Uncategorized – Page 2 – Digital Image & Culture

Mary Swanzy: Voyages

13 March – 3 June 2019

This exhibition, in the Crawford Gallery in Cork, was an unexpected pleasure. I wanted to it because Mary Swanzy was such a prolific Irish painter in a time when woman painters were not numerous, Those that were painting were expected to paint watercolours in their homes.

Mary Swanzy (1882 – 1978) was born into a well off Dublin family. Her father as an ophthalmic surgeon. They lived on Merrion Square, a fashionable Georgian square in Dublin. She was educated in Dublin, Paris and Freiburg in Germany. During her early years she studied drawing with many well know teachers. In 1904 she went to Paris, for two years, to continue her art studies. While in Paris she developed her painting techniques and experimented with many of the new painting genres.

She exhibited in both the Salon des Independents and unusually she was also accepted in the Salon des Beaux Arts. She exhibited with many male painters of her time and her work was valued at similar figures to her male counterparts.

This exhibition contains many of her early works which are traditional portraits and landscapes. After her years in Paris she experimented with Cubism and Futurism. Many of these paintings are extraordinarily detailed and complicated. There is so much to read into them.

Swamzy’s cubist work really inspired me and I wish I had seen this exhibition before I made my collages at the beginning of L2. I would love house these as inspiration to create some collages for a personal project.

Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake)

The story of this ballet is so well know that falling under its spell one more time might be considered impossible. But this is the first time I have seen a film of it. I love visiting the theatre for a live ballet but cannot watch ballet on the television . I was not sure how I would feel about a film.

The format of these films of opera or ballet is always similar. The director has a few words then the prima ballerina tells how it feels to be playing this part and the film begins with the familiar music. What I had not expected was how the position of the camera could change and enhance the experience of watching a very familiar ballet. The shots from above the dancers demonstrated the different formations of the swans as well as their dancing agility.

The ilm was made during a live performance at the Paris National Opera. The young dancer, Germain Louvet, playing Prince Siegfried, was extremely sensitive but lacked some originality. He seemed, to me, to want to copy Nureyev, too closely and his performance lost some vitality. The prima ballerina, Léonore Baulac, on the other hand went for a very vivacious and personal performance. This may have affected her technique somewhat but I am not qualified to judge. I loved her stage presence and the camera work of close-ups on her face added to the pleasure. The magician Rothbart, was played by François Alu, whose total abandon to the part brought the house down as he took his bow. His costume reacted to the lighting to give the impression of feathers and the camera followed his lightening movements impeccably.

An absolutely wonderful night’s entertainment.

3. Project 4 Re-thinking photojournalism 2: ‘post-photojournalism’ 19

If you can access a copy, read the final section ‘Post Photojournalism’ (pp.225–69) in Post- Photography by Robert Shore, London: Laurence King, 2014.

My library in Ireland should have this book for me when I get back there.

If you’re interested in the idea of compassion fatigue, see David Campbell’s ‘The Myth of Compassion Fatigue’ at Link 7

I am indeed very interested in the idea of compassion fatigue but I have never really analysed what it meant outside my own life and my own experiences. I come to this whole subject as an ex development worker who spent many years ‘on the coal face’ in West Arica. I could totally empathise with the medical and social definition of compassion fatigue. While working in West Africa, every Friday night a group of development workers would get together over a few beers and ask ourselves what we were doing in this god forsaken place. The problems seemed too big and too insurmountable for us mere mortals. Then we would return to work in our various NGOs and keep on trying.

The other form of compassion fatigue discussed in this paper is a totally different idea. I think Cambell did well in trying to debunk the idea that we are all suffering from compassion fatigue because we are being bombarded endlessly by images of the suffering of others in far flung places. But as he eluded to this whole question is much more complicated than either Sonntag, Mueller of even he himself could answer without very detailed further study.

