Project 1 : Telling a Story
The primary purpose between the two are miles apart, the Country Doctor is documenting, reporting the day to day life of the doctor and community by an outsider for the outsider. It is objective, states facts and is quite closed in terms of the formation of open dialogue.
The Dad Project is at the opposite end of the scale. It isn't really made for anybody else other than Bryony Campbell and her father. It is their journal, their journey. It is made for the insiders and by the insiders and if this work had never left Campbells household and was never to be seen by anybody else it would still would be just has important. The work once viewed by the outsider opens up a dialogue on death and grief a topic we often try to avoid.
The "ending without an ending" is the thing that is always there without being. It is an experience which is repeated and remembered, something that will and never can be forgot. It is not sole property, we will all experience death and grief at some stage and the journey continues even when it seems to have come to an end. Life continues, the memories continue and the work continues to be viewed and discussed the journey continues.
The primary purpose between the two are miles apart, the Country Doctor is documenting, reporting the day to day life of the doctor and community by an outsider for the outsider. It is objective, states facts and is quite closed in terms of the formation of open dialogue.
The Dad Project is at the opposite end of the scale. It isn't really made for anybody else other than Bryony Campbell and her father. It is their journal, their journey. It is made for the insiders and by the insiders and if this work had never left Campbells household and was never to be seen by anybody else it would still would be just has important. The work once viewed by the outsider opens up a dialogue on death and grief a topic we often try to avoid.
The "ending without an ending" is the thing that is always there without being. It is an experience which is repeated and remembered, something that will and never can be forgot. It is not sole property, we will all experience death and grief at some stage and the journey continues even when it seems to have come to an end. Life continues, the memories continue and the work continues to be viewed and discussed the journey continues.
Project 2 : Image and Text
I thought I would have a play rather than just using an image in a newspaper and simply writing a caption, I thought I could also use the text from within the same newspaper. Using the found text and image to constructing something visual new. The headline text I used came from 4 different news stories.
I thought about the refugees who flee there homelands heading towards Europe via the sea. I thought about what if things were a little different, in terms of people fleeing Europe.
The text in this work is "Relay" because it is not clear what is or is not happening, it needs an interpretation by the viewer, I give no indication of what it is.
The work is untitled but if I attached a titled say for example "Fake News" this would "Anchor" the text and the image. Reducing the text and the image to a fact/ statement.
I thought I would have a play rather than just using an image in a newspaper and simply writing a caption, I thought I could also use the text from within the same newspaper. Using the found text and image to constructing something visual new. The headline text I used came from 4 different news stories.
I thought about the refugees who flee there homelands heading towards Europe via the sea. I thought about what if things were a little different, in terms of people fleeing Europe.
The text in this work is "Relay" because it is not clear what is or is not happening, it needs an interpretation by the viewer, I give no indication of what it is.
The work is untitled but if I attached a titled say for example "Fake News" this would "Anchor" the text and the image. Reducing the text and the image to a fact/ statement.
Poem
I Look in The Mirror
I look in the mirror
and what do I see?
A pair of eyes
look back at me.
A nose, two ears, two eyebrows, too:
Two lips, and teeth, to say,
"I love you,"
I look in the mirror
and what do I see
I look in the mirror
and I see me!
By Helen H. Moore
I Look in The Mirror
I look in the mirror
and what do I see?
A pair of eyes
look back at me.
A nose, two ears, two eyebrows, too:
Two lips, and teeth, to say,
"I love you,"
I look in the mirror
and what do I see
I look in the mirror
and I see me!
By Helen H. Moore
One of the main reasons I choose this poem was that it is about self recognition. It is of course a poem to help children develop a sense of self and what they look like. Children around 2 years old learn to recognize themselves in a mirror.
I think that my growing sense of tension, the fear of opening up is to a degree driving me forward, the fear of looking self centered. It is so much more natural to be out of view, the outside of the room. Although all of my work so far has been centered around myself, doesn't mean that I feel comfortable doing this. It all a little confusing and I don't seem to be making an sense at all. I feel like a 44 year old child, I feel quite vulnerable and exposed. I am not sure I know what I am doing or what I am looking at or for, if anything.
The work is just has much about being private and guarded has it is about being out there for all to see. You can hardly see me from afar but the closer you get the more closed I seem, unless you are my wife and children or I feel that if something is worth say that hasn't been said that people maybe interested in hearing.
Photography and writing - not my strength is a way of showing without speaking. I find comfort in this distance inside my own head maybe I need to focus on this notion of this distance, build and continue to be inside but showing more on the outside beyond my natural state.
The red blank images are photographs of a paint covered wall inside my home maybe this is a metaphor for the barriers I place to protect my internal world which in term sets up a visual conflict between the self portraits. The red slow burning out has I get closer to the mirror until the red can barely be seen. I to become slowly obscured in the mirror the closer I approach it, my back turned. The work is both metaphorical and visceral deep seated I have always been this way and I don't know why, I don't know why I do what I do but I do all the same - I am an introvert.
The work sits well together I think, they are open to the viewer, series maybe seen has quite depressing, dark and moody set against the poem. It is not intended but I have to learn to let go, I know I am just presenting a small slice of who I am.
