Rooms With a View
Photographer Abelardo Morell’s camera obscura turns darkened rooms into magical landscapes.
By Tom O’Neill
Photograph by Abelardo Morell
Something strange and wonderful happens when light enters a dark space through a tiny opening. Aristotle described the phenomenon back in the fourth century B.C. Leonardo in Renaissance Italy sketched the process. In Coney Island and other 19th-century seaside resorts, tourists lined up to see the magical results. Shift to a Boston classroom, the year 1988. Cuban-born Abelardo Morell, teaching an introductory photography course at an art college, was curious to step back in time. On a sunny day, he covered the classroom windows with black plastic, making the space as dark as a cave, cut a dime-size hole in the material, and told his students to watch. Almost instantly the back wall came alive like a movie screen, its surface covered with a fuzzy image of people and cars moving along Huntington Avenue outside. Then the double take: The image was upside down, sky on floor, ground on ceiling, the laws of gravity seemingly gone haywire.
Morell had turned his classroom into a camera obscura, a dark chamber, the Latin name for perhaps the earliest known imaging device and the ancestor of the photographic camera.
Explaining the optical principle behind the device is probably the most complicated thing about it. A camera obscura receives images just like the human eye—through a small opening and upside down. Light from outside enters the hole at an angle, the rays reflected from tops of objects, like trees, coursing downward, and those from the lower plane, say flowers, traveling upward, the rays crossing inside the dark space and forming an inverted image. It seems like a miracle, or a hustler's trick, but it's high school physics. The brain automatically rights the eye's image; in a regular camera a mirror flips the image.
A portable version of the camera obscura—the chamber was now a box, the hole was fitted with a lens—first became popular in the 17th century and was adapted by painters like Johannes Vermeer and Canaletto as a drawing aid. Scientists used it to observe solar eclipses, just as children do today with pinhole cameras made from shoe boxes. To capture a projected image, innovators in the early 1800s began inserting chemically treated paper or metal plates at the back of the boxy camera obscura, and the art of photography was born.
For Morell, a professor of photography, that day in the classroom was a revelation. "When I saw how these savvy, techie students were charmed and disarmed by the image on the wall, I knew this was something very potent."
His first project, conceived as a teaching aid, was to photograph the process itself. The result was "Light Bulb" from 1991. Using simple household materials, Morell illustrated the shape-shifting workings of a pinhole camera, conveying with the elegance of a Dutch still life how a photographic image forms.
Morell next set the challenge of photographing the apparition-like image that forms inside a room that's been turned into a camera obscura. To his knowledge this had never been done before. It took months to engineer the technique, to figure out the right size of hole to allow both brightness and sharpness and to determine the right exposure time, for detail to emerge on film. Then he had to choose a room—with a view.
Morell's breakthrough came in his own house in Quincy, a Boston suburb. He set his large-format view camera on a tripod in his son's bedroom, with only a pinprick of light entering, and opened the shutter. He left the room and waited. For eight hours. The result was mesmerizing. The developed picture showed inverted trees and houses from across the street hovering over the boy's toys like a scene from a fairy tale. "I was giddy," Morell said. "It felt like the moment photography was invented."
From that eureka moment, Morell has gone on to produce with his camera obscura one of the most original and enthralling bodies of work in contemporary photography. His views range from brazen New York City panoramas to warm Italian vistas. A few years ago he switched to color, enjoying its intensity, and began turning images right-side up with a prism.
Replacing film with a digital sensor, which is more light sensitive, he cut exposure times from hours to minutes, permitting him to capture clouds, shadows, and other fleeting atmospherics. He is most excited about his work with a floorless tent, a portable camera obscura that he takes to rooftops or parks or city streets to project images directly onto the ground, giving his latest photos a rough-textured grandeur.
"I want to refresh how people see the world," says Morell. Melting boundaries between landscape and dreamscape, his images wake up our eyes.
