The value of this chapter of the course provided significant value to my understanding and development. My awareness registers that the visual language is complex and requires delicacy and greater thought that I have previously given, rather than a heavy handed approach.
Having used the symbol of a newspaper as a metaphor for established financial power, I find the research into literal codes has opened up further avenues for my practice. By making connections I can now reflect upon what is meant by ‘going beyond the literal’. The contextual meaning has always been an area that I have struggled to balance as I attempted to connect too many components into a frame which did not always allow for the understanding of the viewer. By developing a concept that allows for more significant elements of my subjective thoughts, I find that I have attempted to display a presence and a power that can’t be physically seen, but through metaphor and symbolism, is implied.
The use of visual abstraction aids the concept of going beyond the first level of meaning and although this may be an area of photography that opened up when my initial plans were unrealistic (due to pandemic), it has achieved a greater understanding of how to relate my work through visual meaning via clues and symbolic hints.
Questioning how a photograph works within a sequence of images has now become part of my practice. Although I appreciate the occasional jolt of something that pulls a juxtaposing view of a concept, I find my overall collection of work is far more together and paired than before. Considerable thought is now applied to both the selection and editing of a collection to aid a narrative that fits within the overall contextual understanding. I find that images that I consider strong are more easily discarded from the portfolio if they detract from the overall series.
It has also become apparent to me that my role to guide the viewer and allow a level of investment. By displaying my work through St Mungo’s Recovery College, I intend to relay my thoughts on inequality within the UK’s housing system to the very people who have experienced the situation and have concerns of their own. My own investment is an area has been worked upon to bring about a sense of clarity, heartfelt honesty and dismay at an absurd situation regarding a crippling lack of affordable housing. The investment is then relayed further by attempting to anchor my thoughts via an accompanied text for each individual photograph.
The anchoring of text required both research and practice. It is an area I have discussed with my tutor and have applied many styles and approaches. The examples within the course from Karen Knox are helpful and displays a similar approach to guiding the viewer without being too literal.
I have also found the work of Martha Rosler important in this area as the accompaniment of text stamps her thought processes in a hard hitting and yet pastoral manner. I have read the criticism applied to the work of ‘The Bowery’ by Allan Sekula and find that as much as I generally appreciate his insight on Power, he is being a little harsh to pour distain on the work for attempting to be both an artform and a documentary upon society. The text jumps around and possibly detracts from the photography as it is as strong and powerful, or potentially deeper than the visually passive way that Rosler has represented the scenes. It does provide a significant degree of food for thought.
For a good example of a photographer who uses the ‘Showing not telling’ mantra well, I revisited Chris Killip’s Skinningrove and one photograph in particular, the image of ‘Lesso with his dogs and gun’..
The use of the ‘implied’ threat from the key elements (dogs and guns) produces an initial concern. However, deeper insight diplays a passive body language and a friendly (non aggresive) welcome. Killip delivers this image with the description of the situation and calls the subject by his abbreviated first name, which highlights an air of familiarity.
The visual details indicate two elements of potential threat that initially create alarm. By using these elements, Killip disguises the actual meaning which appears within the whole collection of Skinningrove, which is a sense of knowing surrounding the hardships of a community existing from the small rewards of the sea. Killips closeness to his subjects provides an intimate view of lives, often kept at arms length through privacy hostility of keeping two jobs to make ends meet.
Outsiders are viewed with suspicion, which is a tribute to Killip’s ability to forge trust and have the nerve and access to photograph locals demonstrating the hard realities of their lives. The level of intimacy becomes part of the language and the ease to which locals are carefree around a photographer is in itself a level of meaning that Killip shows us through familiarity with his surroundings. The message is not literal, it presents itself as an air of implied knowing and attachment to a community.
Gerard Hilderly Level 3 OCA 