I think that my growing sense of tension, the fear of opening up is to a degree driving me forward, the fear of looking self centered. It is so much more natural to be out of view, the outside of the room. Although all of my work so far has been centered around myself, doesn't mean that I feel comfortable doing this. It all a little confusing and I don't seem to be making an sense at all. I feel like a 44 year old child, I feel quite vulnerable and exposed. I am not sure I know what I am doing or what I am looking at or for, if anything.
The work is just has much about being private and guarded has it is about being out there for all to see. You can hardly see me from afar but the closer you get the more closed I seem, unless you are my wife and children or I feel that if something is worth say that hasn't been said that people maybe interested in hearing.
Photography and writing - not my strength is a way of showing without speaking. I find comfort in this distance inside my own head maybe I need to focus on this notion of this distance, build and continue to be inside but showing more on the outside beyond my natural state.
The red blank images are photographs of a paint covered wall inside my home maybe this is a metaphor for the barriers I place to protect my internal world which in term sets up a visual conflict between the self portraits. The red slow burning out has I get closer to the mirror until the red can barely be seen. I to become slowly obscured in the mirror the closer I approach it, my back turned. The work is both metaphorical and visceral deep seated I have always been this way and I don't know why, I don't know why I do what I do but I do all the same - I am an introvert.
The work sits well together I think, they are open to the viewer, series maybe seen has quite depressing, dark and moody set against the poem. It is not intended but I have to learn to let go, I know I am just presenting a small slice of who I am.
Three Projects
All of the project have something that I feel I can relate to at some level, all of the project are of course all personal, they are works that explore the world that they find themselves in. This way of working seems a natural way to work, self and our world is a rich source that cannot and should not be ignored even if it raised questions within ourselves even when we do not know the answer even if the subject causes an element of discomfort. We tend to has photographers go out and seek something to take a photograph of, when a lot of the time we just need to look closer to home and within. We live in our world 24/7.
Jodie Taylor’s - Memories of Childhood is a set of images that is similar to my own memory of places I would play, hang around with friend, explore the world and from time to time get into trouble. The first experiences, the movements through childhood into the teens. It evokes memories of warm summers and 6 weeks school holidays that ever ended of course I know it was wasn’t really all happiness but it still makes me feel warm and makes me smiles. Of course the photographs presented by Jodie are very similar to my childhood memory but the location we see in the work is so many years older than the childhood Jodie remembers, maybe locations we see in the images were brand new, with newly painted garages, new fencing, neat and tidy, unmarked and untouched by the youth. Maybe the nostalgia has a pang of sadness.
Dewald Botha - Ring Road is complex and quite deep, it is the conflict between the concrete and nature, the Greys and Greens fighting for space with the green space quickly fading away. This is the way of the world, we fight for space and time, the world is 24/7 it never stops. We need to get away, seek solitude and reflect. This is solitude is important and more important to me than social contact and comfort - that's not to say social contact and comfort is not important to me. It enables me to self comfort, make sense of the world, to internalise, a way to reflect and to recharge myself so I can face the constant noise of the world.
Peter Mansell work gives us a view into his world and his experiences in a way that is almost like off loading, a way to explore and digest his thoughts and feelings. It offers us a different perspective of living with/ and impact of such an injury. How people view this type of injury and the things people don’t think about, in terms of the person. These impacts of living with disabilities and social stereotyping that can occur is not often thought about, and that sometimes it difficult for people to see past the disability.
I have epilepsy which fortunately is well controlled my last big seizure was 5 years ago which when I final diagnosed with epilepsy at the age 39 and having 3 big seizures spread across 20 years. It in turned out that I had epilepsy since childhood which I now know, I was having absence and myoclonic seizures in my teen years. I just never saw the doctor for it because they so brief and only occurred in the first part of the morning. If I presented then I would have been put on medication because Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy will progress to tonic clonic seizure at some stage which I did.
The impact of this disability - although I don’t see it has a one has it controlled and intermittent, is the stereotypical view of it and I am not sure why. I am completely open about epilepsy and even now if I talk about it some people just go quite it's a little weird. I ve had people who know I have epilepsy ask me if I am ok to talk about it. If I am not feeling well or feeling off I’ve had people ask me if I am going to go off on one. It’s all a little odd. I’ve been in a training session at work bearing in mind I work for the NHS where they did a “Thought Shower” on a flip chart somebody in the room asked “what’s that?” the reply “We can’t say brainstorming because it is offensive to people you have epilepsy” of course I corrected her no its not offensive it’s just like walking on eggshells around the subject which makes people less likely want to talk about it, we spoke about epilepsy for about 5 or 10 minutes.
Like Peter Mansell who is not a wheelchair, I am not a seizure. We are people first and foremost with different experiences and perceptions that differs to those about us, we all differ. The photograph can explore, probe our perceptions, experiences, help us make sense of the world and challenge the views of others.