As already indicated in this section I am not a big fan of images of starving children with pinched, frowning faces. These images fail to have any effect on me at all. I have seen too many of them in the flesh and been too busy trying to do something to make any heart string pulling images myself. I think there is a whole marketing strategy at play with charities. I believe they use the services of marketeers to boost their income. News media bosses send in photographers to make the most heart rending images so that they can boost their media presence. it is all very cynical. But I am a firm believer that there is a detailed study there to be done as to how or why certain people, react in a certain way, to certain images. I think David Cambell has made a start but I believe you have to work on the ground first to really understand what is going on in these developing, war torn, drought stricken countries.

My brother runs a a charity in India. He never has to distribute a sad image to obtain funding. People know him, they know his work and they trust that their money will be well spent. His family and friends certainly do not suffer from compassion fatigue. What they suffer from is mistrust, and with reason, of public appeals. I would never contribute to an appeal which used these images. I know from experience that a great part of the money collected goes to fund the life style of the professional charity workers on the ground. The local people get the crumbs.

I believe that many well meaning people respond to these appeals because they feel it is all they can do. They are certainly not suffering from compassion fatigue. But if you see a long line of refugees trekking towards some unnamed campsite somewhere in Bangladesh you are less likely to take out the cheque book than if you see Moussa who is suffering from an eye defect and can be cured, or so you are told, if you donate £3. We seldom hear about the doctors, from all over the world, who give up a part of their vacations, every year, to go to some of these places to work for nothing to help the local people. No sign of compassion fatigue here.

Not in relation to these conflicts, but also worth noting, is Richard Mosse’s project Infra(2012). See Link 8

I am familiar with Richard Mosse’s work. I am also familiar with his father’s pottery in Ireland. I watched the YouTube video (2) of Mosse talking about his work. He is very young and seemed to me to be more concerned with the material than with the conflict itself. Having read Tim Butcher’s book Blood River and Barbara Kingslover’s Poisonwood Bible I feel these images have very little to do with life on the ground in Congo. The country is being torn apart by local and foreign warlords. Mosse’s work will not contribute, I fear, to any solution. The work reminded me of Burtansky’s approach to the devastating effects of mankind on the land.

Read Mark Durden’s essay ‘Documentary Pictorial: Luc Delahaye’s Taliban, 2001’ in Batchen, G. et al (eds.) (2012) Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis, London: Reaktion Books, pp.241–48. You’ll find this on the student website (PH5DIC_Picturing Atrocity_Taliban)

I struggle continually with war photography no matter who the photographer is. I find these convoluted arguments, why one photographer can be raised to the genre of art as opposed to another poor photojournalist lugging his camera around in a war zone and offering his pictures to magazines, upsetting. I love most of Don McCullin’s work but the Vietcong dead soldier horrifies me. I understand he was trying to restore some dignity to the dead young man but why not just cover him up? Why did he publish the image when he had made it rather than send it to his loved ones? Oc course he is making his living as a photographer. At that time he was imbedded with the American soldiers, a practise that I despise. Did he reprimand the American soldiers when they were looting the body for cheap trinkets? Would he have had the right to do so? All these frustrating, for me, unanswered questions.

I feel similar lack of enthusiasm for Delahaye’s image Taliban. As with McCullin many of his images are amazing. The election of the cardinal is so full of information one could look at it all day. The Israel/Palestinian conflict image, Jenin Refugee Camp, April 14, 2002. Cisjordanie, après les combats entre l’armée israélienne et les combattants palestiniens. is extraordinary. But then Wounded in Kosovo, I found stomach churning. I am interested to learn more of why he left Magnum in 2004 and what exactly is his mission in life as a photographer.

An interview with Peter Lennon in the Guardian has thrown more light on where Delahaye is coming from. It is evident he left Magnum because he could see no great future for photojournalists. So he decided from one day to the next to describe himself as an artist. But he seemed to have gone through a crisis asking himself “What is photography”. To his credit he tried to answer his own questions by paying tramps in Paris to go to photo booths and take photos of themselves. he kept these images. Then he realised that photography is a machine unless we take ownership of the product. So he decided that his images would best be seen in late reproduction on gallery walls. Full credit to him he seems ot have made a success of it. I would think his work resembles Gorsky but somehow lacks the impact of the latter artist.

