#13clues

We began today's lesson annotating Mari Mahr's image sequence. We were interested in two perspectives:

How were the images created? What processes and techniques has the artist employed?

What can we deduce about the meaning of the sequence? How can we construct a coherent interpretation of the images?

Tom and Rosie noticed that photographs had been used as a base layer onto which a variety of objects had been placed and the whole assemblage re-photographed. For example, an aerial view of a town scape provides the background to a dove's wing. This creates the impression of a bird flying above the town when it is re-photographed. They also noted that the images are all dramatically cropped so that we never see the whole outline of an object. This close-up view creates an intimate relationship between viewer and image but also disguises objects and abstracts the composition.

Masha and Annie noticed the repetition of numbers, what looks like a lottery or cloakroom ticket and they were also curious about the number 13 in the title. We discussed the symbolism of 13 - unlucky, lunar cycles, number of witches in fairy tales, menstrual cycle etc. The ticket, combined with other objects like the white dress gloves, might suggest that the people represented in these images are (or were) relatively wealthy and cultured.

Sophie and Kezia were interested in the theme of viewpoints and observation. They noticed a pair of glasses, a mirror image, reflections and repetition. They also noted the use of text in the form of a book and a hand written note in a foreign language. Whilst there are 13 separate clues, it appears that information is repeated across the set of images.

Mari Mahr '13 Clues to a Fictitious Crime' 1983

‘No real crime has been committed. The recurring face is that of my mother – youthful in a way I only knew her from early photographs.’ Mari Mahr 1984

Evoking dream-like fragments of real or imagined memories, Mari Mahr’s series of works that reflect on personal histories and journeys are drawn from her Hungarian mother’s photographic archives and found objects. They play with scale and objects confuses space and time. Her early works incorporate text, forming a strange and oblique narrative that reflects on a wide range of stimuli including films, events and situations. Drawing on the photomontage technique of the dadaists, futurists and surrealists, Mahr’s complex imagery incorporates typography, objects and images to create compositions that are then photographed, flattening the depth of plane and confusing the reading of the fictive image.

In ‘13 clues to a fictitious crime circa 1940–1941’ we are drawn into a perceived mystery: a telescopic view of a building, an aerial view of a bird flying over a town, the letter A, the number 2553, a clock reading ten past twelve, a half-hidden face, a message, fish, stars, a piano and the book ‘A house of gentlefolk’; all clues that lead back into themselves. There is no accurate narrative and Mahr herself tells us that ‘No real crime has been committed’. We have instead been part of a fiction that, like the dadaist and surrealist games and images, fractures reality and our perception of it, reflecting the surrealist obsession with sight and blindness.

Source

Consider the range of visual strategies used by the artist in the creation of this series of images.

Create your own response, considering the structure of your narrative and the techniques you intend to employ to layer images and objects