PROJECT; EXTINCTION

New Year, new projects

Over the Christmas holidays, I reviewed my work from October until last month. I feel that I havnt made as much progress as I was expecting. I think this year I ned to motivate my self into Isoloneliness. A few ideas have sprang to mind, developed from prievious work.

The idea of personal projects appeal to me now, more than ever because it is easier to express a true opinion to the viewer without guessing or assuming what other people think or do when they suffer from Isoloneliness. This is when I came up with the idea for a new project

PROJECT; EXTINCTION

The extinction project is about the death of a family name.

The basis of project extinction is developed from the family portrait project. As I felt that it wasn’t moving forward, I decided to come up with a system to explain that the Teague family name will die with me. Obviously there are other non related Teague’s in the world, but I am focusing on my blood line. I want to express the loneliness of been the last Teague in my family, and what to tackle issues of its reasons for extinction. This is where I will have to think of a way to represent that my lifestyle choice is the key factor to having no children to pass on the family name, no heir to my throne.

My first part of this project was photocopying my birth certificate. Then re copying until it gradually faded. This was to represent the name been eroded from my family. I created a time line but felt that it wasn’t enough to signify what I was intending to achieve.

 At this point of time, I feel that I should keep things simple. I don’t want to go into too much theory and representation at the moment. I just want to experiment with materials and ideas.

Looking at the birth certificates, I wanted to continue the use of the symbology. I experimented with more photocopies. I took sections of the certificate and enlarged them 400% via the photocopier. I then faded the information about me so that I could create a large birth certificate. I liked the idea at first, but it still doesn’t illustrate the extinction of my family name. However, the effect of fading is quite useful in showing a weakening in an object or in my case, a name. I think that I can move on from the birth certificate, but keep the idea of fading, and the photocopier techniques.  

The Gatie Project

For this project, I started straight away. I took a picture of people sat on a bench inside the museum. Again, it wasn’t like Gatie’s work, but it was a start. I like the image because of its features. It is the opposite of Isoloneliness, but it was just a practice shot. It is of two people observing a picture of Jesus. The couple are evidently lovers as they are close together, and their body language indicates an emotional attachment, even though the viewer cannot see their faces.

After this, I took my camera into town to take some shots. The first two images that I took where at a bus stop. I took a picture of an office chair in the bus stop because I found it interesting that an object that doesn’t belong there, yet for some reason it is there. a few seconds later, a woman sits down on it. I liked the idea that the object that doesn’t belong, has been interacted with. I noticed many passer byes looking at the chair in amusement, but never sat on it. I edited the pictures to black and white because I didn’t have a SLR, to resemble the atmosphere that Getie creates. I would say that the element of loneliness isn’t present in these pictures because of the structure of the photograph. The unmissable sign in the background on the empty chair is visible, but it is faded on the other picture when the women is sat down. I quite like that effect as a relation to the chair, but this was purely coincidental as I did not notice this when taking the picture.

Another two images I took where of another bus stop. There were a sock stuffed with something, and was randomly placed at the bus stop. I don’t know if it was left there by accident or dumped there as rubbish. I managed to capture people walking away from the bus stop, but again, the seat was empty. I don’t think that the same emotions of loneliness that Gatie created is present in this picture.

This image of a woman sat at a bus stop in the rain was my best experiment, because of the reflections left on the wet floor. It creates a tension of mystery, complimented by the missing head of the person sat on the bench. I feel like this is my closest image to the styles of Gatie because the coldness in the image. The person seems to be looking on at the people in the background, but is difficult to tell because their head is covered. This image was in colour, but edited black and white. This made a significance in the energy of the picture. It had added elements of loneliness and isolation, yet not depressing. The perfect blend of Isoloneliness.

Overall I feel like this experiment has been important to me. I have learnt a little bit more about the details of creating an atmosphere. Mood in a photograph is one of the most important features of a photograph as it can invoke emotions in the viewer, allowing them to relate or understand what is happening in the picture. I can take this experiment and apply it into future projects.

THE GATIE BENCH PROJECT

With the inspiration of Adrian Gatie, I walked around town taking pictures of benches. Before I started this project, I had already taken a picture of a bench in Victoria Train Station. It was taken while I was waiting for a friend. The train station was empty while I was there, but I knew someone had been sat recently on the bench opposite me. There was an empty paper cup of coffee. I liked the idea of a presence, but the absence of a person. There is a coffee stain on the floor which could suggest that the person was in a hurry, yet the cup remains up right. It made me think about the person who was sat there. Why was they sat there? Where were they going? When I looked at the photograph on the computer, I noticed a light reflecting on the floor and the middle of the bench in shape of a human. It made me think of a ghost, or that person’s energy that was left by that person. I liked the idea of an imprint left by that person, a piece of that persons history that they left for those who look for it.

There aren’t any similarities about my image, compared to the works of Gatie, but I am happy with the outcome of my image. I think that I can use this as a starting point to the new project.