Through these exercises I have learned that I do not have the stomach for atrocity photographs. I don’t understand the psychology that prompts photographers to make these images.

Watch Tim Hetherington’s documentary Restrepo which he made with Sebastian Junger while embedded with US Marines in 2008 at one of the most dangerous outposts in Afghanistan: Link 12

I bought this film on iTunes and have watched the 1h29m of it. My deepest impression is a general one first “What were the Americans doing in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan in the first place”? Fighting the Taliban would be the the response. But had those in charge in the US the slightest idea what they were sending these young men there to face? I think not. Did the young men have any idea what they were doing there? Probably not. They knew they had to fight ‘the enemy’. But who was a the enemy? They had so little idea of the life of these people in the Afghan mountains. Amidst all the war and shooting the backdrop of the mountains was completely spectacular. The cinematography was unbelievable especially under the conditions.

I do not know if it was the intention of the photojournalists to demonstrate, with this film, the futility of war. But this is the impression the film has left with me. Young men who started off being reasonable nice young guys were slowly being turned into killing machines. Their guys were the good guys and the Afghanies were the bad guys. But the US soldiers ended up killing innocent civilians and wounding children.

The face to face ‘interviews’ with some of these young men were beautifully filmed. They were paced just right giving the young men the opportunity to reflect and express themselves. The deep sadness etched on their faces was evident. They will live with the consequences of what they have seen and done for the rest of their lives.

The other point which I took from the film was how little the US soldiers knew about the culture of the Afghan people. These were a proud mountain people with their own traditions. Everything is conducted through the elders of the village. The soldiers paid lip service to this custom but it was so obvious from the film that they thought it a crazy idea. They never tried to tone their speech to the norms of an impoverished community. These people knew in their hearts that the Taliban would be with them long after the Americans had left so it was in their interest not to upset them. The Americans using their normal language about bringing roads and jobs to the valley was completely ludicrous. No one asked the indigenous people what they wanted. The ‘interviews’ with the mountain people would have been laughable if it was not so sad.

But what can be said about this film is that the photographers did their job to perfection given that they were embedded. They did show the crude naivety of the American forces, they showed the dignity of the elders and their fear. But above all for me it was the futility of war which was my deepest impression.

Combell D. 2012, The myth of compassion fatigue, David Cambell, retrieved 12 March 2019, <http://www.david-campbell.org/2012/02/29/the-myth-of-compassion-fatigue/>
nfra 2011, video recording, YouTube, NewYork
Lennon, P. 2004, The Big Picture, The Guardian, retrieved 13 March 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/jan/31/photography>

Grâce à Dieu

This film appeared just three weeks ago in France. It is a film based on true stories but played by actors. It concerns the abuse, by a catholic priest, of a large number of children in the Lyon area. The priest who is accused tried through his solicitors, to have the film delayed saying it would prejudice the outcome of his trial which is due to take place later in 2019. But his attempts failed and the film is showing in our remote little village in the week when the archbishop, Babarin, who shielded and protected this priest, has been condemned for his actions. But he received a suspended sentence. The catholic church, in France, still holds sway over the judiciary.

The film is 2h17m long but it passed without notice. The story of three main characters, abused by this priest, unfolds gently. Alexandre discovers that this priest is still in charge of children and he decides to make an official complaint to the police about his abuse. He remains a Catholic and has his five children educated by the religious. But the thought of this man abusing other children forces him to face his past. Other victims come forward and they form an association. We follow parts of the everyday lives of this men, each very different. But as they gain the courage to tell their stories to the police we see flash backs of their childhood in the scouts, where the abuse took place. These scenes are presented like 1960s photos, the colours are muted. The abuse is suggested rather than shown. The tension is palpable, the pain feels real. These scenes are so beautifully filmed and contrasting with where each of the victims are in their lives. Emanuele has never succeeded in making anything of himself despite having been a gifted child. he is an epileptic. Francis and Alexandre are successful and a fourth victim is a doctor.