Article from the National Geographic, May 2011
Monday 20 June 2011
Abelardo Morell: Camera Obscura
"I made my first picture using camera obscura techniques in my darkened living room in 1991. In setting up a room to make this kind of photograph, I cover all windows with black plastic in order to achieve total darkness. Then, I cut a small hole in the material I use to cover the windows. This allows an inverted image of the view outside to flood onto the walls of the room. I would focus my large-format camera on the incoming image on the wall and expose the film. In the beginning, exposures took five to ten hours.
Over time, this project has taken me from my living room to all sorts of interiors around the world. One of the satisfactions I get from making this imagery comes from my seeing the weird and yet natural marriage of the inside and outside.
A few years ago, in order to push the visual potential of this process, I began to use color film and positioned a lens over the hole in the window plastic in order to add to the overall sharpness and brightness of the incoming image. Now, I often use a prism to make the projection come in right side up. I have also been able to shorten my exposures considerably thanks to digital technology, which in turn makes it possible to capture more momentary light. I love the increased sense of reality that the outdoor has in these new works .The marriage of the outside and the inside is now made up of more equal partners."
http://www.abelardomorell.net/index.html
I love these photographs, I think the camera obscura is a simple yet very effective method. I came across an article on Morell in the National Geographic magazine in May 2011. After reading the article, I created my own camera obscura in a room in my house. The results were fascinating and I was very stunned. However, unfortunately, the sun had gone in therefore there was not much light outside. I am looking forward to experimenting with it again on a sunny day.
Light Bulb 1991
Manhattan View Looking South in Large Room 1996
View of Central Park Looking North-Fall 2008
View of the Brooklyn bridge in Bedroom 2009
View of the Times Square from Hotel Room 2010
Over time, this project has taken me from my living room to all sorts of interiors around the world. One of the satisfactions I get from making this imagery comes from my seeing the weird and yet natural marriage of the inside and outside.
A few years ago, in order to push the visual potential of this process, I began to use color film and positioned a lens over the hole in the window plastic in order to add to the overall sharpness and brightness of the incoming image. Now, I often use a prism to make the projection come in right side up. I have also been able to shorten my exposures considerably thanks to digital technology, which in turn makes it possible to capture more momentary light. I love the increased sense of reality that the outdoor has in these new works .The marriage of the outside and the inside is now made up of more equal partners."
http://www.abelardomorell.net/index.html
I love these photographs, I think the camera obscura is a simple yet very effective method. I came across an article on Morell in the National Geographic magazine in May 2011. After reading the article, I created my own camera obscura in a room in my house. The results were fascinating and I was very stunned. However, unfortunately, the sun had gone in therefore there was not much light outside. I am looking forward to experimenting with it again on a sunny day.
Light Bulb 1991
Manhattan View Looking South in Large Room 1996
View of Central Park Looking North-Fall 2008
View of the Brooklyn bridge in Bedroom 2009
View of the Times Square from Hotel Room 2010
Website?
I am interested in designing a website for my photographs but I am not sure where to start! I have found some helpful websites and forums about setting up your own website:
http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/startwebsite.shtml
http://www.build-your-website.co.uk/starting-a-website.htm
http://the-best-web-hosting-service.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-start-a-website-the-easy-guide/
I would like to upload all my photographs on to the website then people can look through them. Hopefully a website will soon be up and running!
http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/startwebsite.shtml
http://www.build-your-website.co.uk/starting-a-website.htm
http://the-best-web-hosting-service.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-start-a-website-the-easy-guide/
I would like to upload all my photographs on to the website then people can look through them. Hopefully a website will soon be up and running!
Saturday 18 June 2011
Wednesday 1 June 2011
Saturday 28 May 2011
Assessment Criteria
Creative Practice Research
This unit is concerned with the interrogation of ideas,
experimentation, exploration and evaluation related to
the students defined territory of interest, as described in
the Learning Agreement.