MANCHESTER ART GALLERY

MANCHESTER ART GALLERY

Yesterday I went to the Manchester art gallery for inspiration as my artist research is becoming difficult, and I find that walking around a gallery is relaxing, as I can just look and not think. Its rare that I get a whole day to myself because of work and university, so I decided to make the most of it. I found a few interesting exhibitions that I was interested in.

Adrian Gatie

Gatie’s work involved a series of black and white photographs that showed people in the street. The natural poses of these people indicate that these photographs may be candid shots. One image ‘Market Street’ (1985) caught my eye and related to my project. A man sat alone on a bench with his head in his hands shows the viewer that the man may be in some sort of distress. There are people walking past, making no eye contact to the man which indicates his personal isolation. Is it the ignorance of other people that is causing his sadness, or is there something deeper? It is hard to tell, but the image is very powerful, contributed by the black and white, it creates a tension of Isoloneliness. This is the perfect starting place to kick of a new project.

Image taken with permission of the Manchester Art Gallery

I researched Gatie further to see if I can find any other images similar to ‘Market Street’. I came across this image of a man sat down on a chair reading a newspaper. The image, also black and white does not show any indications of loneliness, unlike ‘Market Street’. Although he his alone, but with people in the background paying no attention to him, the atmosphere is completely clam. This could be caused by the comical factor of the image, but also the peaceful facial expression the man is giving.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/50169000/jpg/_50169209_161chorltoncumhardy1985.jpg

I like the concept of a bench and Isoloneliness. It is an object that we can sit on and reflect on our thoughts, yet when we are sat down in a public place, we are often ignored. Someone may sit next to us, but not engage in interaction. With this inspiration, I want to take a few pictures in the style of Gatie and see where it leads me.





Personal Experiments and Struggle

Personal Experiments and Struggle

I am still finding it hard to find an area and medium in Isoloneliness that I would like to develop and feel that this whole year will consist of experimenting and artist research. This month I have set a challenge to myself to find a topic that I like and stick with it as I am not going to get very far if I keep experimenting, so this month, I will be focusing on experimenting, next month, it will be one project, and I will stick to it.

For the moment, I have conducted more experiments to do with personal loneliness, as a collective loneliness is proving complicated. Assuming on other peoples loneliness isn’t very wise.

A Portrait of myself

This experiment is clique. I know that I have been trying to avoid these kind of experiments because they are predictable and amateurish, but I could develop from them. Its worth a try. At this stage, I feel I have to because I am running out of ideas and time is running out.

A portrait of myself is self explanatory. I have taken the concept of using a mask to hide behind (I know it’s been done to death). I took some random photographs that have been constructed.

Review;

This is another failed project, as I expected. All the reasons are obvious. The images are amateurish and don’t tell the story of isolation. It could be seen as I am hiding from something, but it is unclear to what. I don’t think I will continue this project because of its predictability.

Artist Research; Raymond Moore

Taking into consideration the past project Ghosts of Spurn Point, and the road photographs I took, it made me think of a photographer that I came across last year. Moore took images of empty places and landscapes. A few of images could be likened to my style, but I think that the intentions were different. He used black and white photography which creates an intense feeling of loneliness. He took several photographs of roads, but they are not blurred like mine, yet the use of black and white photography, he creates a more powerful image than what I created. I think that if I was to do more road experiments, I should try out black and white photography.

I found a quote of his which I think I should take note of.

“Technical matters are relatively unimportant. I use the camera I am happiest with, and that can produce the type of print I visualise; superb definition and ultra fine grain may be far less convincing than a grainy blur” - Raymond Moore

Basically, he is saying that the technique should not be the focus point, but the print should be important. I don’t find that my photographs are completely realistic like Moore’s. Perhaps I should try to experiment with film and print my pictures.

Photo Experiments

Experimenting with imagery

I don’t feel comfortable with the video experiments and I am not confident enough to try other installations. I think that I should go back to photography and experiment with different types of methods to express Isoloneliness. To do this, I walked around town and at home, taking photographs of objects that made me think of Isoloneliness.  

Driving away

I visited my parents for a few days to give myself a break from work. I felt happy to be around familiar faces. When it was time to leave, I got that pang feeling in the stomach (the feeling I get when I feel alone). I was in the passenger seat of a car, driving back to Manchester. I looked out the window and saw the long road ahead. I decided to take a few photographs on my camera phone. The images I took were of the road, which was symbolic of the journey away from comfort. The images were blurred (accidental) because of the speed of the car, however, I liked this effect as it looks like my journey was becoming distorted, and not clearly visible.

 I really liked the effect that this has produced. The blurry effect is a good technique of representing an uncertain future. On the first image, the word SLOW on the road is bluured too. This has not been an intention to capture but i feel like it gives a message to the photograph about the journey.

This image is blurred like the rest, but it looks like a badly taken photograph. I have to include this into my experiments as a mistake so that i can learn from it. If i am to further this technique, I need to avoid making images look like this.

Over all I am pleased with this experiment, even though the foundations of it were discovered by accident. The idea of blurring to create a tension of the unknown or unclear vision works well with Isoloneliness. This is because of the uncertainty the feeling brings out in a person suffering from Isoloneliness. I think that I could take this experiment and adapt it to another project, developing the blurring so it looks more professional.