There are no answers in this film in fact the film closes with the eldest son of Alexandre asking his father as he leaves the room “Do you still believe in God” the question hangs in the air as the credits roll. The audience in our little cinema hardly moved until the last credits rolled.

3.Project 3 Re-thinking photojournalism 1: the citizen journalist

Research: THE CITIZEN JOURNALIST

https://www.simoncroberts.com/work/the-last-moment/#PHOTO_18
- Read Allan, S. ‘Blurring Boundaries: Professional and Citizen Journalism in a Digital Age’ (pp.187–200) in Lister, M. (2013) The Photographic Image in Digital Culture, provided with your course materials.
- Read Jose Navarro’s blog criticising the BBC’s use of images of the 2012 Denver cinema shootings at Link 4
- Read this useful essay on the 7/7 bombings and citizen journalism at Link 5
It is true to say we are all photographers now and in many situations like tragedy and unrest, we become the photojournalists of the day. Simon Roberts represented this in his series The Last Moments. Those making the images became, for him, as important as what they were photographing. I am not convinced that this work really captured the essence of Citizen Photography but that is a personal opinion.
With citizen journalism many questions arise for the print and digital media. The most obvious is “Do we need photojournalists any more”? I would reply that labelling photographers as this type of photographer or that is no longer relevant. If the photographer is not on the spot when the tragedy takes place then he is useless to his agency or media employer. Navarro’s blog talks of the video coming out from the Denver cinema atrocity. Many other such tragedies were also videoed in this way, by those caught up in what was happening. Baticlan in Paris being another such example. The tsunami in 2004 in Indonesia was the first such example of citizen photojournalism, I believe. Chadwick’s video from within the tunnel after the underground bombings in London, in 2005, is another example.

Why did these citizens record what they were seeing and experiencing? I believe it is because the phone had becomes almost an extension of the eye for these citizens, it has been described as a prosthesis. The common practice of most young people is and was to photograph everything they were doing on a daily basis even if it was of no interest to anyone but themselves. So their reaction to capture the tragedy unfolding around them was a reflex in the midst of this tragedy.

Should they have recorded what they were experiencing? Who am I to say they should not. They were living this experience it was theirs and those around them. They were not voyeurs but unwilling participants in what was playing out. I am sure they did not reflect on the fact that this might be the last video they would make. They were on auto pilot. But what they were doing could, perhaps, assist the authorities in finding the perpetrators of these atrocities. There was no way of knowing on the moment if some clue would be hidden in these images or videos. There were no photojournalists on the spot so those involved became the citizen journalists.

Is citizen photography destroying the photojournalist profession? I believe we are experiencing a paradigm shift. When washing machine were invented our mothers no longer needed to use the scrubbing board. This surely did not put mothers out of business. It freed them up a little to do other things. I believe the same is true of photojournalists. There are so many stories out there needing to be told. Ritchin talks, in his video, about the day a Chicago based newspaper sacked all their photographers. They were no longer needed and if the photographers did not see this coming then I think they must have been wearing blinkers and ear muffs. Allan discusses this paradigm shift, in depth. He describes how many old time photographers were in denial about what was happening. In every walk of life we must remain in contact with what is going on and either embrace it or move in a different direction.

With the modern iPhone anyone can take the image the newspaper needs, so why not tap into this source. So technology drives this change. Financial considerations also come into play. A newspaper does not have to keep and pay staff and the people are out there in the hot spots so why not use that social scene.

Why did the BBC publish Chadwick’s and other citizens images? Because they believed, and I agree, the public who were not involved directly, wanted to see what was happening. I remember the night a bomb went off in Dublin and my husband was in the city that night. There were no mobile phones so I had no idea if he was safe. He was very delayed getting home because of the chaos. I lived and died that night. Now I could follow it moment by moment on any news channel thanks to the citizen photographers on the scene.

The London riots of 2011, as discussed by Allan, were interestingly different. The situation was too inflammatory to be photographed. The participants were wary of being recognised by the police if the images should get into the hands of the law. The journalists who were there had to ditch their camera gear in favour of their iPhones. But most of the reports coming out were via Twitter.

