MARIA BARHAM-BLACK

Rinko Kawauchi - suggestive, poetic, uses light, images brought together by the running theme of light, light, death, mortality - all captured in one moment

Rinko Kawauchi, Illuminance (photobook), 2011

Wolfgang Tillman - eclectic images on the wall, revolutionary created fashion photography that art critics were interested in, power of where images are placed effects narrative

Wolgang Tillman 2003

Shirana Shahbazi

Good words, 2001, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig

Christian Patterson - a story about a small town in America about a killing spree - used as a metaphor to explore Amerciain suburban life, never spells out what has happened in the story but each installation is a clue, objects alluded to a physical presence in a gallery space.

Christian Patterson, “Redheaded Peckerwood”.  Installation, 2012.

Vasantha Yogananthan - looking at contemporary Indian society, myths and stories, sets people up as if they were the characters from these stories using contemporary models, explores themes such as class, amazing use of light - bleached out light/colour palette

Vanessa Winship - Documentary photographer, looks at small-town America and the concept of ‘road trip’ as well as focusing on the people with portraits.

How do classic forms of photography relate to the contemporary?

Tereza Zelenkova - eclectic work on the wall presented in different ways - a mixture of media such as textiles, although images are contemporary she could be looking at family history due to the way the work is presented like home, there is a ‘family photo’, uses the absence to allow us to look further into the work

Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2015 installation views at Jerwood Space, November 2015.

We consider photography as an ‘expanded’ media within contemporary arts – one which incorporates time-based, installation, sculpture and social practice. 

Lorna Simpson - well known for collages of black women in power, subjecting stereotypes previously, sculptural elements, painting

Installation view of ‘Lorna Simpson: Unanswerable’ at Hauser & Wirth in London, 2018.

Felicity Hammond - fresh, sculpture print, echos something we can see in the real world - billboard

Capital Growth | 2015 | Inkjet vinyl print, wood | Installation view

Forensic Architecture - research project often looking at war, conflict, and the hidden truth due to the media, gathering evidence to explore a different point of view, create installations based on research, photography as evidence to portray an argument

Forensic Architecture, The Architectural-Image-Complex, Rafah: Black Friday, 2015

Wangechi Mutu - uses photography, threads, and materials looking at identity and stereotypes and magazine culture

Wangechi Mutu Ngbaka People from the series Bedroom Masks, 2001

Perhaps the Moon will Save Us, 2009

John Stezaker

Lucas Blalock - ‘bad photoshop’, poking fun at perfection within photoshop culture.

Dahna Talmor - cuts up negatives then collages them together, constructed negatives

Dafna Talmor-Untitled (NE-040404-1), Untitled (NE-04040404-1)

From images in different locations that include Venezuela, Israel, the US and UK

Seba Kurtis - explores asylum seekers, using eclectic wall presentation

Seba Kurtis, Thicker than Water, 2012

Luke Willis Thompson - shot on a film about a woman who has experienced violence and loss, a still portrait that was a film, could see the projector, introduces an element of time to a portrait, the video gives her life makes it real, melancholy lighting - doesn’t reveal the whole identity - shadows create a sense of privacy for her grief

Luke Willis Thompson – Autoportrait, Whitechapel Gallery 2018 Turner prize nominee

Jessica Kobesissi  Commercial Fashion Photographer 

Peter Watkins

Fine Art Photographer

‘Interdisprinly Studies’ has been a way, for me personally, to explore different techniques for making work outside of the main programme. From initially doing screen prints in our skill swap to creating a book with a group mixed with different students, this module has been extremely insightful for me. Given the brief of making an artifact of Ebrington Street with a group from Painting, Printmaking and Drawing was at first daunting due to not knowing these new people or the street itself. Now looking back in reflection this module has allowed me to build relationships with people outside my programme as well as being to build confidence in my local community.

In the beginning as a group, we struggled to settle on an idea but eventually, we chose to create a book as our artifact which would tell the narrative of Ebrington Street in the past alongside the present, exploring the changes that have occurred and trying to find the reasons why. We chose to represent this narrative by presenting work in the book created by us individually and collaboratively using techniques from both courses to make a vibrant series of work. In order to explore our concepts and the challenges that the community of the street were facing we planned to do research in the way of books and the internet as well as going into the street itself, conducting interview-style conversations to find out what the community really felt which gave us an increased insight into their sense of community. Once we had a basic plan to create our book we began to execute it, individually creating our own work then bringing it up in our meetings to see what the rest of our group thought of our ideas.