40 CREDITS AT LEVEL: 6
TOTAL AMOUNT OF STUDENT LEARNING (NOTIONAL HOURS OF LEARNING) 400 hours
UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this unit students will be
able to have attained or demonstrated that they:
• Have, through practice and study, developed a
generative working method, through which, they can
experiment, explore, exploit, evaluate and monitor
ideas, processes and technologies.
• Have understood the importance of a research
based approach in developing original creative ideas.
• Developed a conceptual / practice based vocabulary,
enabling them to produce original work.
• Show a high level of creative independence and
developed transferable skills.
LEARNING & TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Self directed study, supported by individual and group
tutorials, group crits, presentations, regular staff led
meetings, and visiting speakers. Students are
encouraged to capitalise on the unexpected problems
and discoveries as a means of identifying potential
opportunities for further development in the Creative
Practice Resolution Unit.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• Evidence of learning, demonstrated through an
appropriate body of work as defined by the
curriculum outline.
• The work, reflecting the level of interrogation and
exploration and a fluency of approach towards the
development of original creative ideas.
• Evidence, that individual attitudes have been well
informed through a developed sense of curiosity and
on-going realisation that research, (experimental and
academic) is a fundamental part of the creative
process.
Creative Practice Resolution
This unit is concerned with the further development of student’s ideas, based on the Learning Agreement. Students, build on the discoveries made in the CP Research unit. Students, through a high level of creative practice, take their ideas towards a sense of resolution.
CREDIT VALUE 40 CREDITS AT LEVEL: 6
TOTAL AMOUNT OF STUDENT LEARNING (NOTIONAL HOURS OF LEARNING) 400 hours
Self directed study, supported by individual and group tutorials, group crits, presentations, regular staff led meetings, and visiting speakers provide learning for this unit’s 400 hours in total. A large percentage of this unit will be based on individual student preference, (as described on the Learning Agreement),
UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES On successful completion of this unit students will be able to have attained or demonstrated that they:
• Have exploited and extended their capability for creative practice within a given or self initiated context.
• Have located their practice within a personally defined cultural territory.
• Have thoroughly exploited, through a developed working method: materials, technologies, processes and concepts, in the forming of their ideas.
• Have exploited and critically evaluated possibilities in resolving the formation of their work.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• Evidence of learning, demonstrated through an appropriate body of work as defined by the curriculum outline.
• The work, reflecting the level of interrogation and exploration and a fluency of approach towards the development of original creative ideas.
• Evidence, that individual attitudes have been well informed through a developed sense of curiosity and an on-going realisation that ‘development’ is a fundamental part of the creative process.
This unit is concerned with the interrogation of ideas,
experimentation, exploration and evaluation related to
the students defined territory of interest, as described in
the Learning Agreement.
40 CREDITS AT LEVEL: 6
TOTAL AMOUNT OF STUDENT LEARNING (NOTIONAL HOURS OF LEARNING) 400 hours
UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this unit students will be
able to have attained or demonstrated that they:
• Have, through practice and study, developed a
generative working method, through which, they can
experiment, explore, exploit, evaluate and monitor
ideas, processes and technologies.
• Have understood the importance of a research
based approach in developing original creative ideas.
• Developed a conceptual / practice based vocabulary,
enabling them to produce original work.
• Show a high level of creative independence and
developed transferable skills.
LEARNING & TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Self directed study, supported by individual and group
tutorials, group crits, presentations, regular staff led
meetings, and visiting speakers. Students are
encouraged to capitalise on the unexpected problems
and discoveries as a means of identifying potential
opportunities for further development in the Creative
Practice Resolution Unit.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• Evidence of learning, demonstrated through an
appropriate body of work as defined by the
curriculum outline.
• The work, reflecting the level of interrogation and
exploration and a fluency of approach towards the
development of original creative ideas.
• Evidence, that individual attitudes have been well
informed through a developed sense of curiosity and
on-going realisation that research, (experimental and
academic) is a fundamental part of the creative
process.
Creative Practice Resolution
This unit is concerned with the further development of student’s ideas, based on the Learning Agreement. Students, build on the discoveries made in the CP Research unit. Students, through a high level of creative practice, take their ideas towards a sense of resolution.