Does it matter that the images are not always verified. Does it matter that they are not perfect? I would answer Yes and No. In the Chadwick video it was evident he was in the tunnel trying to escape. But there have been many examples of videos being shown on news media which have not been verified and turned out to be in another place at another time. The video or photograph was being used as propaganda. This possibility puts a huge burden on photo editors in all media. Some critics warned that the news media would loose credibility if they were unable to verify the authenticity of citizen photographs and videos. On the other hand the protests at the G20 summit in London in 2009 were videoed by an American visitor and proved that the police had been involved in attacking the newspaper seller who subsequently died from his injuries. These citizen captured occurrences are helping to increase transparency in how the forces of the law behave. Here in Paris a gilet jaune protester had his eye gouged out by a rubber bullet. This too was captured on a video and the blame went back to the riot police who are not supposed to direct rubber bullets at the faces of protestors.

We the consumers of media information were finding, according to Allan, the citizen generated images more exciting and the ‘official’ reporters work was regarded as bland. The day of the citizen journalist has arrived and the genie will never be put back in the bottle. Collaboration will be the way forward.

Andy Warhol: Rome

This exhibition was held in the Ala Brasini of Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, alongside the Jackson Pollock exhibition. There was more than 170 works on exhibit. The breath of Warhols work is astounding. He was a painter, an illustrator, a photographer and a sculptor. His work looks simple and accessible. It is fun and lighthearted. He used every day items thus starting what became known as Pop art. The movement moved away from abstract impressionism.

He was so prolific creating works for fashion, cinema and music, He was first and foremost an illustrator using these techniques to create his fine art work. No one had done this before.

He made images of almost everyone he met. He was the friend of fashion gurus, artists and theatre people. All of them made their way into his work. He had an expensive lifestyle so he needed to make and sell his work.

I walked through the psychedelic room of flowers and was a reminder of a similar experience with Kusama’s yellow pumpkins in the reflection room. It was such an exciting experience. The Cambell’s soup tins have never really attracted me but they made me smile this time because of all the other work surrounding them. This artist genius was evident. Warhol wanted us to be aware of ordinary things and the role they play in our lives. He was the first to do this.

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ROMA

Watched this film on Netflix on our small TV screen. I am sure this influenced my impression of the film. It is a film that needs to be viewed on a big screen. I missed it in out local cinema.

The story is of a mexican maid who works for a rich Mexican family. The father of the family is a doctor. There are four children and a very lively dog. Cleo, the maid, takes care of every need of each member of the family. She is, in fact, their slave. They treat her well as some deep south ‘owners’ treated their slaves in the nineteenth century. But this was 1970.

The film is black and white. It moves painfully slowly in the first half. We keep returning to the barking dog in the corridor of the house. Cleo works away trying to cater for everyone’s needs. She lives in a small space in the garden. We really do get her situation due to the camera work. She and the other maid meet up with two guys, Cleo becomes pregnant by the cad who refuses to recognise the child she is carrying as his – nothing new there. There is civil unrest in Mexico city and Cleo and the family’s grandmother get caught up in this, as they go to buy a cradle for the baby. The unrest is viewed from the window of the store. The camera pans and returns to the interior of the store – several times. It all looked unreal to me and prevented me feeling sympathy for Cleo when her waters broke and she was whisked off to hospital. The chaos in the hospital also looked staged to me. I was, at all times, watching a film. The baby is born dead. The baby looked like a doll.

The family set off for the seaside with Cleo to allow the departed husband remove his things from the house. The seaside is anything but calm. The waves are raging – we can see what is coming as the children rush into the waves. The mother returns to the hotel to pack, Cleo is left in charge of the children, she can’t swim, the children wade out and alas don’t drown – Cleo comes to the rescue. The camera continues to pan along the beach. the scene looks dismal. I felt depressed. Cleo admits she never wanted the baby and everyone snuggles up in the car on the way back home.

Scenically I felt thoroughly depressed.

Everyone else in the world seemed to think the film deserved a 9/10 and or 5 stars until I read this today (21/02/2019).

Chagall, du Noir et Blanc a la Couleur

This is a very expansive exhibition. There are 130 works in total on display at the Hotel Chaument in Aix. the works are from the second part of Chagall’s life from 1948 to his death in 1985. This was an extraordinarly productive period for Chagall. The exhibition includes paintings both black and white and colour, ceramics and sculptures. The influence of one medium on the other is clear.

The information panels are extremely helpful pointing out how and where these influences can be seen. Many of the paintings are accompanied by detailed explanations of the content of the painting. I have always found Chagall’s paintings to be full of narrative. But this exhibition has overlaid a whole new level of information on his work.

I am very familiar with the painting of couples supposedly suspended in mid air but I have never looked deeply into each painting to see all the other characters and the repeated including of his birth place Videsk in Russia.

I also learned that he lived, at one time, in a village not too far away from me here in France, Gorde.

He was exiled in America during the second world war but returned to France after the war ceased. His prolific output seemed to be stretching the boundaries of light, materials and technique. His ceramics were captivating as were his sculptures. he seemed to be always in search of new heights. He learned from masters of the different techniques and became a master himself, in many. Although none of his stain glass is exhibited the influence of this technique on his other work is continually evident. the intensity of light and the luminosity is ever present.

In many of his later paintings he added solid materials like vegetation enhancing the three dimensional quality fo these works.

A very small ‘taste ‘ of the exhibition:

https://vimeo.com/309860974

Colette

The film is about the famous French female writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette who married a Parisian critique fourteen years her senior. Colette spent her early years in rural France with her parents. Although we see little of her parents it is evident she inherits her free spirit from her mother. The rural scenery is authentic and beautiful.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5437928/videoplayer/vi4193565209?ref_=tt_ov_vi

After marrying Henry Gauthier Villars(Dominic West), known as Willy, she is introduced to the bohemian life in Paris. She is young, beautiful and free spirited and fits in perfectly. He lives in a classic Parisian apartment which is reached by a magnificent spiral staircase used to great effect in the filming. But Willy is a philanderer more interested in seducing the women of Paris than in his writing. he has a team of ghost writers. His life style is luxurious but his income does not match his taste. He convinces Colette to write the stories of her childhood but the heroine is called Claudine. He insists on being named as the author treating Colette on the one hand as a ghost writer but more as a slave. The first book becomes an immediate success. A number of others follow each with increasing success. Willy basks in the glory of the success which he takes on to himself without giving Collette a second thought.

The couple become the toast of Paris. The cinematography of swinging Parisian life at the beginning of the twentieth century is captivating. The couples relationship is loose giving both the opportunity for extra marital affairs. He only accepts that she have lesbian affairs. She is bi-sexual and has a number of affairs until she meets the Russian princess who dresses as a man. Their affair is conducted as a menage a quatre as Willy installs his new young lover. There is nothing sordid about their life. It is beautifully shot in the country house Willy bought for Colette. It was very acceptable in the swinging Parisian life of the early twentieth century.

The main characters are beautifully filmed. All the portrait shots in the book are used. Reflections of Colette (Keira Knightly) in her mirror, moody looks and crazy characters in Parisian bars make for a visually beautiful film. The sex scenes are portrayed with great sensitivity. It is the French culture of the time, fast loose and wild.

But as Colette becomes more independent. She travels with a musical show becoming more and more self assured. Finally she insists on her freedom to be the author of her own life and works. Willy and Colette separate.

Both the city scenes, including one of the inside of the Moulin Rouge and the countryside and superb. There is nothing cheesy about any of it. It looks decidedly authentic. The only person who does not fit in is the American bi-sexual woman which whom both Willy and Colette have an affair. This character is plastic but not in a good sense..

Another small criticism is that the film should have been in French with English subtitles. It was weird to see the characters in typical French scenes speaking English… It was jarring when one had a close up of Colette’s ‘cahier’ in which she was writing in French. Small annoying things in an otherwise great film.