The day following the visit to Ryerson Image Centre, we visited the Art Gallery of Ontario, which was holding a large exhibition of prints by Josef Sudek. Over 175 prints were included in this exhibition from the AGO's recent aquisition of over 1000 photographs by this photographer.
The exhibition comprised mostly still lifes, gardens, landscapes and some streets and churches from a period from 1920's through to the 1970's. Some early photos taken when he was working commercially had the high contrast and strong graphic qualities necessary for advertising. Later photos were darkly moody monochrome prints. Apart from a few early photographs, people did not appear in his photographs at all. What a contrast to the violence and decisive moments of the Ryerson Civil Rights exhibitions!
One similarity with the Ryerson exhibition was that the exhibits all appeared to be original prints, and in this case, most if not all were made by Sudek himself. Indeed, I understand that Sudek's printing methods are an important contributor to the style of his photographs. In the latter half of his career, he used a large format camera which could take 30 cm x 20 cm negatives which he used to produce final contact prints of that size. He also printed on a variety of papers to achieve the mood that he intended.
It is interesting that his work was displayed in his native Czechoslovakia as art (later in New York and around the world), whilst in the middle of the twentieth century, painting was following experimental non-figurative trends. Is it in the nature of photography and painting to compliment each other by going in opposite directions? If there is a tendency for photography to become more experimental (see the variety of work in BJP for example) does this account for the return of figurative art to public appreciation.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Monday, 25 February 2013
City of Glass - Douglas Coupland's Vancouver
I was quite surprised when this book arrived last Spring, because, compared to "Jakarta: Inside Out" the photographs have a more muted style and they are rather less prominent in the layout. Nevertheless, I decided that it was worth looking at in some detail, and, in fact, I found that the book was entertaining, as well as providing some interesting background to the Jakarta book.
The author, Douglas Coupland, explains on the cover that his purpose is to explain to visitors what Vancouver feels like to someone who lives there. The 50 or so topics are arranged alphabetically, each one a humorous article on the idiosyncrasies of the city or its people, for example, the social effect of being so close to the US border, the stockpiles of sulphur stacked in yellow mounds in the harbor. There are photographs linked to every topic, mainly photographed specially by Una Knox, an artist and photographer who divides her time between Vancouver and London.
Douglas Coupland is a Vancouver resident author known for his pithy and prescient commentary on modern life (according to the brief description of the book on Amazon UK website). He is best known for his novels, but he has published writing of all sorts. This particular book seems to have been very succesful, so much so that a new edition was published at the end of 2010.
In an interview with Linda Richards of January magazine in 2001, Coupland explained how the book layout originated. "He was working with a designer Judith Steepman on a show catalogue for an exhibition and he thought that the "visual type vernacular" style used in the catalogue wold be just right for the Vancouver book". Interestingly, Richards also commented that "whilst none of the photographs are by fellow-Vancouverite, Jeff Wall, whose flatly lit and unlovely outdoor scenes have defined an international photographic movement, but Wall's influence can be felt, nonetheless".
I noted two particular characteristics of the photographs. Firstly, the photographer uses the framing to make the people anonymous in quite a number of photos. Second, she uses primary colours in some of the compositions e.g. food and shops. The book uses a layout of two colour pages followed by two black and white pictures, and the saturated colours on the colour pages seem that much more intense as a result. In the article by Linda Richards, she comments that "Knox's work, like Coupland's own is understated and darkly humorous. That is to say in both cases, the humour is deep and very much there, but you might have to work a bit to find it". I think this is correct, there is some complexity underlying the apparent simplicity. I found various links to Knox's other artistic work, but no other photography.
The author, Douglas Coupland, explains on the cover that his purpose is to explain to visitors what Vancouver feels like to someone who lives there. The 50 or so topics are arranged alphabetically, each one a humorous article on the idiosyncrasies of the city or its people, for example, the social effect of being so close to the US border, the stockpiles of sulphur stacked in yellow mounds in the harbor. There are photographs linked to every topic, mainly photographed specially by Una Knox, an artist and photographer who divides her time between Vancouver and London.
Douglas Coupland is a Vancouver resident author known for his pithy and prescient commentary on modern life (according to the brief description of the book on Amazon UK website). He is best known for his novels, but he has published writing of all sorts. This particular book seems to have been very succesful, so much so that a new edition was published at the end of 2010.
In an interview with Linda Richards of January magazine in 2001, Coupland explained how the book layout originated. "He was working with a designer Judith Steepman on a show catalogue for an exhibition and he thought that the "visual type vernacular" style used in the catalogue wold be just right for the Vancouver book". Interestingly, Richards also commented that "whilst none of the photographs are by fellow-Vancouverite, Jeff Wall, whose flatly lit and unlovely outdoor scenes have defined an international photographic movement, but Wall's influence can be felt, nonetheless".
I noted two particular characteristics of the photographs. Firstly, the photographer uses the framing to make the people anonymous in quite a number of photos. Second, she uses primary colours in some of the compositions e.g. food and shops. The book uses a layout of two colour pages followed by two black and white pictures, and the saturated colours on the colour pages seem that much more intense as a result. In the article by Linda Richards, she comments that "Knox's work, like Coupland's own is understated and darkly humorous. That is to say in both cases, the humour is deep and very much there, but you might have to work a bit to find it". I think this is correct, there is some complexity underlying the apparent simplicity. I found various links to Knox's other artistic work, but no other photography.
Assignment 5 - Preparation
Since completing Assignment 4, I have been thinking about potential topics for Assignment 5. In this last assignment of People and Place, the aim is to formulate a photographic brief and then fulfil the brief.
An important part of this exercise is to examine photographic styles stipulated or preferred for the context where the images will be presented. The style could be explicitly defined, for example, the images may be required to comply with the house style and layouts for a hypothetical assignment for a magazine. On the other hand, the style requirements may be a matter of choice or aesthetics, for example, choosing to emulate the work of another photographer that one admires.
After considering various ideas, I have concluded that the idea that occurred to me last February, at the start of this course should be the one that I select for Assignment 5. This idea originated with a book that I bought before we left Jakarta called "Jakarta: Inside Out" by Daniel Ziv. The brief would be to emulate ten or so double pages of this book using my home town of Guildford as the subject. I see various benefits of using this idea:
An important part of this exercise is to examine photographic styles stipulated or preferred for the context where the images will be presented. The style could be explicitly defined, for example, the images may be required to comply with the house style and layouts for a hypothetical assignment for a magazine. On the other hand, the style requirements may be a matter of choice or aesthetics, for example, choosing to emulate the work of another photographer that one admires.
After considering various ideas, I have concluded that the idea that occurred to me last February, at the start of this course should be the one that I select for Assignment 5. This idea originated with a book that I bought before we left Jakarta called "Jakarta: Inside Out" by Daniel Ziv. The brief would be to emulate ten or so double pages of this book using my home town of Guildford as the subject. I see various benefits of using this idea:
- Photography features prominently in the Jakarta book, taking up most of each double page spread. The text is generally confined to a narrow strip down the side. It is essentially a photobook.
- Almost all the images feature people around the town engaged in variety of activities. This ties in well with the People and Place subject matter.
- The photographs have a coherent style, square format, closely engaged with the activity and colourful, even though they are the work of several professional photographers chosen to match Daniel Ziv's text.
- Does Guildford have the street-life that could match the liveliness of a vast Asian city like Jakarta? I think that Guildford's street markets, shoppers, town-centre events, concert hall, clubs and theatres can provide enough potential subjects.
- Can I emulate the vibrant style of photographs? I have been using Guildford locations for most of the exercises in this course, but I have not so far succeeded in taking photos which have the visual impact of those in the book. We shall see.
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Human Rights and Human Wrongs - Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto
At the beginning of February, I visited Toronto for a week for a family wedding. Some research prior to this trip showed that the Ryerson Image Centre was close to our hotel. The Image Centre is a public gallery and museum within the campus of Ryerson University. The gallery shares its building with the School of Image Arts. Indeed, in the entrance to the gallery there was a glass partition through which some students could be seen working on tables with mounted photographs, presumably for exhibition.
There were three exhibitions open on the day of my visit, all of which linked to the issue of civil rights. The main exhibition was entitled "Human Rights and Human Wrongs" curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP, London. This featured prints from the Ryerson's Black Star Collection that related to various wars, massacres, riots and police brutality as well as photos of some prominent people on both sides of the struggle for human rights, such as Martin Luther King, US president Johnson, UN Secretary Generals etc. The question posed by the curator is whether photographs help or hinder humanitarian causes. My feeling after looking at the over 300 prints in the exhibition was that man's inhumanity to man recurs with sickening frequency. The photographs seem necessary as a reminder of this reality of the world we live in. The display seemed to comprise original prints from the agency, almost all about A5 size (presumably its US equivalent - see below). Some had editorial marks in red ink and hand written captions.
One of the smaller exhibitions contained recent photographs of Somalia by Dominic Nahr, who revisited Mogadishu, the Somali capital a year after the Islamist rebels were expelled. These images were "conventional" photojournalism, a series of about 8 images. The second contained three works by Alfredo Jaar, which used photography to make a general point about perceptions of Africa as seen from the West. One was a display of Time magazine covers dealing with African related subjects. It was notable how few there were and how they dealt more often with concerns about African wildlife than concerns about its people. Another of his works was a film about Rwandan genocide contrasting the filmed statements of some of the victims with statements by President Bill Clinton "we wish to inform you that we didn't know".
Subsequent research has shown that the Black Star Collection was a gift to the Image Centre of 250,000 photojournalist photographs taken for Black Star photo agency over a period of 80 years. Black Star is a New York agency founded in 1935 that was a major supplier to Life magazine, founded in 1936. Over 800 photographers supplied the agency with photos, and there seemed to be no indication that they specialzed in the work of black photographers. The agency's name does not therefore appear to reflect an ethnic exclusivity.
