depiction of Edith Piaf was unusual she was generally seen to be a very confident and strong woman.

My idea was to create a Mother and Child image that would make people take note. The image could be soft focus and beautiful in black and white to depict and era gone by. To show how times have not changed however as an element of surprise I will pose with just a doll. The doll will be noted in a second instance and I hope will cause the viewer to question why. My answer is that this is how women are viewed we should be beautiful, soft and produce children.

See also post on Cindy Sherman https://nearfarphotopart3.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/cindy-sherman/

Technical notes the light almost washes out the face beyond a beauty light. There is a strong hair light. I only have one flash and will use it to create well defined face shape. Over exposing the skintones to remove many facial details and perhaps a little Gaussian blur to create this dreamy effect.

Another artist that looks at feminist issues is Judy Dater. However she leaves no doubt in your mind as to the issues she is confronting. I would like my image to be a bit more discreet. That the viewer would have to stop and think about what the image is about. While reading Photography, Stephen Bull he in turn quotes Laszlo Moholy-Nagy who states “the illiterate of the future’ ‘will be ignorant of the use of camera and pen alike” while studying towards my degree learning how to read photographs has been a real eye opener. The image of a tea cup by Martin Parr comes to mind it seems like a simple image of a tea cup on a tablecloth. The blue cup on the red and white table cloth referring to Britishness however the Chinese design on the tea cup and the milk in the tea clearly referring to a colonial past. He is questioning what is Britishness. What I like is that we are encouraged by these images to look at it a bit longer to think about what it respresents and now what could have been a simple image with no meaning in fact could spark some very complex debates about history, origins and our culture.

I am also aware the the punctum of the image will depend very much on cultural and personal experience in how the image is perceived.

Next research religious images of Mother and Child.

Leonardo da Vinci Mother and Child. Taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8975641/The-promise-of-a-baby-at-his-mothers-breast.html

https://www.bridgemaneducation.com/en/asset/27697/summary?context=%22route%22%3A%22assets_search%22%2C%22routeParameters%22%3A%22_format%22%3A%22html%22%2C%22_locale%22%3A%22en%22%2C%22filter_text%22%3A%22self+portrait%22%2C%22filter_group%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22page%22%3A%222%22

Madame Vigee-Lebrun and her Daughter, Jeanne-Lucie-Louise (1780-1819) 1789 (oil on canvas), Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth Louise (1755-1842) / Louvre, Paris, France / Bridgeman Images

Self Portrait, 1790 (oil on canvas), Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth Louise (1755-1842) / Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy / Bridgeman Images

https://www.bridgemaneducation.com/en/asset/50065/summary?context=%22route%22%3A%22assets_search%22%2C%22routeParameters%22%3A%22_format%22%3A%22html%22%2C%22_locale%22%3A%22en%22%2C%22filter_text%22%3A%22self+portrait%22%2C%22filter_group%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22page%22%3A%224%22

http://www.tate.org.uk Images by Cindy Sherman – Film Stills. In many of Shermans film still images she implies with her eyes or body positioning that there is a person off set. That way we are left wondering who is there. Is there a conversation ongoing while the photograph is taking. She invites us to write our own script.

Bibliography

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-film-still-53-p11519 (First accessed 26/09/2015)

Claire Rosen (online) www.clairerosenphoto.com/

Francis Bacon, Hugh Lane Gallery.

Daily Telegraph online found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8975641/The-promise-of-a-baby-at-his-mothers-breast.html (first accessed 13/09/2015)

The Photo Book Phaidon 2007.

Telegraph UK link online http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8975641/The-promise-of-a-baby-at-his-mothers-breast.html First accessed (13/09/2015)

http://www.bridgemaneducation.com