This is an archive of online material, physical books and artists that I've researched while conducting Contextual Studies Part 1, compiled in one place.
Category: Research Folder Part 1
Noémie Goudal
Something might have come to me when looking at Noémie Goudal’s fantastic work. I have been interested for some time in something I term in my head 'tessellating reality’. Here, a single picture of a scene is taken but then split up into smaller parts. These parts can overlap or tessellate to form the larger … Continue reading Noémie Goudal
The Relationship Between Photography and Reality
Howells introduces the relationship between photography and reality. He does so in an easy to comprehend manner which I found conducive for understanding the essay. Firstly he describes the invention of photography and its formative years. This was information I’d largely heard about before but it does inform the rest of the essay going forwards. However, for me where the essay gets really interesting is Howells mentioning the arguments of Roger Scruton with his assertions that photography could not be considered an art form like painting could.
What’s Next for Photography in the Age of Instagram? (2018) – Sean O’Hagan
The essay What's Next for Photography in the Age of Instagram? (2018) by Sean O’Hagan in the Guardian caught my eye; myself being a sometimes habitual user of Instagram as well as having a vested interest in photography in general and the direction it is heading.
Rhetoric of the Image (1964) – Roland Barthes
The image is something of an enigma for me with regards to meaning and, according to Barthes (1964), this mystery can be seen from two fronts. Firstly, linguists say that compared to language, the image is fairly simplistic: ‘the image is an extremely rudimentary system in comparison with language’ - (Barthes, 1964). Secondly, ‘those who think that signification cannot exhaust the image’s ineffable richness.’ - (Barthes, 1964). I would put Vilém Flusser in this second category who talks of the ‘magic’ of images recurring infinitely: ‘the image is none other than the world of magic, a world in which everything is repeated and in which everything participates in a significant context.’ - (Flusser, 1983).
Mari Mahr
The past and the present are fused with Mahr’s work. That is the photograph printed (occurring in the past) and the object which appears in front of it (the present).
More Notes on Vilém Flusser’s (1983) Book: Towards a Philosophy of Photography
I have decided to reread Vilém Flusser’s (1983) book: Towards a Philosophy of Photography for the reason I previously found it inspiring in my Documentary module and I hope to gain some more insight. In particular the concept of informative images as opposed to redundant images and how these two types of images effect us as we are enveloped in the 'Photographic Universe’ - (Flusser, 1983).
Sylwia Kowalczyk – Lethe (2016)
I find Sylwia Kowalczyk's work very inspiring and comparable (if quite dissimilar in appearance) to Georges Rousse’s work. Here, the art work overlaps in both cases to form a single piece except in Kowalczyk’s Lethe (2016) it is not practically seamless as the case is with Rousse’s. Rather Lethe is disjointed, using art from various sources and combining them in paper layers.
The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism – Douglas Crimp (1993)
Postmodernism has been a slippery concept for me to grasp in the past. By reading ‘The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism’ by Douglas Crimp (1993), I aim to get a better grasp of it and to relate it back to my own work if applicable.
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction – Walter Benjamin (1936)
I found this essay quite challenging to read but after reading through approximately three times I found I grasped a lot of the concepts. This made for a rewarding experience and made me think hard concerning the original art work's (and indeed the photograph's) authenticity.
Photography 3: Contextual Studies 