CREDIT VALUE 40 CREDITS AT LEVEL: 6
TOTAL AMOUNT OF STUDENT LEARNING (NOTIONAL HOURS OF LEARNING) 400 hours
Self directed study, supported by individual and group tutorials, group crits, presentations, regular staff led meetings, and visiting speakers provide learning for this unit’s 400 hours in total. A large percentage of this unit will be based on individual student preference, (as described on the Learning Agreement),
UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES On successful completion of this unit students will be able to have attained or demonstrated that they:
• Have exploited and extended their capability for creative practice within a given or self initiated context.
• Have located their practice within a personally defined cultural territory.
• Have thoroughly exploited, through a developed working method: materials, technologies, processes and concepts, in the forming of their ideas.
• Have exploited and critically evaluated possibilities in resolving the formation of their work.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• Evidence of learning, demonstrated through an appropriate body of work as defined by the curriculum outline.
• The work, reflecting the level of interrogation and exploration and a fluency of approach towards the development of original creative ideas.
• Evidence, that individual attitudes have been well informed through a developed sense of curiosity and an on-going realisation that ‘development’ is a fundamental part of the creative process.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Jean Kilbourne
Jean Kilbourne is a feminist author, speaker and filmmaker who is known for her work on the image of women in advertising. Her work links the power of images in the media with current public health problems, such as eating disorders, violence, drug and alcohol addiction. Through her lectures, films and articles, many of her original ideas and concepts have become mainstream. Jean Kilbourne has been campaigning her issues for over 20 years, her most recent is 'Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women' released April 2010. The transcript for this is below.
Sometimes people say to me, “You’ve been talking about this for 40 years, have things gotten any better?” And actually I have to say really they’ve gotten worse. Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images, they sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success and perhaps most important – normalcy. To a great extent they tell us who we are and who we should be.
Well what does advertising tell us about women? It tells us, as it always has, that’s what’s most important is how we look. So the first thing the advertisers do is surround us with images of ideal female beauty. Women learn from a very early age that we must spend enormous amounts of time, energy and above all money, striving to achieve this look and feeling ashamed and guilty when we fail. And failure is inevitable because the ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. She never has any lines or wrinkles, she certainly has no scars or blemishes, indeed she has no pores. And the most important aspect of this flawlessness is that it can not be achieved, no one looks like this including her; and this is the truth, no one looks like this. The supermodel Cindy Crawford once said, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.” She doesn’t, she couldn’t, because this is a look that’s been created for years through airbrushing and cosmetics but these days it’s done through the magic of computer retouching. Keira Knightley is given a bigger bust; Jessica Alba is made smaller; Kelly Clarkson… well isn’t this interesting it says, “Slim down your way” but she in fact slimmed down the Photoshop way. You almost never see a photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been Photoshopped.
We all grow up in a culture in which women’s bodies are constantly turned into things and objects, here’s she’s become the bottle of Michelob. In this ad she becomes part of a video game. And this is everywhere, in all kinds of advertising. Women’s bodies are turned into things and objects. Now of course this affects female self esteem. It also does something even more insidious – it creates a climate of widespread violence against women. I’m not at all saying that an ad like this directly causes violence, it’s not that simple but turning a human being in to a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. We see this with racism, we see it with homophobia, we see it with terrorism. It’s always the same process. The person is dehumanised and violence becomes inevitable. And that step is already and constantly taken against women.
Women’s bodies are dismembered in ads, hacked apart – just one part of the body is focused upon, which of course is the most dehumanising thing you could do to someone. Everywhere we look, women’s bodies have been turned into things and often just parts of things. And girls are getting the message these days just so young, that they need to be impossibly beautiful. Hot, sexy, extremely thin – they also get the message that they’re going to fail, there’s no way they’re going to really achieve it. Girls tend to feel fine about themselves when they’re 8, 9, 10 years old but they hit adolescence and they hit the wall and certainly a part of this wall is this terrible emphasis on physical perfection. So no wonder we have an epidemic of eating disorders in our country and increasingly throughout the world.
I’ve been talking about this for a very long time and I keep thinking that the models can’t get any thinner but they do. They get thinner and thinner and thinner. This is Ana Carolina Reston who died a year ago of anorexia weighing 88 pounds and at the time she was still modelling. So the models literally can not get any thinner so Photoshop is brought to the rescue. There are exceptions however – Kate Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight. When British GQ magazine this photograph of Winslet which was digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner, she issued a statement that the alterations were made without her consent and she said, “I don’t look like that and more importantly I don’t desire to look like that. I can tell you that they’ve reduced the size of my legs by about a third.” Bless her heart.
So, what can we do about all of this? Well the first step is to become aware, to pay attention, and to recognise that this affects all of us. These are public health problems that I’m talking about. The obsession with thinness is a public health problem, the tyranny of the ideal image of beauty, violence against women. These are all public health problems that affect us all and public health problems can only be solved by changing the environment.
Sometimes people say to me, “You’ve been talking about this for 40 years, have things gotten any better?” And actually I have to say really they’ve gotten worse. Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images, they sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success and perhaps most important – normalcy. To a great extent they tell us who we are and who we should be.
Well what does advertising tell us about women? It tells us, as it always has, that’s what’s most important is how we look. So the first thing the advertisers do is surround us with images of ideal female beauty. Women learn from a very early age that we must spend enormous amounts of time, energy and above all money, striving to achieve this look and feeling ashamed and guilty when we fail. And failure is inevitable because the ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. She never has any lines or wrinkles, she certainly has no scars or blemishes, indeed she has no pores. And the most important aspect of this flawlessness is that it can not be achieved, no one looks like this including her; and this is the truth, no one looks like this. The supermodel Cindy Crawford once said, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.” She doesn’t, she couldn’t, because this is a look that’s been created for years through airbrushing and cosmetics but these days it’s done through the magic of computer retouching. Keira Knightley is given a bigger bust; Jessica Alba is made smaller; Kelly Clarkson… well isn’t this interesting it says, “Slim down your way” but she in fact slimmed down the Photoshop way. You almost never see a photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been Photoshopped.
We all grow up in a culture in which women’s bodies are constantly turned into things and objects, here’s she’s become the bottle of Michelob. In this ad she becomes part of a video game. And this is everywhere, in all kinds of advertising. Women’s bodies are turned into things and objects. Now of course this affects female self esteem. It also does something even more insidious – it creates a climate of widespread violence against women. I’m not at all saying that an ad like this directly causes violence, it’s not that simple but turning a human being in to a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. We see this with racism, we see it with homophobia, we see it with terrorism. It’s always the same process. The person is dehumanised and violence becomes inevitable. And that step is already and constantly taken against women.
Women’s bodies are dismembered in ads, hacked apart – just one part of the body is focused upon, which of course is the most dehumanising thing you could do to someone. Everywhere we look, women’s bodies have been turned into things and often just parts of things. And girls are getting the message these days just so young, that they need to be impossibly beautiful. Hot, sexy, extremely thin – they also get the message that they’re going to fail, there’s no way they’re going to really achieve it. Girls tend to feel fine about themselves when they’re 8, 9, 10 years old but they hit adolescence and they hit the wall and certainly a part of this wall is this terrible emphasis on physical perfection. So no wonder we have an epidemic of eating disorders in our country and increasingly throughout the world.
I’ve been talking about this for a very long time and I keep thinking that the models can’t get any thinner but they do. They get thinner and thinner and thinner. This is Ana Carolina Reston who died a year ago of anorexia weighing 88 pounds and at the time she was still modelling. So the models literally can not get any thinner so Photoshop is brought to the rescue. There are exceptions however – Kate Winslet has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight. When British GQ magazine this photograph of Winslet which was digitally enhanced to make her look dramatically thinner, she issued a statement that the alterations were made without her consent and she said, “I don’t look like that and more importantly I don’t desire to look like that. I can tell you that they’ve reduced the size of my legs by about a third.” Bless her heart.