Personally, at the beginning of this project, I explored the theme of past and present by creating photograms and scans using old archived photographs with my own photographs of the street, incorporating elements from the street now such as badges from old uniforms from Goulds. I chose to do this as I found it met the concept of past and present whilst also allowing me to understand the street's history more and the occupants of the street now. As time went on I began to create more work however it became more experimental with me making collages of the street using objects that we had collected to layer in which made the overall image more personal to Ebrington Street and their community.  Once we had all created all collaborative and individual work we collaborated together to plan what would go where in the book, which had luckily been made prior by a member of PDP.  

Initially, the relationship throughout our group was poor with little to no communication before our formative assessments, however after this over time our relationship with one another has developed not only in means of communication but also has flourished creatively and experimentally in our joint work. This allowed us to work cohesively when enduring the process of putting the book together.  Furthermore, our relationship as a group was essential for this project as it allowed us to work together when creating artifacts to put into our book. This collaborative work allowed us to bounce off each other creativity leading to more experimental outcomes. A few key examples of this are, firstly, making paper from scratch together in a small group which allowed us to use objects that we had gathered from the street in the paper, therefore, representing the street and making this book more personal to their community. Taking part in this experience allowed me personally to learn a new skill but also opened my eyes to how other students work in different ways to make other beautiful outcomes which lead to my work branching out in ways it hadn’t before. Although we had worked together as a group in this activity, led by Emma, I wanted to create another piece of work that would be used to reflect our communication of this group. For this, I used one of my photographs then layered a drawing on top, from Paul in PDP, which to me ultimately represented our collaboration with one another.

Alongside working together we also began to build a relationship with members of the streets by actively engaging with them, allowing us to expand our ideas and work to understand their community better. Initially, a few members and I faced challenges in actually talking to the occupants of the street due to this being something outside of our comfort zone. However, we went back through the street gathering artifacts from shops, such as Hangry and Hand in Hand, talking to a few of them to gather information around our narrative. To expand this information further a few of our group did a more interview style conversation with one of the oldest shops in the street, Goulds. This activity was one completely out of my comfort zone but with the support of other group members, I was able to speak up and ask questions that personally interested me which allowed me to feel closer to this community.

Overall, once all of the work had been brought together we had this brilliant document of what we had discovered about Ebrington Street, comparing the past to the present and exploring their community in general and how it had changed just as much as the buildings had done. Personally, I find the making of our book and the exhibition had its ups and downs but when looking back I am pleased with the outcome we have created.

When looking back over my work I can see how my ideas have developed over time from my initial project proposal to my final work for the exhibition. At first, I wanted to do a surveillance of the city which I have carried through to the end however the concept behind my project evolved into exploring the theory behind street photography such as voyeurism and looking at The Arcades Project which expanded my knowledge of the flaneur.  Alongside this, I undertook research into famous street photographers such as Brassai and Sophie Calle who influenced the meaning and narrative that my work created. I found that researching into photographers who took the idea of street photography differently expanded how I viewed my city around me, with all of them being flaneurs in their own right but taking it differently.

Throughout my research, I began to get curious about the flaneur and the concept of being one revolved around being a man - which is something I am not. I then decided that this was something I wanted to challenge in my work, creating a surveillance of the city whilst also documenting my journey of what being a flaneur means to me. As my interest in this concept began to grow I researched if such a thing as a female flaneur existed and to my luck it did, a flaneuse. Although not defined by Google explicitly, this term has popped up straight away in a news article exploring how females were claiming back their streets. This definition then became something my work revolved around, an exploration of the flaneuse if you will.

I depicted this concept through my work by shooting my final work with a Pentax 1000 and ISO 400 black and white film. I find that the combination of old school film contrasted next to a modern concept such as the flaneuse links into the juxtaposition in the streets that I spoke about in my initial proposal. The images I captured throughout my project have been of various walks I have taken throughout the city taking photographs of mostly reflections as they create complexly layered photographs but also of objects/subjects that to me would create an enigma in the narrative for the audience to read more into my journey, hopefully sparking a further interest into my work.