The exhibition was curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP, London. According to Wikipedia, Autograph ABP is a London based photo-agency formerly known as the "Association of Black Photographers". It is a non-profit organisation focussing on issues of cultural identity and human rights. I watched a video of Mark Sealy's curator's lecture connected with the exhibition. I understood from this that he believes non-white photographers need to be encouraged to present their cultural views in order to overcome the stereotypes and "violence" in visual terms usually presented in the western dominated media. He recognizes that differences in culture are often overlooked due to the domination of media channels by western agencies. Having lived in a country, Indonesia, whose cultures are rarely appreciated overseas or at home, I would concur fully with these opinions. On the other hand, his encouragement seemed rather too unreserved and uncritical. In my experience, each culture and society has its own prejudices and negative aspects. I would expect that black Africa has issues of cultural exploitation and civil rights abuses that are worthy of closer scrutiny and recording by photographers, indigeonous or not.
Conclusions
In Europe and North America, recognition of civil rights is given a lot of media attention. On the other hand, appreciation of civil responsibilities seems to be left to the "government" and a few individuals with a social conscience. In a developing country like Indonesia, in contrast, the "government" cannot be relied upon for anything other than a rudimentary safety net. Almost everybody in society is fully aware of, and acts upon civil responsibilities to family, neighbours and friends. The role of photography will naturally differ depending on the needs of society. In England, photography may be useful so that people visualize and recognize problems, with the aim of provoking a response from government or social organizations. In other societies, its role is likely to be different e.g. sharing photos of neighborhood or family gatherings. I would imagine that many African countries are more like Indonesia than they are to Europe.
There were three exhibitions open on the day of my visit, all of which linked to the issue of civil rights. The main exhibition was entitled "Human Rights and Human Wrongs" curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP, London. This featured prints from the Ryerson's Black Star Collection that related to various wars, massacres, riots and police brutality as well as photos of some prominent people on both sides of the struggle for human rights, such as Martin Luther King, US president Johnson, UN Secretary Generals etc. The question posed by the curator is whether photographs help or hinder humanitarian causes. My feeling after looking at the over 300 prints in the exhibition was that man's inhumanity to man recurs with sickening frequency. The photographs seem necessary as a reminder of this reality of the world we live in. The display seemed to comprise original prints from the agency, almost all about A5 size (presumably its US equivalent - see below). Some had editorial marks in red ink and hand written captions.
One of the smaller exhibitions contained recent photographs of Somalia by Dominic Nahr, who revisited Mogadishu, the Somali capital a year after the Islamist rebels were expelled. These images were "conventional" photojournalism, a series of about 8 images. The second contained three works by Alfredo Jaar, which used photography to make a general point about perceptions of Africa as seen from the West. One was a display of Time magazine covers dealing with African related subjects. It was notable how few there were and how they dealt more often with concerns about African wildlife than concerns about its people. Another of his works was a film about Rwandan genocide contrasting the filmed statements of some of the victims with statements by President Bill Clinton "we wish to inform you that we didn't know".
Subsequent research has shown that the Black Star Collection was a gift to the Image Centre of 250,000 photojournalist photographs taken for Black Star photo agency over a period of 80 years. Black Star is a New York agency founded in 1935 that was a major supplier to Life magazine, founded in 1936. Over 800 photographers supplied the agency with photos, and there seemed to be no indication that they specialzed in the work of black photographers. The agency's name does not therefore appear to reflect an ethnic exclusivity.
The exhibition was curated by Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph ABP, London. According to Wikipedia, Autograph ABP is a London based photo-agency formerly known as the "Association of Black Photographers". It is a non-profit organisation focussing on issues of cultural identity and human rights. I watched a video of Mark Sealy's curator's lecture connected with the exhibition. I understood from this that he believes non-white photographers need to be encouraged to present their cultural views in order to overcome the stereotypes and "violence" in visual terms usually presented in the western dominated media. He recognizes that differences in culture are often overlooked due to the domination of media channels by western agencies. Having lived in a country, Indonesia, whose cultures are rarely appreciated overseas or at home, I would concur fully with these opinions. On the other hand, his encouragement seemed rather too unreserved and uncritical. In my experience, each culture and society has its own prejudices and negative aspects. I would expect that black Africa has issues of cultural exploitation and civil rights abuses that are worthy of closer scrutiny and recording by photographers, indigeonous or not.
Conclusions
In Europe and North America, recognition of civil rights is given a lot of media attention. On the other hand, appreciation of civil responsibilities seems to be left to the "government" and a few individuals with a social conscience. In a developing country like Indonesia, in contrast, the "government" cannot be relied upon for anything other than a rudimentary safety net. Almost everybody in society is fully aware of, and acts upon civil responsibilities to family, neighbours and friends. The role of photography will naturally differ depending on the needs of society. In England, photography may be useful so that people visualize and recognize problems, with the aim of provoking a response from government or social organizations. In other societies, its role is likely to be different e.g. sharing photos of neighborhood or family gatherings. I would imagine that many African countries are more like Indonesia than they are to Europe.
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