Authorial control is one that I am slowly trying to let go of, it is a difficult process and uncomfortable. Work is made from a personal response there is the element of control. The fear of misinterpretation or misunderstanding, it feels like a judgment of me has a person. I am not even sure if that makes any sense. You are putting yourself out there for the world to see, take what you have done and change it. Even in the knowledge that is what I do to work I see, I interpret and apply my own view of the world and experiences. It still doesn’t make it easy for me to do. But I continue to challenge myself and keep putting work out there and I hope the more I do it, the easier that lost of control will not concern me has much. But without the lost of authorial control the possible narratives are lost and it begins to be a fixed image with no room to move about in, and with text that anchors it becomes just a photograph nothing more and nothing else.
https://petermansell.weebly.com/ [Accessed 09/01/18]
https://www.dewaldbotha.net/ring-road.html [Accessed 09/01/18]
https://weareoca.com/subject/photography/photography-and-nostalgia/ [Accessed 09/01/18]
All of the project have something that I feel I can relate to at some level, all of the project are of course all personal, they are works that explore the world that they find themselves in. This way of working seems a natural way to work, self and our world is a rich source that cannot and should not be ignored even if it raised questions within ourselves even when we do not know the answer even if the subject causes an element of discomfort. We tend to has photographers go out and seek something to take a photograph of, when a lot of the time we just need to look closer to home and within. We live in our world 24/7.
Jodie Taylor’s - Memories of Childhood is a set of images that is similar to my own memory of places I would play, hang around with friend, explore the world and from time to time get into trouble. The first experiences, the movements through childhood into the teens. It evokes memories of warm summers and 6 weeks school holidays that ever ended of course I know it was wasn’t really all happiness but it still makes me feel warm and makes me smiles. Of course the photographs presented by Jodie are very similar to my childhood memory but the location we see in the work is so many years older than the childhood Jodie remembers, maybe locations we see in the images were brand new, with newly painted garages, new fencing, neat and tidy, unmarked and untouched by the youth. Maybe the nostalgia has a pang of sadness.
Dewald Botha - Ring Road is complex and quite deep, it is the conflict between the concrete and nature, the Greys and Greens fighting for space with the green space quickly fading away. This is the way of the world, we fight for space and time, the world is 24/7 it never stops. We need to get away, seek solitude and reflect. This is solitude is important and more important to me than social contact and comfort - that's not to say social contact and comfort is not important to me. It enables me to self comfort, make sense of the world, to internalise, a way to reflect and to recharge myself so I can face the constant noise of the world.
Peter Mansell work gives us a view into his world and his experiences in a way that is almost like off loading, a way to explore and digest his thoughts and feelings. It offers us a different perspective of living with/ and impact of such an injury. How people view this type of injury and the things people don’t think about, in terms of the person. These impacts of living with disabilities and social stereotyping that can occur is not often thought about, and that sometimes it difficult for people to see past the disability.
I have epilepsy which fortunately is well controlled my last big seizure was 5 years ago which when I final diagnosed with epilepsy at the age 39 and having 3 big seizures spread across 20 years. It in turned out that I had epilepsy since childhood which I now know, I was having absence and myoclonic seizures in my teen years. I just never saw the doctor for it because they so brief and only occurred in the first part of the morning. If I presented then I would have been put on medication because Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy will progress to tonic clonic seizure at some stage which I did.
The impact of this disability - although I don’t see it has a one has it controlled and intermittent, is the stereotypical view of it and I am not sure why. I am completely open about epilepsy and even now if I talk about it some people just go quite it's a little weird. I ve had people who know I have epilepsy ask me if I am ok to talk about it. If I am not feeling well or feeling off I’ve had people ask me if I am going to go off on one. It’s all a little odd. I’ve been in a training session at work bearing in mind I work for the NHS where they did a “Thought Shower” on a flip chart somebody in the room asked “what’s that?” the reply “We can’t say brainstorming because it is offensive to people you have epilepsy” of course I corrected her no its not offensive it’s just like walking on eggshells around the subject which makes people less likely want to talk about it, we spoke about epilepsy for about 5 or 10 minutes.
Like Peter Mansell who is not a wheelchair, I am not a seizure. We are people first and foremost with different experiences and perceptions that differs to those about us, we all differ. The photograph can explore, probe our perceptions, experiences, help us make sense of the world and challenge the views of others.
Authorial control is one that I am slowly trying to let go of, it is a difficult process and uncomfortable. Work is made from a personal response there is the element of control. The fear of misinterpretation or misunderstanding, it feels like a judgment of me has a person. I am not even sure if that makes any sense. You are putting yourself out there for the world to see, take what you have done and change it. Even in the knowledge that is what I do to work I see, I interpret and apply my own view of the world and experiences. It still doesn’t make it easy for me to do. But I continue to challenge myself and keep putting work out there and I hope the more I do it, the easier that lost of control will not concern me has much. But without the lost of authorial control the possible narratives are lost and it begins to be a fixed image with no room to move about in, and with text that anchors it becomes just a photograph nothing more and nothing else.
https://petermansell.weebly.com/ [Accessed 09/01/18]
https://www.dewaldbotha.net/ring-road.html [Accessed 09/01/18]
https://weareoca.com/subject/photography/photography-and-nostalgia/ [Accessed 09/01/18]