So, what can we do about all of this? Well the first step is to become aware, to pay attention, and to recognise that this affects all of us. These are public health problems that I’m talking about. The obsession with thinness is a public health problem, the tyranny of the ideal image of beauty, violence against women. These are all public health problems that affect us all and public health problems can only be solved by changing the environment.
Women in Advertising
A common theme running through my photographs of magazine adverts is of women. Examples of these:
I have been looking into women in adverts and how they are portrayed in the mass media. Beautiful, attractive women are found all over advertising. Advertising is notorious for promoting the 'beauty ideal', the exemplary female prototype. We are surrounded by the ideal female beauty.
Women strive to achieve this ultimate ideal of beauty we see all over the mass media, however this is inevitable. The ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. The models in the adverts never have any lines, wrinkles, scars, blemishes etc. Using computer software, the body and face of the model can be retouched, altering it to look perfect. This is creating women that actually do not exist.
A video I found highlights all these points, explaining what advertising tells us about women.
Killing Us Softly 3
Jean Kilbourne
2000
I have been looking into women in adverts and how they are portrayed in the mass media. Beautiful, attractive women are found all over advertising. Advertising is notorious for promoting the 'beauty ideal', the exemplary female prototype. We are surrounded by the ideal female beauty.
Women strive to achieve this ultimate ideal of beauty we see all over the mass media, however this is inevitable. The ideal is based on absolute flawlessness. The models in the adverts never have any lines, wrinkles, scars, blemishes etc. Using computer software, the body and face of the model can be retouched, altering it to look perfect. This is creating women that actually do not exist.
A video I found highlights all these points, explaining what advertising tells us about women.
Killing Us Softly 3
Jean Kilbourne
2000
Friday 20 May 2011
The Cornerhouse
New Cartographies
I recently visited an exhibition at the Cornerhouse, 'New Cartographies'. It brings together ten contemporary artists from Algeria, France and the UK, exploring Africa's largest country and its complex relationship with Europe as it heads towards its fiftieth year of independence. Some of the works explore memories and traces of the colonial era and the struggle that led to Algerian independence. Others examine the nature of individual identity and memory, and their relationship to the family ties that persist or break as a result of migration, dislocation or disappearance.
John Perivolaris
North to North
2011
A multimedia installation explores the theme of travel and migration through a series of journeys of discovery, departure or return. Taking us from Manchester via London and France to Algeria, North to North is a month long journey by Perivolaris, incorporating images made during the trip, and postcards he sent and received as he probed colonial and post-colonial links between the three countries. His blog explains further, with more photographs, of the project:
http://thecardographer.wordpress.com/
Yves Jeanmougin
Algeriens, freres de sang: Jean Senac, lieux de memoire (2005) is a series of images taking us back to an earlier moment in Algeri'a independence. They retrace the life of the celebrated poet Jean Senac, who championed Algerian independence. Revisiting locations associated with the poet, Jeanmougin's work encourages reflection on the French presence in Algeria before independence.
Bruno Boudjelal
Algeria From East to West
2001-2003
Photographic series
In 'Algeria from East to West', Boudjelal depicts a journey across Algeria to his father's hometown as the civil war, which scarred the country in the 1990s, drew to a close. Born in France to Algerian parents, Boudjelal finds that his journey becomes an exploration of the intricate links between personal identity, national identity and cultural memory within Algeria's complex and violent post-colonial history.
Amina Menia
Chrysanthemum
2011
A site-specific photographic installation, Amina Menia invites reflection on the presence of the past within Algeria today by exploring the place of the dead and the different monuments erected to commemorate them. Her life-size reproductions of these symbolic, and political, monuments ask us to question the relationship between mourning, commemoration and everyday life.
I recently visited an exhibition at the Cornerhouse, 'New Cartographies'. It brings together ten contemporary artists from Algeria, France and the UK, exploring Africa's largest country and its complex relationship with Europe as it heads towards its fiftieth year of independence. Some of the works explore memories and traces of the colonial era and the struggle that led to Algerian independence. Others examine the nature of individual identity and memory, and their relationship to the family ties that persist or break as a result of migration, dislocation or disappearance.
John Perivolaris
North to North
2011
A multimedia installation explores the theme of travel and migration through a series of journeys of discovery, departure or return. Taking us from Manchester via London and France to Algeria, North to North is a month long journey by Perivolaris, incorporating images made during the trip, and postcards he sent and received as he probed colonial and post-colonial links between the three countries. His blog explains further, with more photographs, of the project:
http://thecardographer.wordpress.com/
Yves Jeanmougin
Algeriens, freres de sang: Jean Senac, lieux de memoire (2005) is a series of images taking us back to an earlier moment in Algeri'a independence. They retrace the life of the celebrated poet Jean Senac, who championed Algerian independence. Revisiting locations associated with the poet, Jeanmougin's work encourages reflection on the French presence in Algeria before independence.
Bruno Boudjelal
Algeria From East to West
2001-2003
Photographic series
In 'Algeria from East to West', Boudjelal depicts a journey across Algeria to his father's hometown as the civil war, which scarred the country in the 1990s, drew to a close. Born in France to Algerian parents, Boudjelal finds that his journey becomes an exploration of the intricate links between personal identity, national identity and cultural memory within Algeria's complex and violent post-colonial history.
Amina Menia
Chrysanthemum
2011
A site-specific photographic installation, Amina Menia invites reflection on the presence of the past within Algeria today by exploring the place of the dead and the different monuments erected to commemorate them. Her life-size reproductions of these symbolic, and political, monuments ask us to question the relationship between mourning, commemoration and everyday life.
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Liquid Emulsion Experiments
These are images of more liquid emulsion photographs I have been experimenting with. However, they did not work as well due to the paper I used being very thin, therefore the photograph did not take to it as good. Another reason why it did not work as well was that when I put the paper in the solutions, because it was thin it was very fragile and sometimes ripped. To hopefully correct this I shall be using card in future experiments.
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Robert Heinecken
After visiting an exhibition, cameraless photography (blog entry 18th March), at the Victoria and Albert museum I came across the artist Heinecken. His work is similar to mine because he used existing images to create his own, manipulating them. Heinecken used the same technique as I do, placing magazine pages on a light table. The images on both sides of the sheet visually merge in unexpected ways.
Sometimes the resulting montages, although not planned by the layouts' designers, are pictorially and conceptually stimulating. In Heinecken's work, "Are you Rea" the text of a cigarette advert saying "More than a million people like what Lark does" was overlaid on an iconic, Christlike figure draped with beads and of indeterminate sex. In another, a monstrously deformed portrait emerged from the fusion of a patterned dress over a grinning face adjacent to the text "Lynda Bird Johnson's Hollywood Beauty Treatment."
Robert Heinecken Study #20, 1970
Black and white photogram of magazine page
Inspired by Heinecken's work, I experimented developing my photographs of magazine pages in black and white. As I have always developed my photographs from this project in colour, it was interesting to see the images in black and white.
Sometimes the resulting montages, although not planned by the layouts' designers, are pictorially and conceptually stimulating. In Heinecken's work, "Are you Rea" the text of a cigarette advert saying "More than a million people like what Lark does" was overlaid on an iconic, Christlike figure draped with beads and of indeterminate sex. In another, a monstrously deformed portrait emerged from the fusion of a patterned dress over a grinning face adjacent to the text "Lynda Bird Johnson's Hollywood Beauty Treatment."
Robert Heinecken Study #20, 1970
Black and white photogram of magazine page
Inspired by Heinecken's work, I experimented developing my photographs of magazine pages in black and white. As I have always developed my photographs from this project in colour, it was interesting to see the images in black and white.
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