When looking back over the photographs that I have taken it is clear to see the improvement from my first under unexposed contact sheet to the contact sheet that was completely overexposed to my final shoot that presented my ability to understand the Pentax 1000 finally. Although I have a better technical understanding of how to use 35mm camera I plan to expand my skills/techniques further in 2nd year.

For my final images, I choose to use the most successful photographs from my previous shoot that I had also refined. When printing out my photographs I chose to print them at 6 by 4 as I found that it linked together with the idea of scrapbooking as well as the novelty of using film prints. When sticking up my images and poem I choose to use masking tape and small pins as alongside the book they worked well together, making the concept of my workflow well due to them both containing tape with a scrapbook style. I think that as a collective of work when up on the wall explains and explores the concept of the flanuese really well, telling a story and a narrative which is something I wanted to achieve with this exhibition. Although I am pleased with how my work has turned out I think a bit more fine tuning with the printing of the poem could have gone a long way by having it printed on something stronger. 

Once I had began my writing/poetry part of my project I look through the internet at poems in subjects revolving around females as I thought that it would enlighten my ideas and help further. However, the poems I came across although well written were long and dragged out which is not an aspect that I wanted for my poem piece. I finally came across a poetry book, ‘the sun and her flowers’ by Rupi Kaur, which for the most part had simple, short poems, which for the most part was the main aspect I was looking for to inspire me for my own poems. Alongside this, the poems were direct to the point that Kaur was trying to make, again something that I wanted to do.

After I had flicked through the book and read a handful of poems I sat down to try and create my own. At first, I struggled, with anything I wrote lacking rhythm and the ability to capture a person mind. Eventually, after thinking, a bit more reading and typing up then deleting ideas I began to write a poem that had rhythm due to its rhyme. I then managed to put together a poem, that to me represented the work that I had created with it also linking into my research. 

When deconstructing the poem it is about how in today's day and age all women seem to be standing up together which is indicated by the ‘army of women’. Moving onto ‘not just aligned together’, having links into how soldiers stand but that the women marching through the streets they will not just be perfectly aligned but each a completely different individual. Which leads into ‘combined of creative souls’, showing that this ‘army’ is one of the creatives moving forward to battle the unknown stigma of the term planner being mostly male. The idea of the flaneur is then referenced again with the women strolling through the streets. Finally, the end of the poem sums up how we as women are beginning to step out into the streets to claim something that was always ours aswell as the males.

Alongside a poem, I also have chosen to create a piece of work for my definition of the female flaneur as I think it is important to display with my other work for it to make more sense.

To type up my poem and create a background I used Illustrator. This was a new tool for me to edit and create work so I kept it simple by just doing text and creating flower graphics. I chose to use flowers for the backgrounds as it links not only to the ‘wallflower’ in the poem itself but they also link into how I have collected flowers on my most recent walk when taking photographs.

Overall, I think that the poem although simple is a good addition to the photographs that I have created, with it being there as a part of art as itself as well as supporting my ideas for the project. 

INSPIRATIONS:

FILM CONTACT SHEET NO.2

Unfortunately, when trying to take another contact sheet of my surveillance of the city I forgot to change the ISO on the camera dial down to 400 which is the ISO of my film. Due to this a lot of the film was lost as it was overexposed, although there were a few images that were correctly exposed which you can see below. From this experience, I have learned to double check the settings on the camera to ensure the images come out well, although this was a stressful situation I think it was a valuable lesson for me to carry on with my photo taking with the Pentax k1000.

Moving Foward...

After doing experimental collage work in Photoshop I wanted to explore how I could make a collaborative image for the street or one company. To do this I chose to focus on Hangry as I had previously done no work on the shop and I was interested in using the vibrant colours of the shop in my work. As well as making a collage I wanted to explore the concept of past and present too, I did this in the first image by including an image of the coffee shop that was there before and then in the second image I screenshotted the twitter feed of the burger place that was there before the coffee shop. To layer these two aspects over my own photographs of hangry I used the colour burn filter which blended the two together which I am pleased with as it to me shows how past and present are connected. To push the images further I included menus that we collected when going into shops on the street previously. I find that layering in the menus shows how we have communicated with the people in the street as well as trying to represent what Hangry is all about. Overall, I am pleased with how these images have turned out as they represent collaboration but are also vibrant and eye-catching which will work well in the final book.

The coffee shop before Hangry: