Tag: context

Photography – The Shape-Shifter

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The context in which we both create and consume photography is constantly changing and transforming, opening up new possibilities and directions.

Price, 1994, states that the use of the photograph determines it’s meaning. In other words, the context in which we view the image determines its meaning. This is illustrated very well in the Benneton Advert which formed part of their controversial 1992 ad campaign which used an image by journalism student, Therese Frare, originally published in November 1990 LIFE Magazine. The original black and white image was of gay activist and AIDS victim, David Kirby, as he lay on his death bed. Two years later this image was recolourised by artist Ann Rhoney and used by Benetton in its campaign.

S/S 1992, “AIDS – David Kirby”
Concept: Oliviero Toscani Photo: Thérèse Frare Source: http://www.benettongroup.com/

Different groups had different reactions to this image, however, it received a lot of heavy criticism and backlash as it was perceived as spreading fear and profiting from the suffering of others. Yet David Kirby’s own parents had consented to the use of this image, as did the photographer, who believed this was a powerful message to raise awareness. Benetton themselves stated that this was the first public campaign to address AIDS and was intended to show solidarity. It is obvious there were different perceptions surrounding the way the image was portrayed.

Benetton often used pseudocumentary style images in their advertising campaigns  and many of their adverts have been highly controversial, drawing different responses from different groups of people.  Their campaigns often need to be looked at on a deeper level to understand the meaning.  I don’t personally find their images offensive, instead I view them as provocative and challenging, inviting the viewer to connect with the concept and engage with it. 

Reaction could thus be considered a success as it has evoked emotion and engagement.  More thoughtful analysis of their adverts, however, would lead to a response rather than a reaction.  Their campaigns certainly illustrate how meaning can be interpreted by the viewer and also by the context in which the image is placed.  These images were likely to have been judged much more harshly when viewed as advertising and seen in the context of magazines, than if they were seen in the context of documentary photography or art.    More of their historic campaigns can be viewed on their website: Benetton Group.

In looking at my own photographic practice and the context in which it is created and potentially received, I relate very strongly to this quote by Barthes, as it is closely aligned to my own relationship with photography and what I attempt to convey in my photographic practice:

“The photograph is a message. Considered overall this message is formed by a source of emission, a channel of transmission, and a point of reception.” (Barthes, 1977, p.15).

My own practice is located predominantly within documentary style and urban landscape photography, both of which could be consumed through the format of printed photographic images, either as part of a collection, exhibition or individual prints, or within the printed format of a photographic book. No doubt there are other contexts to consider but these are what I feel are most suited to my particular practice.

In considering how my photographic practice may be received and interpreted by viewers, I believe that the context is very relevant and relates to the audience or consumer of the work. An example of context is apparent in the feedback I received for last term’s Work in Progress.  The tutors felt it was repetitive in places, and needed more depth and experimentation. 

I had shown this work to others prior to submitting the assignment and received different responses from them. What I noticed was that people who lived in Bristol and weren’t photographers all felt a sense of sorrow within the images and knew exactly what the series of images was about. This led to them relating to the images and expressing their own feelings about the space being depicted and the events surrounding the images. 

I also showed these images to people who were photographers but didn’t know the story behind the images. Most of them picked up on the narrative by spotting the clues in the images – things such as the changing seasons, the colour yellow and the link to the yellow lines, the strong sense of desolation and loss, and of course the missing bear.

What is very apparent is that there were three different perceptions and sets of responses to the same images based on the context in which they were viewed: critically as part of the MA Photography assignment, emotionally by people who lived in the area and related to the story, and technically by other photographers. This is something I will always need to consider when creating photographic projects and when making decisions about the context in which they will be consumed and who the audience is intended to be.

Resources:

Research Project – Context

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Although I am still finding my voice as a photographer, there are clear themes that have become central to my practice and which I will continue to explore and develop through my current and future projects. My area of focus is on life in the cities and suburbs of the UK and on urban photography as a genre. This is a relatively new and sometimes contested genre that has evolved in the last decade but one in which I feel I can locate my current photographic practice.

“In a nutshell, urban photography is more than typical street photography, because it includes everything that can be found within a modern city – architecture, decay, human subjects, various inanimate objects and all that is in between them – any kind of correlations, either figurative or abstract ones. Certain subcategories of socially engaged urban photography tend to be critical rather than simply consumable and they usually have a deeper meaning under the veil of appealing aesthetics. The best way to understand urban photography is to see it as a natural extension of street photography.” (Widewalls, 2016)

Locating myself contextually within this broad area of photography that incorporates so many different styles and contextual references, will allow me to create a visual narrative around urban life and key themes I’ve identified as inherent to modern urban life in the UK. Although I will be working within the scope of the local environment, these themes may touch upon issues that are reflected on a global scale and which are certainly linked to global changes, including issues such as gentrification.

I will focus initially on my local environment, the city of Bristol with a specific interest in the city centre, Stokes Croft and the neighbouring communities. Each of these areas of the city has a very unique and distinct character of its own and is either already experiencing rapid change or is likely to be threatened by it. In my explorations of the urban landscape, my observation has been that there is an architecture of change, a design to it – there is a cycle where places and communities are ‘forgotten’ or neglected and they are allowed to fall into neglect, decay and degeneration, which is then followed by rapid modernisation, ‘urban renewal’ projects and ultimately gentrification with no regard for the impact on the community or its wellbeing.

Based on this trend happening throughout UK cities, I see the same happening within Bristol. The unique character of Stokes Croft and the city centre are at risk of being lost to change, modernisation and cultural erasure. At the centre of these areas and inseparable from this issue, is a contentious underpass called The Bearpit which encapsulates the friction and tension building up within the city in the current socio-economic climate of inequality.

What was once a vibrant community project that had transformed a neglected underpass into a space that encouraged street art, freedom of speech with independent billboards and edible gardens, was impacted by austerity and the social issues it causes. In June this year, the local Council ‘locked it down’ after an incident, removing those who inhabited this space and stripping away all that was left in the Bearpit, including the street art. My theory is that this is the beginning of a process of gentrification that will extend from the Bearpit to Stokes Croft and the neighbouring areas. My project will involve documenting this process.

Snapshot of the project from previous term, showing the ‘lockdown’ of the Bearpit, stripping of the space, and Ursa the Bear, the last inhabitant of the Bearpit.

The nature of the Bearpit as an underpass, makes it an interstitial space that exists in a type of ‘no man’s land’ between places, yet at the same time it is the vital link connecting them. This embodies the concept of non-space, a neologism termed by the French anthropologist, Marc Augé and which refers to anthropological spaces of transience that do not hold enough significance to be viewed as places. Nonplace photography is an important component to my own photographic practice as these are so often the forgotten spaces of post-capitalist inequality, existing on the vague borders between neglected and decaying areas and the shiny structures of modern urbanisation.

I have observed that non-places and areas of urban degeneration tend to be areas that attract street art and graffiti, another aspect of the urban landscape to which I am repeatedly drawn and which offers an alternative form of social commentary about these spaces. Perhaps it is the illegal nature of street art that relegates it to the anonymity of non-spaces yet I propose that this in turn has transformed it into a unique subculture that has found a place within non-place. This is a concept I will also continue to explore within my local environment and other cities I may visit.

Left: Street Artist, Ben Eine’s work Last Days of Shoreditch refers to the rapid gentrification happening in this area. The images depict the brutal effects of these changes.
Right: Street artists painting around the demolition site and making a statement about the changes to Shoreditch. Well known street artist, Stik, depicts this poignantly in his artwork: Past, Present and Future.

References:

Widewalls. (2019). Capturing the City: Urban Photography and Urban Photographers. [online] Available at: https://www.widewalls.ch/urban-photography-photographers/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2019].

Augé, M. (1995). Non-places: Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity (trans. J. Howe). London: Verso.